Product Description

In semiautobiographical stories set largely in David Vann's native Alaska, Legend of a Suicide follows Roy Fenn from his birth on an island at the edge of the Bering Sea to his return thirty years later to confront the turbulent emotions and complex legacy of his father's suicide.

Customer Reviews (11)

A Groundbreaking Gasp-Out-Loud Work of Real Fiction
In the postscript to this astoundingly original book, David Vann quotes Grace Paley in saying that "every line in fiction has to be true.It has to be a distillation of experience more true to a person's life than any moment he or she has actually lived."

Through that definition, Legends of a Suicide is a true book.James Edward Vann - the author's father - did, indeed, kill himself when David was only 13.But the circumstances described here are that of mythology - a real-world event that is imagined, transformed, repackaged, reimagined.The book holds fast to the truth of the suicide and how it affected the author, even when it diverges significantly from the facts.

In ways, one can describe this book as a howl in the dark;the tentacles of the father's despairing act reach through the years and ensnare the author for decades. The book - opening and closing interweaving short stories and a novella - are mostly set in Ketchikan and the isolated Alaska woods.

What emerges is the portrait of a self-absorbed, clinically depressed, damaged man.At one point, the fictional-but-real father says, "I need the world animated and I need it to refer to me.I need to know that when a glacier shifts or a bear farts, it has something to do with me..."

Half-way through the book, there is a gasp-out-loud moment that will totally transform the relationship between the father, the son, and indeed, the reader.Everything is suddenly reconfigured and as the book takes form again, the reader begins to realize exactly how the suicide has affected the author.I will not reveal this spoiler, but it is one of the most astonishing feats I've seen in reimagined fiction. And although the reader understands that he or she is truly in a psychological wilderness, it does not take away from the truth of the experience.

There are hints of Tobias Wolff and even Hemingway in the author's control of the style, but make no mistake:this is a very authentic new voice.At the end of the day, it's about a vulnerable son who does not have the mental apparatus to deal with an emotionally ill father who desperately seeks to stay on top of his life while falling through the crevices.It will transport you to unchartered territories.The friend who recommended this book told me, "THIS is why we read."I wholeheartedly agree.

A Brilliant Book About the Legacy of Suicide
David Vann's Legend of a Suicide: Stories (P.S.) consists of a novella and short stories that are semi-autobiographical.Vann spent his early years in Ketchikan, Alaska where his father had a dental practice. His father sold the practice and bought a fishing boat that he hoped would provide a living.His father invested unwisely and lost a lot of money.On top of that, the IRS was after him for some investments he made in other countries.Vann's parents divorced when Vann was about five years old because his father was unfaithful.Vann was witness to some horrific fights between his parents.His father was mercurial of mood, likely with manic-depression that appears to have been undiagnosed.After his parent's divorce, Vann moved to California with his mother and sister.When Vann was thirteen years old, his father asked him to spend a year in Alaska with him.Vann declined.Two weeks later, his father shot himself.This book is Vann's attempt to get his head around his father's suicide, along with his own feelings of guilt, shame, anger, denial and fears.

Vann states in an interview that he believes that it is important to read this book in order.In the book, David refers to himself as Roy and his father as Jim.The opening story, 'Ichthyology', is a beautiful and painful story about the impact of his parent's divorce on Roy's behaviors.He becomes oppositional and vandalizes his neighborhood.No one appears to connect his behaviors with what is happening in his life at the time.The story is told against the backdrop of Roy's aquarium and a blinded iridescent shark that manages to survive a horrific attack and continues to live, gradually learning to make its way in the tank without bumping into things.

The novella,'Sukkwan Island', is in two parts.It took my breath away with its wildness, beauty, pain and anguish.In the first part, Roy goes with his father to Sukkwan Island, an uninhabited island in southeast Alaska, where his father has purchased land and a cabin.There, he has to deal with the horrors of his father's anger, unpreparedness and depression.His father cries most every night and `confesses' to Roy about the mistakes he's made in his life.Roy doesn't know what to do.He wants to leave the island but he is afraid of hurting his father.His father ends up taking his life.In part two,Roy walks in and witnesses his father holding a pistol to his head.His father gives Roy the pistol and walks out.The action of suicide and the reactions to it are what give this novella its power and grace.What leads up to suicide or attempted suicide is a psychological study of the human psyche lost in pain and despair, choosing to go into the unknown rather than live another day.I have never read such an achingly painful testimony to grief and survival.

In the short story `Ketchikan', Roy is a young man of 30 who returns to Ketchikan to try and learn something about his father.Though he is not very successful, he does re-enact some of his rage and anger towards his father by replicating the vandalism of his youth.

This is a book of metaphors, layers, and attempts to build meaning out of nuance and emotion.It is a brilliant book, one that left me feeling raw and numb but also in awe of having read something that will stay with me forever.

Suicide as entertainment
David Vann's book is not conventional.The title and the first short story reveal where the plot is heading, so I do not think this is a spoiler.I read the book twice to enjoy the beautiful descriptions of Alaska, and the fascinating descriptions of survival off the land.Vann is as talented as Jack London in describing Alaska.
The format of the book is unusual.It consists of six related short stories, of which the longest probably is a stand alone novella.The unconventional aspect is that the object of the suicide changes in the two plot threads: in several, the decedent is the father, and in the novella, the decedent is the son.Since Vann uses the same two characters in all of the stories, I found this unsettling, until I relaxed and appreciated this as a collection of lovely short stories. When I quit evaluating the book as a novel, which it is not, I appreciated it more.
Vann's description of the father's mental illness is beautiful and nuanced.He never tells the reader what the father's ailment is, and then proceeds to describe the pain and suffering of a bipolar disorder.As a reader I found myself becoming impatient with the father, wanting him to just "straighten up".This book made me focus on my own attitude toward mental health issues.When I see someone in a wheel chair, I feel sympathy.When I interact with a mental patient, like many people I wonder why they don't just behave themselves.Vann's treatment of the disturbed father is a fair and painful treatment of the suffering of the mentally ill, the pain they inflict on others, and their inability to receive relief withoutmajor intervention.I thought of the old observation as I read about the father, that if I knew my pet was suffering as much as the father through his depression, I would put down the pet.
This book is essentially a treatment of two fictional suicides.It does not seem to rely on classic studies for explanation or plot development.For example, there is no comment on Durkheim and anomie as an explanation.And yet, both of the decedents were deeply alienated from friends, family and meaningful relationships, compounded by isolation in the magnificent Alaskan wilderness.
One should probably read this book while in a stable mental condition, as it presents disturbing images and interaction.
Vann has the potential to be a major force in fiction.

