Doug Horne greatly praises Dr. David Mantik's new JFK Assassination book!

[Vince Palamara]

Top review from the United States

 

Douglas

5.0 out of 5 stars The Capstone to a Lifetime of Research into the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2022

 

by Douglas Horne, former Chief Analyst for Military Records, on the ARRB Staff

I have been waiting for this book to be published for a long time, and it has been well worth the wait. The color illustrations in this new hardcover book make it well worth the price. So do all of the newly published essays and book reviews, most of them never before available elsewhere. This is my review of the new hardback (paper) edition.

David W. Mantik, for those who do not know, has earned an M.D. (he is a radiation oncologist who is qualified to read skull x-rays) and a Ph.D. in physics, so he is a true scientist who applies scientific rigor to the many paradoxes and conflicts in the medical and forensic evidence surrounding the JFK assassination. He has also visited the National Archives 9 different times to closely examine, and reexamine, the JFK autopsy photos and skull x-rays. I first heard him present on the subject in 1993 in Dallas, and ever since then I have followed his work closely, and with increasing admiration. By the mid-1990s, I considered his evolving work on the JFK skull x-rays so important that I persuaded the ARRB General Counsel (Jeremy Gunn) to enlist his services as a consultant to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1995 and 1996, as the staff prepared to take the depositions of the 3 pathologists who performed JFK's autopsy. Dr. Mantik's inputs concerning the JFK skull x-rays proved indispensable to the ARRB's medical depositions.

The central core of this, his final work, is the re-publication (on paper) of his earlier seminal work "JFK's Head Wounds," complemented with a plethora of absolutely essential full-color medical illustrations in this new paper edition. It will likely forever remain the definitive work on how many shots struck JFK in the head in Dallas (three), and about the proper anatomical placement of the Harper bone fragment in JFK's skull.

But even if one already has the earlier, Kindle version of "JFK's Head Wounds," this new book is worth purchasing simply to obtain the many essays and book reviews, which Mantik has been working on for years---most of which have not yet been published.

Noteworthy among them is the newly published essay "Masquerade at the Museum," about the extremely serious (and troubling) evidentiary subterfuge surrounding the first-generation Zapruder film images at the Sixth Floor Museum, in Dallas. It is a shocking story of misrepresentation and deceit.

Mantik has also published, in this volume, book reviews of the central JFK-related works by authors Vincent Bugliosi, Sherry Fiester, Fred Litwin, Robert Wagner, and Josiah Thompson. David Mantik, in his own impeccably footnoted scientific style, takes them all to task for the many insupportable positions in their recent works.

He has also addressed, in considerable detail, his serious disagreements with one other credentialed researcher into the JFK medical evidence (Dr. Randy Robertson), and with two prominent JFK bloggers (John McAdams and Pat Speer).

I also highly recommend his new essay on the JFK limousine windshield.

Dr. Mantik has previously published many lengthy scientific articles online, and in published anthologies, about the JFK medical evidence. This new work is clearly the capstone to his considerable life's work in the JFK assassination research field. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

This book is a masterful example of the proper application of the scientific method to the often perplexing, and all-too-often misunderstood, JFK medical evidence. Well done!

 

 

Amazon.com: JFK Assassination Paradoxes: Essays And Reviews & JFK's Head Wounds: 9798848014037: Mantik M.D., David W.: Books

[Denny Zartman]

I'm 10% into the book, and unfortunately I'm not really enjoying it so far. It's a collection of essays and papers, and Dr. Mantik is not the only author. So it's by nature uneven and I feel there's a bit of inconsistency already. Right now I'm at an essay on Vincent Bugliosi's views on religion, which frankly is not what I want to be reading about when I read a JFKA book. I also have some problems with some of his conclusions and analysis. I'll go into more detail and give some specific examples if anyone's really interested.

The good news is that for anyone really dying to read the book, it offers a great excuse to invest in a Kindle e-reader. The print version of the book is $70, while the Kindle version is $10.

I'll try to keep on going through the book, but this may be one where I start flipping around and reading different sections than keep trying to read it straight through.

[David G. Healy]

1 hour ago, Denny Zartman said:

I'm 10% into the book, and unfortunately I'm not really enjoying it so far. It's a collection of essays and papers, and Dr. Mantik is not the only author. So it's by nature uneven and I feel there's a bit of inconsistency already.

[...]

oh-brother... enjoy? whats to enjoy about a cold blooded murder?

[Denny Zartman]

7 hours ago, David G. Healy said:

oh-brother... enjoy? whats to enjoy about a cold blooded murder?

Seriously?

I enjoy a book if I feel I'm getting something useful out of it, if it's enhancing my knowledge of the subject, and if I don't feel as if the purchase was a waste of time or money. The subject itself doesn't have to be enjoyable.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Denny Zartman

[Denny Zartman]

I'm a quarter of the way through this book and honestly quite ready to give up. My apologies to any fans of the book or those hoping for a better review.

