Last week, the CEO of United Healthcare was shot and killed in New York. Today, we assess the suspect’s reading habits.
Disclaimer: There is a slight possibility that someone with the same name and same face also has a Goodreads account and an interest in environmentalism and the healthcare industry. This article assumes it is the same person as the man arrested today.
Both the biggest story in America and the biggest meme character on the internet last week was the man who shot and killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Johnson on a New York street and had not been seen since.
Today, a “person of interest” was arrested in Pennsylvania. That person of interest is Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old former Ivy League student with apparently a healthy reading habit.
Mangione has not been charged with any crimes in relation to the killing, though he is currently the only suspect and had a handwritten document on his person at the time of his arrest, outlining his frustrations with the healthcare industry in the US and saying “it had to be done”.
Where other people of interest in internet history have had their social media accounts scraped for suggestive comments or images, what appears to be Mangione’s Goodreads account is the most fascinating record of his thoughts.
Below is an incomplete rundown of what Mangione read, what he wanted to read, and what he thought of particular books. (His full Goodreads lists over 250 books read but not all are accessible.) If you were arrested as a person of interest in a major crime, what would your Goodreads say about you?
Books he has read
Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1 – The Birth of Humankind
Classic.
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
Mangione has a deep interest in data and algorithms and what they say about human behaviour. Would be very interested in his thoughts on the millions of tweets, TikToks and memes made about the shooter which dominated the global algorithm for days. Or was that the whole point???
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
A book about how making small changes in your life can lead to big outcomes down the line. Essentially: every little thing you do has consequences so make wise small choices. A libertarian favourite.
Industrial Society and Its Future (AKA The Unabomber Manifesto)
Mangione really resonated with the Unabomber’s manifesto. “It’s easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies,” he wrote in his lengthy Goodreads review. “But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.”
“He was a violent individual – rightfully imprisoned – who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterised as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
Mangione then quotes an online take he found “interesting” at length. “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution… Peaceful protest is outright ignored, economic protest isn’t possible in the current system, so how long until we recognize that violence against those who lead us to such destruction is justified as self-defense.
“These companies don’t care about you, or your kids, or your grandkids. They have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck, so why should we have any qualms about burning them down to survive?
“‘Violence never solved anything’ is a statement uttered by cowards and predators.”
Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter
Hatchet
A children’s classic by Gary Paulsen about a young boy who survives a plane crash that strands him deep in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet to survive. Not surprising this is on his list, considering every boy at my intermediate read this book one thousand times. 90% about courage and self-reliance in the face of danger. 10% about his parents’ hideous divorce.
The Ranger’s Apprentice
A children’s series by John Flanagan about a caped orphan with an “uncanny ability to move unseen” who gets inducted into an elite and undercover intelligence group of medieval archers and trackers sworn to protect the vulnerable inhabitants of the Kingdom of Araluen. Interesting.
Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
It’s clear he read this cover to cover.
Ender’s Game series
Orson Scott Card is, unfortunately, a nightmare of a human being.
Brave New World
He really loved Aldous Huxley’s terrifying vision of a world full of environmentally engineered humans, giving it five stars and pulling out these quotes:
“A gramme is always better than a damn”
“I’d rather be myself,” he said. “Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.”
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.”
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
He did not love the future VP’s memoir, giving it a lukewarm three stars.
1984
Classic.
What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies
“I believe this book will go down in history as one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century” – his review.
A Hard Kick in the Nuts: What I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Terrible Decisions
Mangione found Steve-O’s second book to be “unengaging” and rather disappointing. His review of it ends: “I love Steve-O. His life is full of wild stories, and his addictive personality is one I relate to. But this book was just OK. Maybe my expectations were too high given how much I enjoyed his first book – which I’d recommend instead.”
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
The global bestseller from grit master David Goggins. A real “physical pain can be ignored with the right mind”. Mangione’s review suggests he has seen beyond the front of Goggins in a way few of his fans have. “Goggins is extreme (and clearly unhappy), but in science we learn from the outliers.
“Good fuel to kickstart your system out of a rut, if you need it. Eventual balance must be achieved though after the initial crisis has been handled.”
Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery
Read in 2023 and suggesting Mangione either had a deep interest in pain self-help books or he was a person who suffered ongoing pain and medical stress. He rated it “OK”. His main header image on X shows an x-ray of a spine with screws in it.
Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance (2023)
Also read in 2023, possibly seeking solutions to aforementioned back pain.
Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It
Have not read this one but hope he found some answers in it.
The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
Potential to become extremely useful information in the near future.
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future – David Attenborough
If this proves anything, it’s simply that everyone, from casual readers to Ivy League radicals, loves a bit of Attenborough.
The Lorax by Dr Seuss
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Harry Potter 1,2 & 3
Harry Potter 4 is where Rowling appeared to abandon the art of editing in favour of bloated prose. A good place to pause given The Prisoner of Azkaban is the peak of the series.
The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future
A little on the nose perhaps?
Hawaii – The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook
Apparently his last known address was in Hawaii. Quite strange to read a guidebook about the place you’re currently living, no?
How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life
I have seen enough true crime documentaries to know the number one rule of evading justice in 21st century America is to never carry a phone.
The 4-hour work week
“All of the suggestions in this book, from questioning traditional career advice to re-evaluating the minutia of everyday living, stem from Tim’s disdain for simply accepting things because ‘that’s the way they are.’ I believe that’s why this book resonated with me so strongly, as I’ve shared this frame of mind since I was a kid.”
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Look, we all read some embarrassing stuff back in 2017. Let’s not be too quick to judge.
Books he wants to read
Atlas Shrugged
The classic libertarian bible by Ayn Rand, and one of very few titles by female authors on Mangione’s Goodreads profile. “I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.”
Life & The Lindy Effect (starred by Mangione in May 2024)
American Prometheus: The Triumph & Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Possibly watched the very long movie and was somehow left wanting more.
Infinite Jest
Very relatable. Who doesn’t have this on their “I’ve been really meaning to read this, just haven’t gotten around to it yet” list. Ditto Moby Dick…
The Great Conversation: Volume I: Pre-Socratics through Descartes
Did we mention he had an Ivy League education…?
Our Final Hour: A Scientist’s warning
“How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future in This Century — On Earth and Beyond”
Aesop’s Fables
“A wolf, having stolen a lamb from a fold, was carrying him off to his lair. A Lion met him in the path, and, seizing the lamb, took it from him. The wolf, standing at a safe distance, exclaimed: You have unrighteously taken from me that which was mine. The Lion jeeringly replied: It was righteously yours, eh? Was it the gift of a friend or did you get it by purchase? If you did not get it in one way or the other, how then did you come by it?
“Moral: One thief is no better than another.”
Books he is currently reading
Note: These are old listings which suggests he did not finish the books (reasons unknown).
Two books by Michael Pollan:
How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Pyschedelics (attempted in 2021)
One of the most popular nonfiction books in recent years, about the history of psychedelic drugs, their uses in psychiatric treatment, and the future of human consciousness.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma (attempted in 2020)
Exactly what the title suggests. A much-loved cultural investigation into the ethics and politics of food.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (attempted in 2019)
A bestselling Australian novel set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death. “Even death has a heart.”