powerful and moving
Roy Fenn is the autobiographical version of David Vann as he explores his father's suicide. Legend of a Suicide is made up offive short stories and one novella. Most of the stories take place in Alaska, except one with Roy as an angry teen in California, watching his mother date a myriad of men. The novella, Sukkwan Island, is in two parts and takes place on a remote island off Alaska, reachable only by small plane, where Roy, age thirteen, and his father are to live for one year.

my review:
I thought these stories and the writing was very powerful. I was moved by Roy and felt his pain. Sukkawan Island was a fascinating look at time spent in a remote wilderness. Roy's dad, Jim, dumps his emotional baggage on Roy and I felt him crushed by the weight of it. Just two people unequipped to deal with their surroundings, one man unequipped to deal with himself, and a thirteen year old boy unequipped to deal with his father's issues.
The novella didn't seem to go with the other stories, so I don't think they were meant to tell just one story but several different ones. This did not detract from the experience of this book though.
These are not sentimental stories, but stark, truthful words to make a powerful reading experience that I highly recommend.

my rating 5/5

A family of characters and some possibilities of their destiny
David Vann's "Legend of a Suicide" is a collections of short stories - a very peculiar one, by the way. The five - or 4 stories and a novella - features more or less the same characters, but the stories aren't really linked or related. The author writes about possible lives for these people - all the time focusing of loss, suffering and the attempt the recover, or, at least, survival.

The best and longest one is "Sukkwan Island". It is about a twice divorced father and his son, spending a time in a remote and isolated island in Alaska. These two people could be the same ones in a previous story named "Rhoda" - the name of a woman to whom a divorced father gets married. The second wife of the father in the novella is also named Rhoda, but who can be sure the story is about the same people. They could be, but, also, they could not. That's one of the beauties of this poignant book, in which Vann seems to think how the destiny of a group of people could unfold.

Another beauty of "Legend of a Suicide" comes from the language. In the back of the book, the author acknowledges some other writers who have influenced him. Among them are Comarc McCarthy and Marilynne Robinson - two of the best American writers working nowadays. From McCarthy comes a clear sense of language, and the narrative voice. The third person narrator of "Sukkwan Island" (all the other stories are told in the first person) has a voice likely the one in McCarthy's "The border trilogy", especially in "All the pretty horses".

"In the morning, Roy remembered the crying, and it seemed to him that this was exactly what he was not supposed to do. By some agreement he had never been witness to, he was supposed to hear at night and then by day, not only forget but somehow make it not have happened."

From Robinson, Vann has acquired the pace and some of the depth - especially in the father-son dynamics. "The thing is", the father says once, "something about me is not right. I can't just do the right thing and be who I supposed to be. Somethingabout me won't let me do that".

But while Vann is inspired by elements from these two - and maybe some other - writers, he is not copycatting anything. In "Legend of a Suicide" we find a writer who can make his own style, his own prose and build characters with depth and humanity.

It is known that Vann's father committed suicide himself. This is a fact that somehow is present through "Legend of a Suicide", but with sometimes subverted. If writing the book was a personal catharsis for the writer, for the reader it is a touching experience. Like an iceberg at first we are able to see only the tip, but the more you dig in the book, the deeper the stories are, we realize.
... Read more

Product Description

Like many people in America and around the world, Talal Asad experienced the events of September 11, 2001, largely through the media and the emotional response of others. For many non-Muslims, "the suicide bomber" quickly became the icon of "an Islamic culture of death"& mdash;a conceptual leap that struck Asad as problematic. Is there a "religiously-motivated terrorism?" If so, how does it differ from other cruelties? What makes its motivation "religious"? Where does it stand in relation to other forms of collective violence?

Drawing on his extensive scholarship in the study of secular and religious traditions as well as his understanding of social, political, and anthropological theory and research, Asad questions Western assumptions regarding death and killing. He scrutinizes the idea of a "clash of civilizations," the claim that "Islamic jihadism" is the essence of modern terror, and the arguments put forward by liberals to justify war in our time. He critically engages with a range of explanations of suicide terrorism, exploring many writers' preoccupation with the motives of perpetrators. In conclusion, Asad examines our emotional response to suicide (including suicide terrorism) and the horror it invokes.

On Suicide Bombing is an original and provocative analysis critiquing the work of intellectuals from both the left and the right. Though fighting evil is an old concept, it has found new and disturbing expressions in our contemporary "war on terror." For Asad, it is critical that we remain aware of the forces shaping the discourse surrounding this mode of violence, and by questioning our assumptions about morally good and morally evil ways of killing, he illuminates the fragile contradictions that are a part of our modern subjectivity.

Customer Reviews (3)

A scathing and powerful critique of the liberal consciousness.
No book to date has so cleanly highlighted the insidious depth of the cruelty and violence on which contemporary liberalism stands.It forces us to consider, in earnest, is the form of suicide bombing even something which can be considered a product of anything but liberal politics (mind you, hearing this before reading the book may do some damage to its argument).

the best yet on the topic
This book based on the Wellek lectures at U.C. Irvine is the best book on the topic of suicide bombings.As the other reviewer stated, it's approach brings "depth" to the topic, especially an understanding of Islam and the Arabic language, both of which tend to be seen as insignificant not only in the mainstream press but also in academic circles.Asad demonstrates why cultural anthropology has contributions to make to a topic and a region dominated by political science with its biases in which meaning lies away from "the ground up" and for the people it presumes to represent.

Some highlights that struck me--Asad's point that suicide bombing is about histories and the fact that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the history of Israeli expansion and Palestinian dispossession is always bracketed out, so that various kinds of political violence are abstracted from this political context.Another point he made is about the "West's" own "culture of death."I was very struck by his discussion of colonial and contemporary warfare waged by the West and the development of advanced weaponry designed to beat out at every turn surgical skill.Israel, prior to its departure from Lebanon last summer, left over cluster bombs AFTER the cessation of hostilities.There was no military point, no self-defense or security involved in that act.This act was aimed at a civilian population for no reason at all other than to maim and kill.The U.S. State Dept. "regrets" that Israel still hasn't turned over the maps that show where the cluster bombs were dropped, so that they can be safely disarmed.This is part of a culture of death in which beheadings are seen as more cruel than the machinations of the West's advanced weaponry, not because of any objective measure of "cruelty," but because non-Europeans do it to Europeans and their descendents.

