Suicide Books

This book is not about true crime but about the religious outlook and theory regarding about revolutionary suicide, cults, and Jim Jones' religious teachings. It's not about the mass murder that occurred in Jonestown but about the author's research into the religious aspect of Jonestown. I wished the author had placed some pictures besides the one on the book. The horrible, tragic mass murder that occurred on November 18, 1978 was not the first white night which were mass suicide drills. This time, it was real for everybody. There was poison in their drinks and Jim Jones was not joking that this was it. But why did he think this way? Where did this theology come from in the first place? The book attempts to answer the questions about the event's religious impact. I read about revolutionary suicide which I did not know before. As the years pass, the Jonestown Holocaust slowly goes unnoticed except for the few documentaries and visits. Jonestown was not just about Jim Jones but about the socialism, communism, and collective lives there in Guyana which went horribly wrong. I encourage anybody interested in reading about Jonestown, the People's Temple, and Jim Jones beyond the criminal acts and the governments' failures in preventing this tragedy.

An excellent book that should be read by everyone 18 and over. I found the book very informative and inspirational but was not prepared for some parts which were shocking. This should not have surprised me though as this is life at the desperate level on a big city crisis hotline. A Fortune 500 senior executive, sitting at his desk with a gun in front of him ready to commit suicide, a gentleman with two doctorate degrees in charge of research at his company ready to turn on his car's ignition in his enclosed garage at home. This is life at its most traumatic told by callers as they seek help, as well as a compassionate and calming voice on the crisis hotline. The appendix at the end of the book lists all the crisis line telephone numbers throughout the USA and Canada and should be on everyone's reference shelf.

This work is a tremendous resource for all school professionals, particularly school leaders and mental health staff. It gives theoretical background information about youth suicide and its prevention. It offers statistics and outlines policy endeavors to help support suicide prevention. Lastly, it provides very practical suggestions about how to set up a suicide prevention program and maintain it in a school district. Well done.

I read this book at the recomendation of a friend. Because it is a brutally honest book it is difficult in spots to read, if only because you feel the pain and the angst of the author and his patients as well as his fellow Suicide Anonymous group members. I give Dr. Taylor many kudos for being brave enough to write this book. Dr. Taylor has attempted suicide four times and tells his story in a very forthright way. Not many human service workers would admit to having his difficulties, yet here is a psychiatrist brave enough to tell it all. I am glad to see a book finally written on the subject because for far too many people the act of suicide or attempted suicides is as much an addiction as alcohol,food, or any other substance. No one would ever tell you that in college or graduate school. In the end this is a story of hope and community. Suicide addiction is finally out of the closet. It has changed the way I do my work.
Every community should have a Suicide Anonymous group.

"See Dave Run" like many beautiful, brilliant, young adult novels of the 1970s is disappearing at an alarming rate! The book is the tale of Dave, a 15 year old high school student. Like many teens, he is experiencing family problems. His stepfather is callous and cruel to him. His mother is an ineffectual drinker. Dave smokes pot, skips classes, and is generally fed up, so he runs away from home.

This book has lost none of its power over the years. Its structure is truly interesting, the story is told utilizing different narrators: the people Dave encounters during his run, and from the point of view of the people he left behind.

Though written for teens, the book doesn't mince around with the realities of life on the streets. If anything it is even more relevant when we the readers of 2000 realize the threat of AIDS rather than gonorea or VD.

I don't think this book should fade into oblivion, I think it should be reissued and that almost everyone would enjoy it. Maybe future Social Workers could read it.

From the standpoint of a Psych RN this book gives great insight into the mindset of a suicidal patient. It has been helpful in my own work with the depressed. Ms. Quinn's unique and simple style of writing make it a pleasure to read. Her delicate way of handling the subject of child sexual and emotional abuse make this a little easier to read. The account of her life give the notion that there is hope in overcoming the addiction to suicide. I highly rcommend this book to anyone who has experienced this type of abuse or to those who work with the abused.

