Suicide and Attempted Suicide [Paperback]

Geo Stone (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786709405 | ISBN-13: 978-0786709403 | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

Too often attempted suicide leads to unintended consequences, because ignorance is deadly and desperation can be fatal. In this morally courageous book, Geo Stone sets out to diminish the lack of awareness about suicide, from the tragedy of teenage suicide to the debate over assisted suicide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786709405
• ISBN-13: 978-0786709403
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,146,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

400 of 404 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Suicide Cookbook, April 19, 2003

By 

insteadlaugh "an evolving consciousness" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suicide and Attempted Suicide (Paperback)

"Suicide and Attempted Suicide: Methods and Consequences" by Geo Stone is a cookbook. But instead of teaching you how to make a soufflé or Peking Duck, it has recipes for death. Like any good cookbook, the methods are clearly categorized by chapter (such as asphyxiation), and each has step by step instructions, as well as medical background about how it works, how difficult it is to do, what could go wrong, and what to do in each case to ensure lethality.

There's no nonsense here. You won't be talked down to or patronized. It's accurate and precise information written by a doctor who has studied each method. This makes it an important and interesting book because there is very little accurate information on this subject available. Dr. Stone is clear to point out that there are many misconceptions about suicide methods in the general public. And if you're going to play with fire, don't you think you it is wise to know what you're doing?

Just like any cookbook the author does not make tangential remarks about why he made this book. But there is an underlying message of personal responsibility here that can be gleaned from the book's introduction and Dr. Stone's dark humor.

Part One of the book describes suicide in broad terms, speaking of the different kinds of people who in the past had made successful or unsuccessful attempts. And there's a clear warning that due to lack of information some people who didn't really want to die, end up making the tragic mistake of using a method that is much more lethal than intended. The reverse warning is also here: That for those who wanted to die, and took action without clear thought often results in waking up in an Emergency Room with a damaged body or a slow and painful death.

Personally, I am more familiar with genuinely wanting to die rather than using a suicide attempt as a gesture for attention. When I read this book, I was depressed and specifically purchased the book for the "recipes" in Part Two. I was amazed to discover how many choices you have, even when your goal is the same. As I continued to read, I realized that these methods would always be there, waiting for me, tucked away like a fire extinguisher. Despite the great pain that you might be feeling, I realized that there is no need to rush things. I could execute one of these methods, and ensure my death, at any time I chose.

What I'm about to say might sound strange to you initially, but this feeling of certainty and control over your own destiny is something that I hadn't felt before. So, now, as I finished reading, and put it back on the shelf, I wondered what things in life existed to which I had not properly been introduced. If there were so many ways to die, could there be even more ways to live? I believe this feeling of control and certainty that I now felt is what kept the book on the shelf and me in the game. I hope that if you purchase this book, you will experience a similar feeling.

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and Necessary, December 2, 2004

By 

Robert Louis Stevenson "Sophie" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suicide and Attempted Suicide (Paperback)

This is a disturbing book, but, given the culture we live in, an essential one. I believe it will deter those that need detering and assist those who truly need self-deliverance and are unable to get help from others.

One comment: geo stone, along with all others writing about 'taboo' matters, is still way behind when it comes to an informed and humane understanding of depression - indeed 'mental health' illnesses in all their forms. Today we understand that epilepsy is a condition. Years ago people living with any kind of epilepsy - there are many forms of the illness - were considered to be inhabited by the devil, satan, etc. Our views on mental health illnesses remain just as stunted and backward.

Many people living with, for example, agitated depression since childhood have treatment-resistant brains that have incurred damage over time. These good folks are currently considered off-limits by everyone when the subject of assisted suicide is mentioned. The excrutiating and relentless pain of untreated, long-term depression in any form, rivals any physical pain from cancer, kidney stones - anything. Yet still, people with depression are lumped together; termed 'mentally ill'; and are treated like scum. Even those living with schizophrenia have moments inbetween the episodes where they can see the hell they occupy. Many folks living with depression of any kind never get a break from the pain - they suffer and witness and exprience the pain without any numbing or relief AND are amongst the most sane people you could hope to meet. They are not 'crazy' - they have illnesses. They are not 'irrational' - they are ill.

Someone dying of cancer has the right to assistance from groups like the Hemlock Society, but not someone in the hell of depression that has not been touched by any kind of medication at any time. My sincere hope is that our culture will begin to understand that depression can hit in many guises and that many people live untreated in hell. These people deserve the right to assisted self-deliverance and if that help is not around the corner, the right to know, in detail, how to deliver themselves so that the suffering may cease. Who amongst us should be expected to live an unlivable life? Who should be so punished?

I think this is a great book. And I hope that works like this will open up other 'taboo' areas, such as the one I've written about above.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected-in a good way, August 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Suicide and Attempted Suicide (Paperback)

I spent some time with this book at a local bookseller. This subject has been with me for much of my 40+ years of life and I was curious to read something that could offer real advice about how to commit suicide successfully. However, as I read about the various methods explained in detail including pros and cons I became more and more discouraged about attempting such an act. There were just too many examples of what could (and has in fact) go wrong leading to among other things disfigurement, blindness, brain damage, etc. By the time I was done reading I was dissapointed by finding too many "cons" to go along with the "pros". Too many in fact to actually go through with the act-at least for now-hopefully forever. May all of you struggling with despair and thoughts of suicide find the sanctuary you need to sustain life. Don't give up. I wish you all well!