The other point that Asad makes that I found profoundly intriguing was that in the West we impose a Christian understanding of martrydom--i.e.the crucifixion--onto public suicide bombings, but there is nothing redemptive about the suicide, so that leads Westerners to a problem in interpretation which we retreat from via righteous anger.

Asad doesn't try to pretend that the West is just obsessed with suicide bombings because of the media, although his quoting Mai Jayoussi on the I.D.F. figures which show that only 4% of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis are suicide bombings, was startling even to me, and I've lived and done research in the Occupied Territories.He takes on public suicides and shows how interpreting their meaning confounds assumptions in the West about the relationship between the state, the law, and public death.

Looking for the real answers - ask the right questions
Rather than giving us more "imaginary" scenarios of what "might be goingon in the mind of a terrorist" (as if modern torture methods or any other methods could definitively uncover intentions - a witch hunt mentality), Talal Asad is asking the right questions.What makes terrorism so terrifying that it has to be labeled distinctively - rather, than say, a gun-wielding student running amok at a university, killing 30+ people and then himself?Why does the topic of suicide bombing cause overwhelming horror over and beyond the scope of other horrific acts by state armies or school shootings - the disproportionate maiming and killing of civillians, women and children from far range by modern military weapons?The author doesn't attempt to give simplistic answers and wave the problems away, nor does he apologetically defend any perpetrator of terror - individual dissident or modern government.

What he does is uncover the disturbing truth that the double standard exists in our media and liberal democracy discussions: as soon as a modern government labels a dissident regime or country or religious group as "barbaric" or "uncivilized", it gives itself the right to kill "their" citizens or attack "their" defenses just as it has been previously attacked.Where is the line crossed?

Very deep reading.The author touches on Islamic and Christian culture and compares and contrasts what living and dying mean in each.This was one of its strongest aspects.Once the ideas of living, dying, and sacrifice are understood in terms of a particular culture, only then can its stance on suicide or bombing or terrorism be correctly understood.Do proponents of terrorism or suicide bombing abide by the tenets of their religion or is it a subversion of their teachings?Or does it even depend on their circumstances or our reading of it as a foreign culture with the necessary misinterpretations?It is a highly engaging book and covers many more relevant and related areas.I am glad it covers a side of the issues that is sorely missing and needed and has been missing from the contemporary media and intellectuals/academics who, as usual, are like a flock of sheep, saying about terrorism and the Islamic world just what everyone else does. ... Read more

Product Description
Rabbits. We’ll never quite know why, but sometimes they decide they’ve just had enough of this world. A Box of Bunny Suicides follows over two hundred bunnies as they find ever more outlandish ways to do themselves in. From an encounter with the business end of Darth Vader’s light saber to hiding under an elephant’s footstool, no stone goes unturned (or undropped, or uncatapulted) as these twisted little cuties sign off in style.

A Box of Bunny Suicides combines Andy Riley’s two cult favorite books, The Book of Bunny Suicides and The Return of the Bunny Suicides, and will appeal to anyone in touch with their darker side. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Funny bunnies, twisted humor
I purchased this boxed two-volume set as an Easter gift for my thirteen-year-old nephew. He's at an age when the traditional trappings of an Easter basket are a little juvenile for him, so this collection of cartoons -- depicting a variety of humorous (if somewhat twisted) scenarios wherein cute little bunnies might meet their self-inflicted demise -- seemed a good alternative. There's nothing too graphic in the black and white illustrations; most of the single-panel cartoons capture the moment prior to the bunny's end, leaving the actual demise to the imagination of the reader. Many parents would no doubt find the theme of these cartoons rude or sick, but for a thirteen-year-old boy the gags in "A Box of Bunny Suicides" are as lowbrow and humorous (and relatively harmless) as a Garbage Pail Kid sticker or one of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books. These bunnies meet their maker and make for a quick, fun read.

Hilarious
If you love seeing adorable, intelligent bunnies plot their demise in creative ways, this is the book for you!

If you laugh, you have to ask yourself, "How twisted am I?"
For some reason, it's completely endearing and hilarious for bunnies to try to commit suicide. Perhaps it's because the ingenious and absurd machines, traps, and situations they put themselves in require a tremendously dark wit, and we don't expect these dandelion munchers to express such cynicism.

There are a number of people who try to imitate Andy Riley's bunny suicide comics, and they sometimes come out all wrong. For example, they tend to show the death of the bunny. This is unfortunate, because the joke is in the reader's mind, trying to figure what the bunny is thinking and how the suicide will work, not showing the reader the gruesome death.

People with a dark sense of humor will enjoy this book, and judging from the way it has been out of stock at some bookstores, there are a lot of us out there.

SICK SICK series
Bunnies are innocent,sweet and loving creatures. The author and anyone who finds this funny are very sick persons. If you wouldn't condone this sort of stuff written about children then you shouldn't condone it about bunnies or any other animals!!

Very funny!
Okay, It's sick humor, but humorous it is!A few years ago, I hit a poor little bunny, but I could swear it was committing suicide. I was on a country road going about 25mhp and it ran under the car after the front wheels passed it. This book will actually make you laugh out loud! ... Read more

Product Description
The SuicideGirls adult-entertainment website mixes the edginess, smarts, and attitude of the best alternative music and culture sites with an unapologetic, grassroots approach to sexuality. It is "empowered erotica," in which women outside of mainstream culture showcase their unique personal styles on their own pages, where they put up sexy pinup-style photos of themselves, post a personal profile, and keep online journals in which they discuss daily experiences (both naughty and nice). In this way, they are in charge of their own image and how they are represented. The Girls are from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, England, Finland, and Sweden. In addition to journal entries selected from the site and over 200 artful X-rated color photos, the book contains an introduction by Missy Suicide about how she got involved with this revolutionary culture and started the website. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (115)

Decadent
I call this book "decadent" and by that I mean an ignorant form of self-indulgence glamorized as something artful, and symbolizing the dumbing down and degradation of culture. Above all, sexist in the worst way.

Let me qualify where I'm coming from. I'm not a feminist, not a holy man, and not a "do gooder." I'm a professional cleaner and I came across this book during a suicide cleanup. The victim's last moments were spent looking at this book. What else should I say? Could I say this book reaffirms life and female power? It did nothing for my female, Hispanic suicide victim.

I want to let readers know that Hispanic female suicides are very rare, except in Santa Ana, California. So I'm inclined to say that this "book" does indeed raise suicidal ideation in those prone to suicide. Perhaps the correlation doesn't work, but the logic does, at least for me.
Avoid this book and discard it whenever possible.
Eddie Evans
[...]

