Thomas Joiner

An interesting look at what, exactly, are the distinguishing characteristics of those who die by suicide, according to the author's theory. (If you wanted to make this book into a drinking game, you could take a shot every time he writes "my theory", but then you'd be so drunk after the first chapter you'd never finish the book.)

This book sort of crosses, and recrosses again, the fine line between overly scientific and oriented towards the layperson. At times I found the book very accessible, and at times there were sentences riddled with words I've never seen before in my life.

At any rate, you won't find much about mental illness in here, which sort of makes sense, considering that the author is trying to tease out why people kill themselves, and not everybody with a mental illness actually carries out a suicide attempt or dies by one. But still, I found it maybe a bit shortsighted that therapy methods were mentioned briefly, and antidepressants were almost lost in three paragraphs. So, I'm not sure what the author really recommends that one does if one has all of the warning signs for suicide. Go to therapy? I guess? It was hard to tell, ultimately, what his recommendations are. And that's where I think this book really falls short.… (meer)

The book was pretty repetitive (kept bringing up the same examples over and over again) and I wish it had a better table of contents. But Joiner definitely knows his stuff and he writes in a very engaging way, with appropriate intensity and details. I think I agree with everything he said about the various myths. I would recommend this to suicidal people, their families and friends, and anyone who's just interested in the subject. If I commit suicide, I might will my diaries to Dr. Joiner for his research.… (meer)