I'm sure those who have enjoyed Dr. Mantik's work in the past may find it useful to have all these pieces collected together in one place, but in my opinion there's far too much repetition. Funny enough, one of the book reviews here takes another writer to task for excessive repetition. I'm the equivalent of 125 pages or so into a 500+ page book, and once I'm reading the same thing and even seeing the same illustration for a third time, I'm just not much inclined to continue.

There's no real organization to the material, as if it hadn't been edited or updated at all before publishing. I feel like I'm reading a collection that was just tossed together for historical purposes, and there wasn't ever a clear concept of how to present all the information within to a reader as a single read.

Just my two cents.

[Michael Griffith]

I just got it in the mail two days ago. It is fantastic.

[Pat Speer]

On 10/22/2022 at 8:02 AM, Vince Palamara said:

Top review from the United States

 

Douglas

5.0 out of 5 stars The Capstone to a Lifetime of Research into the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2022

 

by Douglas Horne, former Chief Analyst for Military Records, on the ARRB Staff

I have been waiting for this book to be published for a long time, and it has been well worth the wait. The color illustrations in this new hardcover book make it well worth the price. So do all of the newly published essays and book reviews, most of them never before available elsewhere. This is my review of the new hardback (paper) edition.

David W. Mantik, for those who do not know, has earned an M.D. (he is a radiation oncologist who is qualified to read skull x-rays) and a Ph.D. in physics, so he is a true scientist who applies scientific rigor to the many paradoxes and conflicts in the medical and forensic evidence surrounding the JFK assassination. He has also visited the National Archives 9 different times to closely examine, and reexamine, the JFK autopsy photos and skull x-rays. I first heard him present on the subject in 1993 in Dallas, and ever since then I have followed his work closely, and with increasing admiration. By the mid-1990s, I considered his evolving work on the JFK skull x-rays so important that I persuaded the ARRB General Counsel (Jeremy Gunn) to enlist his services as a consultant to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1995 and 1996, as the staff prepared to take the depositions of the 3 pathologists who performed JFK's autopsy. Dr. Mantik's inputs concerning the JFK skull x-rays proved indispensable to the ARRB's medical depositions.

The central core of this, his final work, is the re-publication (on paper) of his earlier seminal work "JFK's Head Wounds," complemented with a plethora of absolutely essential full-color medical illustrations in this new paper edition. It will likely forever remain the definitive work on how many shots struck JFK in the head in Dallas (three), and about the proper anatomical placement of the Harper bone fragment in JFK's skull.

But even if one already has the earlier, Kindle version of "JFK's Head Wounds," this new book is worth purchasing simply to obtain the many essays and book reviews, which Mantik has been working on for years---most of which have not yet been published.

Noteworthy among them is the newly published essay "Masquerade at the Museum," about the extremely serious (and troubling) evidentiary subterfuge surrounding the first-generation Zapruder film images at the Sixth Floor Museum, in Dallas. It is a shocking story of misrepresentation and deceit.

Mantik has also published, in this volume, book reviews of the central JFK-related works by authors Vincent Bugliosi, Sherry Fiester, Fred Litwin, Robert Wagner, and Josiah Thompson. David Mantik, in his own impeccably footnoted scientific style, takes them all to task for the many insupportable positions in their recent works.

He has also addressed, in considerable detail, his serious disagreements with one other credentialed researcher into the JFK medical evidence (Dr. Randy Robertson), and with two prominent JFK bloggers (John McAdams and Pat Speer).

I also highly recommend his new essay on the JFK limousine windshield.

Dr. Mantik has previously published many lengthy scientific articles online, and in published anthologies, about the JFK medical evidence. This new work is clearly the capstone to his considerable life's work in the JFK assassination research field. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

This book is a masterful example of the proper application of the scientific method to the often perplexing, and all-too-often misunderstood, JFK medical evidence. Well done!

 

 

Amazon.com: JFK Assassination Paradoxes: Essays And Reviews & JFK's Head Wounds: 9798848014037: Mantik M.D., David W.: Books

Without commenting on the content, a book by Mantik getting a 5 out of 5 from Horne is like Trump getting a thumbs up from Sean Hannity, or Johnny Carson getting a loud cheer from Ed McMahon.

They are tied at the hip. Now, a book where Mantik reviewed Horne's book and listed where he disagreed, or a review of Mantik's book by Horne where he took him to task for his inconsistencies, that would be worthwhile

[Benjamin Cole]

7 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

Without commenting on the content, a book by Mantik getting a 5 out of 5 from Horne is like Trump getting a thumbs up from Sean Hannity, or Johnny Carson getting a loud cheer from Ed McMahon.

They are tied at the hip. Now, a book where Mantik reviewed Horne's book and listed where he disagreed, or a review of Mantik's book by Horne where he took him to task for his inconsistencies, that would be worthwhile

"Johnny Carson getting a loud cheer from Ed McMahon." 

"Heeeerrre's Johnny!" 

 

[Guest]

I had a look at Mantik's website

On 10/24/2022 at 2:10 AM, Denny Zartman said:

I'm a quarter of the way through this book and honestly quite ready to give up. My apologies to any fans of the book or those hoping for a better review.