Average... to say the most
I tried to love this book, believe me, I really tried, but the substance is just not there. First, I have never really visited the site, and just heard of it on an HBO special, so, I cannot compare the book to the online content.

Now, yes, I admit, the binding, quality of the paper and printing (ergo: everything not having to do with content) is fairly good, but let's be real! You wouldn't buy the thing if it was a bunch of ink jet prints on a three ring binder, would you?

The content, that's another story. Let me explain:

(1) The models are attractive young women who are not necessarily the typical Barbie model you find on most nude photography books, that was, perhaps, the biggest plus of the book. But they aren't either the "typical" goth/emo girl out there. Indeed, far from it.
(2) The photography style is very amateurish! Yeah, I am an amateur photographer myself, and maybe I wouldn't do a better job (and would have a harder time to find so many girls who want to pose naked for me), but I am not selling average pin up pictures as top notch counter culture nude photography! Nothing really memorable about the photographic technique.
(3) The girls, the poses and the backgrounds (all in doors) are relatively OK, but not much more than that. It looks like a slumber party of legal aged young ladies, mostly tattooed, who got curious with a camera, took a few thousand pictures during a weekend, and then picked the top 10%. Most of them are average, at most, a few are a bit above average, and for me, just two are memorable! (lower left corner on page 44, Rose's back, being the one I liked the most, curiously enough, a 2'x2' print only!).

Not really erotic, not really artistic, at least on my opinion. Having such a repertoire of beautiful tattooed women, they could have done a lot better job. I, for once, am not impressed. Indeed, I'm probably removing the rest of their books from my wish list!

a+
Great buy, fast service, and over al the book in great conditionlots of great pin-up in there!

Hot HOT and a couple that are questionable
I dig tattoos, I dig chiqs, I dig naked punk rock girls! If you do to, then this book is for you. Great work by Missy, she is HOT!

Poor pictures
I'm not famillair with the website ,so unless you're a fan don't buy this book .
Just common or ugly girls with tattoos and/or piercing pretending to be rebels ...To what and what for ? ... Read more

Product Description

Almost every week, suicide bombers attack. We know the danger—suicide attacks kill more people than all other forms of terrorism—and in response we have sacrificed the lives of soldiers and civilians, trillions of dollars, and America’s reputation abroad in a futile quest for absolute security. But do we really understand what drives people to deliberately kill themselves on a mission to harm the innocent?

Cutting the Fuse offers a wealth of new knowledge about the origins of suicide terrorism and strategies to stop it. Robert A. Pape and James K. Feldman have examined every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from 1980 to 2009. Their work fundamentally changes how we understand the root causes of the most important terrorist campaigns today and reveals why the War on Terror has been ultimately counterproductive.

Since 2004, the number of suicide attacks—whether within a country or transnational—has grown with shocking speed. Through a close analysis of suicide campaigns by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, the authors provide powerful new evidence that, contrary to popular and dangerously mistaken belief, only a tiny minority of these attacks are motivated solely by religion. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people alike to carry out suicide attacks.

Cutting the Fuse calls for new, effective solutions that America and its allies can sustain for decades, relying less on ground troops in Muslim countries and more on off-shore, over-the-horizon military forces along with political and economic strategies to empower local communities to stop terrorists in their midst.

“Pape and Feldman are the world’s experts on suicide terrorism. In this carefully researched yet highly readable book, the authors lay bare the causes of suicide terrorism and demonstrate that our current military strategy serves only to breed a new generation of terrorists. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about America’s role in the world.”—Steven D. Levitt, author of (em)Freakonomics(/em)

“Robert Pape and Ken Feldman mine a unique library of data to arrive at a radical diagnosis of what motivates suicide terrorists. I think you'll find it persuasive, I am convinced.”—Thomas C. Schelling, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

“Pape and Feldman offer a powerful analysis of the factors underlying the rise in suicide terrorism in recent years and bring clarity to a complex and challenging subject. I commend this book to both scholars and policy makers with a serious interest in U.S. national security policy.”—Lee H. Hamilton, Co-Chair of the 9/11 Commission

“In this impressively researched book the authors question our conceived wisdom about the motivation of suicide bombers. If they are correct (and I suspect they are) it calls for a total reexamination of U.S. military strategy. (em)Cutting the Fuse(/em) should be required reading for policy makers.”—Thomas Kean, Co-Chair of the 9/11 Commission

Customer Reviews (6)

"...because you're down here."
There is an axiom in academe: Most things that can be measured aren't especially interesting, while the really interesting issues can't be measured (because they are a product of complex systems). So I don't have a dog in the fight over Pape's statistical methodology.

My research (which is primarily qualitative and ethnographic) in counter-insurgency and terrorism spans decades.I agree Gerald Larose comments and with Pape's thesis that military occupation by foreign troops causes terrorism.Perhaps most eloquently stated in the following quote from the American Civil War historian, Shelby Foote:

"When asked about the American civil war, Foote resorted to an anecdote. Early in the conflict, he used to say, a squad of Union soldiers closed in on a ragged Johnny Reb. Figuring that he did not own slaves, nor had much interest in the constitutional question of secession, they asked him: "What are you fighting for, anyhow?" The Confederate replied: "I'm fighting because you're down here." Foote regarded that as "a pretty satisfactory answer".

In the process, Americans have been convinced that a people in a remote desert country actually present a national security threat to the Nation. This, even taken at face value, is an absurd proposition.

Airborne!
John Marke

Old wine new bottles
Having your undergrads write chapters which you then put your name is problematic to say the least. The book is blind to the fact that much of what Pape has said about occupation cannot explain the increasingly sectarian violence in which more suicide terror is aimed at Muslim by other Muslims than against foreign occupiers. The chapters are uneven (in part reflecting the different students who did the writing). There is nothing new in this book that has not already been discredited previously both in terms of content and methodologically on the pages of the APSR.

This book is based on scientiific research and hard data
I am amazed that how much time and energy is put into this research based fascinating book which proveswhich already has been said by knowledgeable and wellinformed Americans that we are producing lots more Suicide. Bombers byattacking and fighting those wars which has made us less safe and has killed thousands of innocent people across the board including Americans.

Finally someone speaks the truth!
As a retired combat arms NCO with significant experience in counter insurgency warfare I can tell you that the author hits the nail right on the head. He provides the very clearly stated facts and statistics that prove something already well known to Special Ops types and other snake eaters. And that is that our brain dead foreign and military policy is creating far more terrorists than we are killing.

