A rich subject roughly, if earnestly, written. A decent argument for the erection of a Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier but little else. A point against the experts in the eternal experts vs. writers nonfiction battle. ( )

I found this book because of an article I read on CNN about the installation of suicide nets on the Golden Gate Bridge. Apparently over the years since the bridge's construction 1,600 people have killed themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge making it the number one suicide spot in the world and I had never heard about it. Interested to learn more I found this book which was very enlightening. Apparently all of the world's landmarks have suicide nets, Sydney Opera House, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, etc. and because of these nets people do not jump from these landmarks. The only landmark without the nets is The Golden Gate Bridge and the Bridge Authority has been quite stubborn about installing them despite three parents throwing their young children over the railing to their deaths. People who jump are generally locals to the area and they are all ages, all professions, and come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Making jumping so enticing is the fact that the rails are only four feet high and anyone can get over. After that it is a neat four second drop to almost certain death. After reading this book you feel angry at the Bridge Authority for their uncaring and dismissive attitude toward the poor souls who kill themselves. A documentary film called The Bridge shot in 2006 caught on camera people jumping approximately every fifteen days. If someone dropped a puppy off the side of the bridge every fifteen days you can bet there would be a stop to that yet the bridge authority seems to extend no sympathy to people who they feel are using the bridge for unintended purposes. They refuse to keep track of the exact numbers of people jumping because they supposedly don't want to encourage anyone but it seems more like that they don't want to face the problem and actually have to do something. Anyway at long last the nets will be installed and it seems not a moment too soon. The surprising thing is when the author related what the few jumpers who survived the fall had to say about their leap. Despite their injuries they are now all doing wonderful and glad they survived. One man named Kevin said that soon as he jumped he knew it was a mistake and wanted to live. These people went on to get the right medication and lead productive lives. Studies have shown that for some people it is killing themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge or they don't take their lives. Some peoples don't jump for no other reason than simply not being able to find a parking place. People will not find any alternative means when the bridge option is cut off. Also when people jump they want to die not be maimed. Once the nets are installed people will stop jumping. After reading the heart breaking stories of the people left behind after their loved ones killed themselves you will never wonder why the nets are necessary only what took them so damn long. To read more about the nets click here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/27/health/golden-gate-suicide-barrier/ ( )

Interesting look at the Golden Gate Bridge. It seems mainly focused on convincing us of the need for a suicide barrier. Paired with The Bridge, a film by Eric Steel you have to agree with them. Good portraits of victims and families. Also stories of people who lived after the jump. Tough reading, but good information. ( )

The Golden gate Bridge is the #1 suicide site in the world with only 1 in 50 jumpers surviving the fall. Asks the question - do we value human life (the debate over suicide barriers) over pretty views?

The book is basically a 309-page argument for the erection of an anti-suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. I had known the bridge was a suicide hotspot and a few dozen people listed on my missing persons website are thought to have died there, but I didn't realize the toll was so high: more than 1,500 confirmed deaths and probably the true number is closer to 2,000. In the first book ever written on the subject of GGB suicides, Bateson interviewed the families of jumpers, the very few who have survived, the coroners, Coast Guard officials and other professionals who have to pick up the bodies, and other people affected by this long and continuing string of deaths.

I am appalled that, to this day, the majority of San Franciscans oppose the idea of putting up a barrier, and the Board of Directors in charge of the bridge have done practically nothing to stop the suicides and indeed have tried to cover up the problem. (Recently the Board did vote in favor of a barrier, but didn't vote to allocate funds toward its construction, so what is the difference?) The arguments -- that it would be expensive, that it would ruin the view, that people would just go kill themselves elsewhere -- have been proven time and time again to be specious and false. People either don't know that a barrier would save lives, or more likely, they just don't care.

Books like this make me lose my faith in humanity. But someone has to know these things. I applaud the author for writing this and exposing the problem. Now I'm off to watch the documentary The Bridge. ( )