The reading list of Luigi Mangione, suspect in the murder of Brian Thompson

If the identity Although the person who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson remained a mystery, Americans have grafted their own ideas about the shooter onto the little information available. Now that a person of interest in the case has been arrested, this imaginary figure stumbles upon the identity and writings of a named suspect who appears to have left an extensive trail of book reviews, including an anti- Unabomber Technology Manifesto and Treatises on Treating Back Pain.

Along with a three-page handwritten manifesto reportedly in Luigi Mangione’s possession when he was arrested, these online traces could provide insight into the motives of a man accused of a murder that has unnerved Americans exhausted by profit-hungry health care companies has met.

Much of the online chatter revolved around the book by Ted Kaczynski, the man known as the “Unabomber,” who waged a nearly 20-year campaign of mail bombings to reverse society’s accelerating technological revolution.

“You may not like his methods, but if you look at things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution,” wrote a report with Mangione’s name and likeness on Goodreads in a review by Kaczynskis 1995 Essay “Industrial Society and Its Future.” “Fossil fuel companies are actively suppressing everything that stands in their way, and within a generation or two it will cost more and more lives until The earth is just a burning ball orbiting a third of the sun. Peaceful protest is completely ignored, economic protest is not possible in the current system. So how long will it take before we realize that violence against those who are against us? cause such destruction as self-defense is justified?”

The book’s anarchist-tinged look at modern society mocked leftists and has recently found a second life on TikTok among people who reject the traditional left-right divide. In 2021, The Baffler described Kaczynski as “an unlikely unifying figure embraced on TikTok by both jaded environmentalists and right-wing doomer nihilists.”

Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson have also quoted Kaczynski. “He couldn’t be wrong,” Musk said of Kaczynski’s insistence that technology has been bad for society.

Other books that piqued Mangione’s interest included a mix of self-help bestsellers, pop psychology analyzes and self-improvement tomes like Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek.

One of Mangione’s favorite books, according to his glowing review, was a diagnostic called “What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies” by blogger Tim Urban. The author said in his description of the book that it eschews “the usual horizontal left-center-right political axis” and instead uses “a vertical axis that examines how we think, as individuals and as groups.”

“I believe this book will go down in history as one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century,” Mangione wrote.

Urban wrote a comment on Twitter Monday afternoon that seemed aimed at Mangione’s appreciation for his writing: “That’s not the point of the book at all.”

While Kaczynski’s book represents an obvious possible influence for political violence, other books in Mangione’s reading history also stood out given his alleged goal.

They included at least three tomes on dealing with pain: “Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Pain Relief, Injury Prevention, and Optimizing Athletic Performance,” “Crooked: Outsmarting the Back Pain Industry and Starting the Road to Recovery,” and “Back Mechanic.”

A Twitter account with Mangione’s name featured an X-ray of a back with a surgically implanted medical device.

On Monday, details began to emerge about a manifesto that Mangione allegedly had with him when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

“These parasites were tough,” one line in the document read, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to CNN. “I apologize for the hassle and trauma, but it had to be done.”

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the NYPD did not yet have the full three-page document, but it appeared to reveal “some ill will toward corporate America.”