That is indisputable. Iraq, for example, was a mortal enemy to Al Queda before Desert Storm II. It also acted as a buffer to Iran. Thanks to Bush's bumbling efforts Al Queda now has free reign in Iraq and that country has been essentially handed over to Iran.
Now this is something that the neocons, chickenhawks all, refuse to admit. Thats why you see the hate speech you see here, undoubtedlyfrom living room commandoes eager to send your kids to die.

They also have apparently never read a history book and feel that we can turn Afghanistan, The Eater of Empires, into a 51st state. What complete idiocy. For every local, terrorist or not, killed by US forces or a drone, you can bet 10 more are created.
Keep in mind that history teaches us that tyrants NEED other tyrants. How else can the profits keep rolling in for the war machine?

The author was recently briefly interviewed on Fox News. I say briefly cause as soon as the author made his key point which is anathema to the voice of the Israeli lobby that is Fox News he was quickly cut off.
The auhor is 100% correct.

Academic Scheme to Inflate Book Sales
This book is phony!

University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape, whose research finds religious extremism has a limited role in suicide bombings, is working secretly with a suspected Hamas front to pump up sales of his new book, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. That includes a secret agreement by CAIR to have its chapters around the country to buy them in bulk so they can manipulate the sales to move up the bestseller ranks. Pape is also scheduled to appear at this weekend's national banquet for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It, is Pape's latest project touting his thesis that religion is not a prime factor in suicide bombings. Rather, it is a response to occupation, he argues.

That's appealing to CAIR, which court records show was part of a Hamas-support network in the United States. Prosecutors say CAIR, which touts itself as the nation's leading Muslim civil rights organization, never withdrew from the conspiracy to support Hamas politically and financially. And the FBI cut off communication with CAIR in 2008, saying it won't resume until
"we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS."

Emails reviewed by the Investigative Project on Terrorism show Pape reached out to CAIR this past summer, hoping to have the Hamas-front group buy 1,000 advanced copies of his new book. Pape asserted in his emails and other communications to CAIR that the book would advance and reinforce CAIR's ideological views that it is the occupation of Arab lands that causes suicide bombings. CAIR's officials responded with enthusiasm to Pape's thesis and to his proposal for bulk purchases to artificially boost his rankings into the best seller lists.

We are in the midst of a war. This is like plugging Mein Kampf and other Nazi propaganda during WW II.

... Read more

Product Description
Paperback ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

FIND A PIECE OF YOURSELF
This is her best book in my opion!! It has something for everyone. Full of colorful characters that everyone can relate to with a no holding back choice tongue. Travel through experiences from a woman sick and tired of hearing her man's apologies to another woman's dilemma of watching her vietnam tortured boyfriend drop their children out the window. I think the beauty of this choreopoem is that every woman finds her little gold at the end of her own rainbow. Enjoy.

A book that celebrates woman even when she is weak. Rich!
Shange's imagery is hypnotizing.She immediately creates a realm of intimacy between you, her word, and colored girls.Shange takes you through a personal journey of yourself through the girls.

wonderful workdisplaying the joy, and pain of colored girl
shange uses the arts of poetry, music and dance to create a spectacularrainbow of beauty,sorrow , joy and pain brought to the readerin a sometimes funny , sometimes serious manner in "laugh but don't laugh" imagery she creates. it's a celebration of life, struggle and woman ... Read more

Product Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Government Racket is back with a scathing indictment of government waste.

The government of the United States is a juggernaut of mismanagement, malfeasance and incompetence. Despite the strong foundation laid down by the founding fathers, it is headed to extinction.

From the Alternative Minimum Tax to Zip Codes, New York Times bestselling author Martin L. Gross outlines the programs that have exploded financially, the laws that had completely unintended consequences, and the scams perpetrated by legislators intent upon remaining in office no matter what the cost to the nation-and its citizens.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Tells You All You Need to Know
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R37YSNAXR1PFPQ This was a superb book that was filled with facts you can use against statists who mindlessly wish to inflate the size of the federocracy. I say let's all fight the left together.

Another nail in the coffin
This book is another of the eye opening books that seem to be everywhere. This one, like most of the others I've seen, is meticulously researched and well written. Our country is very far along towards losing everything. This book will give you some of the reasons why.

This is it folks!
A must read if you want a true perspective on how our very own U.S.Government is leading us down the rat hole while they profit with all of their dreams coming true, while we little guys support without a whole lot of hope! Sad but true....sorry!:(

A Depressing Look at Big Government in America
Martin Gross effectively relates how much waste there is in government.If we could elect him "dictator," I'm sure he could balance our budget.Alas, we cannot.The reader is left with a depressing feeling that America will continue on a path toward self destruction through uncontrolled, accelerating federal debt.I'd prefer a more solution oriented, rather than problem oriented approach to America's financial woes.A path toward fiscal restraint must begin with one step.Rather than articulate hundreds of needed corrections, concentrate on a few that would yield the greatest benefits. The reader must be given more cause for hope and optimism.

C+
This book makes an excellent primer on problems taxpayers and government face going forward.

CLINTON BUDGET
GOOD: One thing I found particularly interesting is what Gross calls the $1 trillion "truth spread" of the Clinton budget. Clinton is often credited with leaving a $559 billion surplus--which perhaps would be better credited to the Republican Congress--when in fact, when accrued liabilities and internal borrowing etc. are added into the mix, the real budget reflected a DEFICIT of $484 billion. Clinton took office in 1993 when the debt was $4.4 trillion, and left in 2001 with $5.8 trillion in debt.

FEDERAL COMPENSATION ETC.
GOOD: I also liked the expose on government credit card abuse, redundant programs, and federal salaries and compensation. I especially enjoyed the latter's section on compensation adjustments to reflect local private sector wages--something the federal government swears "isn't a cost-of-living adjustment." Of course, it is by proxy, and it raises the question: why will they always revise compensation for bureaucrats UP to reflect local circumstances but never DOWN? If you're going to head in that direction, go ALL the way: make them pay the same premiums, the same deductibles, the same copays, give them the same benefits, etc. They only ever seem to want to scale pay UP.