I'm sure those who have enjoyed Dr. Mantik's work in the past may find it useful to have all these pieces collected together in one place, but in my opinion there's far too much repetition. Funny enough, one of the book reviews here takes another writer to task for excessive repetition. I'm the equivalent of 125 pages or so into a 500+ page book, and once I'm reading the same thing and even seeing the same illustration for a third time, I'm just not much inclined to continue.

There's no real organization to the material, as if it hadn't been edited or updated at all before publishing. I feel like I'm reading a collection that was just tossed together for historical purposes, and there wasn't ever a clear concept of how to present all the information within to a reader as a single read.

Just my two cents.

 

Kinda like his website... the content is all over the place...

When I get to study this specific subject (the medical stuff) I'll start at Pat's website 

 

 

[David G. Healy]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:47 AM, Jean Paul Ceulemans said:

I had a look at Mantik's website

 

Kinda like his website... the content is all over the place...

When I get to study this specific subject (the medical stuff) I'll start at Pat's website 

 

 

Pat's a great record/music producer.... David is a great MD and knows X-rays... so, knock yourself out...

[Guest]

"When I get to study" the medical stuff, I haven't even touched it so far.  So my opinion is based on the rest of Pat's website. 

I like the way he makes a case, the way he writes, to the point, without distractions and a little humor every now and then.

Also, I have a dislike for websites that look like disco-ball's, but that's just me.   And to me this is just a hobby... so I have to like it or they can have it.

B.t.w. how many of the private researchers are professional detectives or police inspectors ?  If we have to discount those researchers... what would be left ?  

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[Pat Speer]

1 hour ago, David G. Healy said:

Pat's a great record/music producer.... David is a great MD and knows X-rays... so, knock yourself out...

Yes, David "knows" X-rays, which makes many of his mistakes hard to grasp. If you've seen our "dueling presentations" at Duquesne University then you know that he cut me off at the pass by acknowledging two serious mistakes made by himself and his supporters that wouldn't have come to light if I hadn't pushed the issue. 

The Speer/Matink feud if you will is on hiatus, as far as I'm concerned. We've found common ground in that we both believe Tink's book on the dicta-belt was ill-conceived. 

[Michael Griffith]

In his endorsement of the book, radiation oncologist Dr. Greg Henkelmann summarizes the matter well when he says,

         Dr. Mantik's optical density analysis is the single most important piece of scientific evidence in the JFK assassination. Unlike other evidence, optical density data is as "theory free" as possible, as this data deals only with physical measurements. To reject alteration of the JFK skull x-rays is to reject basic physics and radiology.

Dr. Mantik's optical density measurements are hard scientific proof that the skull x-rays have been altered. This historic evidence has been published for well over a decade, but lone-gunman theorists continue to ignore it and continue to pretend that the skull x-rays are pristine and reliable. 

Similarly, lone-gunman theorists continue to ignore the hard scientific evidence that the impossible white patch on the right rear of the skull in the lateral skull x-ray must be a fabrication. They have yet to find a single other skull x-ray that shows such an impossibly white patch. Of course, the white patch conveniently covers part of the area that over 40 witnesses said contained a large wound. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Michael Griffith

[David Lifton]

On 10/23/2022 at 9:49 AM, David G. Healy said:

oh-brother... enjoy? whats to enjoy about a cold blooded murder?

David. . .   miss communicating with you. 

Please send me your  present email address.

David

dlifton@gmail.com   (d l i f t o n @ gmail.com).

[Pat Speer]

14 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

In his endorsement of the book, radiation oncologist Dr. Greg Henkelmann summarizes the matter well when he says,

         Dr. Mantik's optical density analysis is the single most important piece of scientific evidence in the JFK assassination. Unlike other evidence, optical density data is as "theory free" as possible, as this data deals only with physical measurements. To reject alteration of the JFK skull x-rays is to reject basic physics and radiology.

Dr. Mantik's optical density measurements are hard scientific proof that the skull x-rays have been altered. This historic evidence has been published for well over a decade, but lone-gunman theorists continue to ignore it and continue to pretend that the skull x-rays are pristine and reliable. 

Similarly, lone-gunman theorists continue to ignore the hard scientific evidence that the impossible white patch on the right rear of the skull in the lateral skull x-ray must be a fabrication. They have yet to find a single other skull x-ray that shows such an impossibly white patch. Of course, the white patch conveniently covers most of the area that over 40 witnesses said contained a large wound. 

 

 

Oh boy, here we go. The "white patch" is on the side of the head, and not the back of the head. When I pointed this out to Fetzer 10 years ago or so he flipped out and said I must be wrong because the "white patch" covered the large hole low on the posterior skull he so desperately wanted to believe existed. So he confronted Mantik on this, and Mantik confirmed what I said--and he repeated this confirmation at our dueling presentation debate in 2013. Mantik said well yes, the white patch does not extend to the back of the skull, and said further that it did not cover missing skull. He said it covers missing brain. 

So, in short, many of Mantik's biggest supporters have no idea what he's actually concluded. He has an impressive CV and he has some scientific-sounding OD readings. But they really have no idea what he's concluded.