Since the early 1980s, as Salim Mansur wrote, the world has witnessed many instances of the grotesque instrument of suicide bombings, spreading death, destruction, and fear. It is, therefore, essential to understand the terrorist organizations that adopt this method of waging war. Shay's study on shahids (Islamic martyrs) is a timely investigation into this subject that should be widely read.

As Shay notes, suicide terror is not a new phenomenon, nor is it entirely located within the extremist culture of political Islam. Two of the most prominent individual victims of suicide bombings were Rajiv Gandhi, a former prime minister of India, killed in 1991 by a Tamil female bomber during a political rally in the midst of an election campaign, and similarly, Sri Lankan president Primadasa, assassinated in 1993.

Shay's book includes a useful historical survey of Islamic suicide bombings taking the readers all the way back to the eleventh century Hassan as-Sabah in his famous fortress, "Alamut," on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Sabah organized the secret order of the Hashshashin (Assassins), and his followers, for a while, terrorized centers of political authority across the Middle East in the midst of the Crusades. The Shahids also includes a compilation of recent suicide bombings for anyone wanting to review the record since 9-11. Although Israel has been the most often hit target of suicide bombers, most victims of suicide bombings these days are Iraqi Shi`ites.

The Tamil Tigers, waging war against Sri Lankan authorities to establish an independent Tamil entity on the island, were primarily responsible for being the first to employ suicide bombings as their weapon of terror. Other terrorist organizations such as the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) in Turkey, the Chechen rebels in Chechnya and Russia, and jihadi groups based in Pakistan responsible for terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir within India, adopted the Tamil innovation of suicide bombings to sow fear in the mistaken belief that their respective causes can succeed as a result.

Shay has filled an essential gap in our understanding of suicide bombings as a modern political phenomenon and, moreover, armed with religious justifications when it comes to Muslim terrorism. His book begs the question, however, in what manner will Muslims repudiate both the politics of jihadi terrorism and the use of Islam to justify a crime that no religion worth its name can legitimate or defend. But that is a book only to be written when Muslims will have recovered their faith tradition from the perversions it has been subjected to by men in religious garbs such as Ayatollah Khomeini or the blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman.

Small Mercies by Barbara McCauley

I first read Small Mercies while it was still in galley form, before it went to press. I was afraid to read it-and I am not usually afraid of books. But this was a book about the aftermath of a suicide in the family and I was still quaking from that event in my own life.

The man in my life for ten years had committed suicide less than a month before with no warning, no reason I could grasp. I was afraid that this would just be a new-age band-aid with condescending slogans and glib rationalizations. I was in no mood for any cheap slogans or insights you can mumble your way through on afternoon talk shows.

Then, on the second page I read "Memory is fiction enough, that realm in which we create our own life stories." and I knew that I could trust this author, and this book, with my raw feelings. McCauley is a skilled writer who knows the truth of her own life without varnish or pretense and this is a book I read and then re-read during that difficult time. But this is not a self-help or how-to title. McCauley's writing has the kind of inner light in it that Vemeer had in his quiet paintings.

Small Mercies is a carefully crafted memoir moving from dazzling moments that felt like creased candid snapshots of childhood and sisterhood-that reservoir of human tenderness I needed to locate again in myself to ever allow any real healing-and the struggle to assign blame, the consuming anger, that self-sabotage of numbness that is the legacy of those left alive after suicide. In short, she knows. And miraculously she manages to get that knowing on paper.

I give this book my highest recommendation.

Even if you are not familiar with John Michael's most beautiful music, his life story (so far) is a fascinating read. Dan O'Neil does a fantastic job with this biography; it is intelligently written and progresses easily without missing a detail. THIS IS A LIFE WORTH STUDYING. It is also a great book if you are looking for a companion for your own spiritual journey. I think everyone who gets to know him concludes, "Thank God for John Michael Talbot!"

When nine-year-old Rose's family is in a car crash, Rose is faced with a tremendoous amount of grief. Her sister has brain damage and her father holds strong as he suffers with and iron peg in his leg. Rose's mother is taken to a different hospital and dies there. Even when Rose blaims her father for her mother's death, he holds strong and heals his family with dignity. This is a heart felt story of love, grief and healing, sure to touch your heart in a special way.