REFERENCES
BAD: The book is chock-full of statistics, quotations, and anecdotes. Yet, in my edition of the book, there is not a SINGLE source. I love a book heavy on the numbers, but a References section is a MUST for any such book, particularly for one making some controversial claims. Provocative as it is, this book would fail even as a high school research paper.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE
BAD: Gross is obviously a protectionist, and he seems annoyed (p. 97) that this philosophy has been discredited. He complains that China engages in dumping, refuses to float its currency, and otherwise manipulates our markets. Whatever the truth is, it certainly doesn't help that he has no sources. To fight China without resorting to protectionism, he proposes an even more ludicrous solution: enforce a "currency equalization program" in which the value of our own currency is changed by fiat to combat theirs. If you're looking for sound views on international trade, look elsewhere--Gross suffers from antiforeign bias and generally has a mystical and suspicious view of international trade. I would recommend Thomas Sowell or Arnold Kling for realistic insight on this subject.

CREDITORS
BAD: I do not sympathize at all with Gross' outrage at the credit card companies. It may be true that the rates they charge are "usurious," and that they engage in practices no consumer would WANT to support. THAT'S EXACTLY WHY THEY *SHOULDN'T* SUPPORT THEM. He accuses the companies of "greed," but ignores the fact that it is he--or any other patron--who was too GREEDY to build wealth and accumulate possessions the linear way: BY SPENDING ONLY WHAT THEY COULD AFFORD. I understand the concepts of investment and leverage, but consumers should understand that by agreeing to be buried under a mountain of debt, they are placing themselves in a position of slavery to their creditors, and have no right to complain as long as the terms are the same as when they signed the loan documents. But you "need" to buy a house or borrow for that car or for your business? Fine--just know that you forfeit your right to complain about the terms you agreed to. Gross goes on to complain that grace periods are "only" 21-25 days, and goes on to explain how in many cases this only gives debtors 11-15 days to mail a check back out. He says he wants credit cards to overlook "a few days, here or there," then goes on to say he wants a minimum of 30 DAYS. Fine--just don't call that "a few days." Just as with the mortgage crisis and a growing number of other problems, Gross encourages people to believe that somebody else--anybody--is responsible for their late fees and their failures, generally--just not themselves.

SUMMARY
Otherwise, the whole premise of this book is about government waste, but in talking about "admirable" welfare programs and promoting spending on the projects HE likes, Gross turns himself into as much of a villain as he accuses others of being. Everybody wants to cut spending, until it affects THEIR programs. Gross needs to be consistent on waste to be believable. ... Read more

Product Description
Return of the Bunny Suicides follows over one hundred bunnies as they find ever more bizarre ways to end their fuzzy little existences.From swimming with nibbly fishes, to hiding under an elephant’s footstool, to getting on the sharp end of a Venetian gondola—no stone goes unturned (or undropped, or uncatapulted) in the twisted little creatures’ next installment.

Illustrated in a spare and simple style, Return of the Bunny Suicides is a collection of hilarious and outrageous cartoons that will appeal to anyone in touch with their evil side. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Cute book
I got this book as a gift for my significant other and it's very cute and funny.

A Must-Have
If you have a twisted sense of humor, this book (along with the first one) is for you.Once any of my friends picks it up, they don't put it down until they've read it cover to cover (ok, that only takes about 5 minutes).Simply hilarious.

If you laugh, you have to ask yourself, "How twisted am I?"
For some reason, it's completely endearing and hilarious for bunnies to try to commit suicide. Perhaps it's because the ingenious and absurd machines, traps, and situations they put themselves in require a tremendously dark wit, and we don't expect these dandelion munchers to express such cynicism.

There are a number of people who try to imitate Andy Riley's bunny suicide comics, and they sometimes come out all wrong. For example, they tend to show the death of the bunny. This is unfortunate, because the joke is in the reader's mind, trying to figure what the bunny is thinking and how the suicide will work, not showing the reader the gruesome death.

People with a dark sense of humor will enjoy this book, and judging from the way it has been out of stock at some bookstores, there are a lot of us out there.

SICK SICK series
The author and everyone who finds this funny are extremely sick people!! Bunnies are sweet,innocent and loving creatures that don't deserve to be the brunt of jokes!! I'll bet the sickos who like this series wouldn't think its so great if it was about children!!

IFinally Get It!
This is my second suicidal bunny book. I bought them both in Rome in a very sophisticated, upscale store where I had been cackling for longer than was appropriate in Rome. (When in Rome, don't cackle in public, the Romans don't.)
Before I send this one off to my kid in college, I gave it one last look. And I got it. There's this drawing of a bunch of people running away from the shore line at the sight of a shark fin, and one tiny bunny in a swimfloat, eagerly padding into the water.
So on one level, there's every mad politician going ahead with some policy that everyone on the beach knows is crazy. On another level, that's all of us doing some nutso thing in spite of the world running around us in the opposite direction away from the visible shark. It reminds me of the hilarious novelRecycling Jimmy> It has the same slightly repulsive subject matter,with the same weird British take on things and the same subversive sub-text.
I'm looking at this book one more time wondering which shark I'm heading towards. What about you?

--Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,Theand
the comparatively wholesome bang BANG: A Novel. ISBN 9781601640005

... Read more

Product Description
Written with the same graceful narrative voice that made his bestselling National Book Award finalist The Big House such a success, George Howe Colt's November of the Soul is a compassionate, compelling, thought-provoking, and exhaustive investigation into the subject of suicide. Drawing on hundreds of in-depth interviews and a fascinating survey of current knowledge, Colt provides moving case studies to offer insight into all aspects of suicide -- its cultural history, the latest biological and psychological research, the possibilities of prevention, the complexities of the right-to-die movement, and the effects on suicide's survivors.

Presented with deep compassion and humanity, November of the Soul is an invaluable contribution not only to our understanding of suicide but also of the human condition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Five Stars for Academic Readers
If you have a serious academic interest in suicide, this book will help to inform your interest.
Eddie Evans
Crime Scene Cleanup

The Reasons People Kill Themselves - Not An Easy Book To Read
This is a scholarly book about the specifics of what makes some people commit suicide and I concur with another reviewer's warning that this is not a book that celebrates life and it definitely won't make a grieving family member feel better after reading it.

Actually, the book (which has been long out of print) is far more appropriate for academic and professional study and is not recommended for the casual reader.575 pages.

Careful and compassionate treatment of the subject
A great mix of research, analysis, and case study.The author treats the subject of suicide with respect and carries out a thoughtful study that is revealing to those touched with the issue in some regard or even those simply interested in research.There are no over-simplications here and no attempt is made to give haphazard answers to complicated questions.

The text is well-written and well laid out.I would call it an easy read, if not for its poignancy and intensity.

Full of research like information about suicide
This books looks at suicide from a more intellectual research point of view. But after saying that, this book isn't hard to read or crammed full with academic jargon. It definitely enlightened me about suicide. However this isn't the type of book suited for mourning or self-help.

I would recommend this book if anyone wants more information about suicide as a subject.

Powerful, insightful, healing, life changing...
I have faced head on the aftermath of suicide and this book was finally able to bring healing and answers after 10 years of not understanding 'why' and feeling guilty and ashamed.I would not have been able to face the catastrophic grief this book brings to life any earlier than this.This is not for someone in their first years of healing but if you have a suicide in your past or have ever contimplated suicide then read every page.I read every day, and most days had to stop when I couldn't see the words for the tears.But in the end I feel free of the guilt I carried for so long, and understood, and normal again. It's different but a new different.And it's stopped any thought of contagious or genetic suicide from effecting me.Walking through the grief of the surviving families was the most healing, powerful, insightful, life changing experience I've known.
Thank-you George Howe Colt! ... Read more

Product Description
Critical Acclaim for The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment

"There is . . . no better guide for learning about and clinically assessing the phenomenology of suicidal states. Penned with a compelling elegance and charm, The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment is brimming with clinical wisdom, enlightening case illustrations, and a vibrant sense of compassion."–David A. Jobes, PhD, past president, American Association of Suicidology

"If I were asked to recommend only one book to equip clinicians to conduct the best possible suicide risk assessments, The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment would be it."–Thomas E. Ellis, PsyD, ABPP, past director, Clinical Division of the American Association of Suicidology

"A concise, carefully conceptualized, well-written book . . . highly recommended for all psychiatric residents and all other mental health students."–Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"This outstanding book is informative, interesting, and clinically useful."–American Journal of Psychiatry

The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment covers all the critical elements of suicide assessment–from risk factor analysis to evaluating clients with borderline personality disorders or psychotic process. This highly acclaimed text provides mental health professionals with the tools they need to assess a client’s suicide risk and assign appropriate levels of care using the highly acclaimed interview strategy for eliciting suicidal ideation–the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (the CASE Approach).

Now available in paperback, the leading book on suicide assessment also contains three important new appendices:

• How to Document a Suicide Assessment
• Safety Contracting Revisited: Pros, Cons, and Documentation
• A Quick Guide to Suicide Prevention Web Sites

Customer Reviews (7)

The practical art of suicide assesment
The book is very usefull for clinicians, it gives you real good tips about when a person is in real risk to comitt suicide. I think it's a great tool for clinical staff to have in treating people who suffer from any kind of mental health problem, as well as for students that are in training. It's wrriten very clear and it's easy to follow.

Very helpful book for mental health professionals
This book is very useful for mental health professionals. Even if you're not doing sucide assessment, per se, it's good to know what questions to ask, and how to ask them, of ALL clients!

The book is very well organized and well written. Although I've only read about half of it, I think I've learned a lot, and am looking forward to reading it to the end.

A 'must have' book for clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals
Dr. Shea shares great insights into the interview process for suicidal patients.Too often there is a reliance on demographic or symptomatic factors to determine suicidal risk.Dr. Shea convincingly brings us back to the realization that suicide is an individual choice and the risk of suicide can only be estimated by understanding the individual's thought processes regarding suicide.Theorectically sound and practical book.

An Excellent Guide
This was an excellent guide to suicide assessment and I highly recommend this book to any mental health professional. Beyond that I think this book is valuable for any clinicial who may one day have to talk to somebody about suicide. Well written and organized.

Well written and easy reading
I'm currently in school for addiction counseling and felt this book would be good to read. It is well written and easy to read, with a lot of good advice. As a counselor in preparation I know I will be having sessions with people who are experiencing suicidal ideation, & while I know this doesn't qualify a person to do suicide assessments it certainly gives a good method for drawing out as much information as possible. It makes me feel a little more comfortable about the job I am going to be doing. ... Read more

Product Description

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year’s Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Never mind the bandages on his wrists, clearly this is all a huge mistake. Jeff is perfectly fine, perfectly normal—not like the other kids in the hospital with him. They’ve got problems. But a funny thing happens as Jeff’s forty-five-day sentence drags on: the crazies start to seem less crazy. . . .

Customer Reviews (11)

Good Book
It was a good book; interesting, entertaining, plot twists, surprising. My friends loved it too, though it did bring a lot of strange looks when reading it at school.

A Must Have in Anyone's Personal Library
Michael Thomas Ford has done it again; melded humor and tears upon pages that remain with the reader long after the final page is turned. Both he and Suicide Notes do not fail to surprise as well. There were several occasions when I literally closed the book in awe of a story-line twist. A must-read for anyone whether they are nine or ninety. Thank you Michael.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Jeff is fifteen years old, from a good family, and he's just woken up in the psychiatric ward of the hospital.

Over the next month and a half he will take part in group therapy, individual counseling, and even those excruciating sessions with his family. And through all of this, everyone will realize that he didn't really mean to kill himself. Right?It was just a misunderstanding.

His group therapy sessions aren't his favorite; he's only going so that everyone can see how sane he really is. There are four of "them" in his group: Alice, who lit her mom's boyfriend on fire; Juliet, who seems to have no direct relationship with reality; Sadie, who tried to drown herself; and Bone, who primarily just wants the world to know that he doesn't know Juliet and is not her boyfriend.

Jeff tries to make it clear that he is only there because of a misunderstanding. But, it's hard to misunderstand the bandages on his wrists.

Over the next 45 days, Jeff's story will unfold and new pages will be added. Was it really a girl that caused this whole "misunderstanding?"Allie has been his best friend, but was she more than that? Was he jealous of her new boyfriend or did she reject his advances?

And now he has new friendships forming while he's in the hospital, and each of those will test his ability to deal with new pressures and unexpected situations. And may lead him closer to confronting the events that led up to his hospitalization.

Reviewed by:JodiG.

Suicide Notes
This was a very engaging enciteful book.A good look into the mind of a young adult.There was wit, sadness,sponteneity, and twists.As in real life just when you think you understand something you dont unless someone trusts and is willing to open up.I have shared this book with young adults and adults.Thank the author for his courage to delve into a taboo subject.

A book that hits home
This book was wonderful. I have a best friend who cuts and I picked it up thinking it might be a good read and maybe help me understand a thing or two... without all the text book mumbo jumbo. If I'd had the time I would have easily finished it in one sitting. I was laughing, gasping, squeaking with joy and surprise and anger, and coming so close to crying on many occations.
The main character, Jeff, reminded me so much of my friend. When people questioned her she threw up defensive walls and became sarcastic, not wanting anyone to be helped. In a way it helped me see some reasons as to why she did what she did.
I loved every second of every page and wished that I could just keep reading about him after I finished the final page. I've reccomended it to all my friends who are willing to want to think consider the concepts faced in this book.
In short, it's a wonderful read that I highly reccomend! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a frank, compassionate book written to those who contemplate suicide as a way out of their situations. The author issues an invitation to life, helping people accept the imperfections of their lives, and opening eyes to the possibilities of love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Read this book first! It could save your life!
"...most people who attempt suicide do not succeed." ~ pg. 116

It is very troubling to know someone who thinks suicide is the only answer to the problems in their life. What do you say to someone without hope? How do you convince them that life is worth living when all they know is despair? I read this book with these thoughts in mind.

While listening is good and you should take the person seriously it seems one of the best ways to save them is to give them a book that explains all the reasons why suicide is the worst idea ever. It doesn't solve any problems and they could end up worse off than before. The most shocking part of this book is the revelation that most people don't succeed at committing suicide. According to this book killing yourself is not easy and the attempt could leave you disabled.

Of all the books I've read that talk about suicide and depression I think this is one of the best. Paul G. Quinnett's arguments make complete sense. This book will guide the suicidal person through the topics of loneliness, hopelessness, depression, fear, losses, anger and stress. Each chapter deals with a different problem that might be causing a person to think of suicide. The only time the author comes across a bit harshly is in the chapter to teenagers. I think the last few words of the last paragraph should be deleted in future printings. What he says is a reality check but still it seemed harsh.

"Suicide The Forever Decision," reads like a pep talk that is much needed in a country where suicide has become an epidemic. I wish everyone who was suicidal could read this book. It takes a lot of bravery to keep on living at times. This book helps you organize your thoughts and encourages you to find out why you are really suicidal.

While this book mentions God a few times it doesn't really focus on spirituality. There is a short section on thinking about your philosophy of life. This book does not really discuss mental disorders that could be responsible for suicidal thoughts. Sometimes medication is really needed for depression but this book doesn't really discuss anything beyond a short mention of lithium.

So whether you are suicidal yourself or you know someone who is, please read this book or give it to someone you love. It could literally save a life in a matter of hours. The arguments in this book are very convincing!

One word of caution if you are giving this to someone else. I would advise you to tear out the last two pages in the book. The author "mentions" a book that tells people how to kill themselves and I think that is a very bad idea. What was the author thinking? If the publisher is reading this: please consider removing that information!

Warning: This review and this book are not substitutes for medical advice. Please see your doctor immediately and tell them you are suicidal if that is the case. According to this book you can feel better in a matter of days with the right medication. Although I must say from what I've read some medications can take weeks to work.

~The Rebecca Review

Suicide: The Forever Decision.
Even with its no-nonsense approach, to me the start of this book was rough as a self-help book aimed towards suicidal thinkers. If someone was in the state of mind to where they were very much depressed and suicidal, yet reaching out for help the words might bite back at them in a bad way.
This might be a helpful book for those who are dealing with a suicidal person, but I wouldn't recommend a non-sympathetic toned book to be given to someone who is suicidal themselves. I would find a book with a warm, calm and relaxing tone to ease their brains into accepting the help they need.
I suppose it would all depend on the person and how they handle criticism. I would imagine that most people in a suicidal state are fragile mentally and should have much more care and thought put into any words that reach them.

Utterly Stupid Book
This book is totally stupid and so is its author. It's just some dumb shallow theories. Don't waste your money on this piece of garbage.

Not For The Truly Desperate
I found this book disappointing.It might be okay for a person who is only slightly depressed.I actually laughed out loud when I got to the part where the author "helpfully" points out that there are suicide hotlines which are open.Ya think?Those hotline counselors are poorly trained although I am sure they mean well.I think they are mainly to call EMTs for life-threatening situations.

This might be worth a read, but I do not recommend it for someone who has unsolvable, daunting problems.I feel the author trivializes people's crises, although he claims not to.

definitely 5 stars
Quinnett's appraoch is straightforward. His knowledge of suicide is well-researched, especially the advice he lends to people thinking about or considering suicide. I rated this book 5 stars because it was so helpful and SO VERY thorough. -Chris Palmer, author VOICES BEYOND THE STREAM. ... Read more

Product Description
The Book of Bunny Suicides and Return of the Bunny Suicides have introduced millions of people around the world to those cute bunnies always looking for new ways to end it all. Published for the first time in a unique paperback format, with a dozen new cartoons, this is the ultimate collection for fans of the fluffy little bunnies who just don't want to live any more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Hysterical
My son bought the individual books as a Christmas present for one of his bandmates who likes anything to do with bunnies but also has a good sense of humor. We leafed through them before wrapping them up. I liked it so much I bought this compendium version for us.

HILARIOUSNESS!
I own all the bunny suicide books, they are hilarious.A running gag that you can't help but laugh at, for the sheer Rube Goldberg-esque manners in which the try and die.Great fun, and not meant in anyway seriously.Highly recommended.

Fail to See the "Humor"
This being National Suicide Prevention Week and having been suicidal myself, I truly fail to see any taste in the giggles about suicide, no matter how "cutely" the subject is presented. I can't accept suicide as something to guffaw about, nor probably do the families of the 35,000 victims each year.

Until your family has been touched by the horror of suicide, I guess you will see it as "cute" and funny. A sad commentary on society today.

Perhaps the next piece of hilarity could be "Bunny Genocides." Guffaw.

Bunnies just want to die
Bunnies are cute, fuzzy, cuddly, and not very bright. And in Andy Riley's works, they're also very suicidal.

In fact, you can guess just from the title of Riley's "The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides" what it's about -- lots and lots of cute cartoon bunnies offing themselves. Both books in this set are full of one thing -- near-wordless cartoons of bunnies disposing of their cute fuzzy selves in unique, creative, and sometimes overly complex ways.

It's a running gag, but you'll never guess how many of these bunnies choose to off themselves -- just a few of their complex methods involve corkscrews, DVD players, stalactites, cigarettes, seppuku, garden gnomes, lemmings, palm trees, Harry Potter books, pointy-nose jets, Christmas trees, colanders, and many other seemingly harmless (or at least not VERY harmful) ordinary items.

Some of the methods become more and more complex as time goes on, like an elaborate contraption involving a grandfather clock, a ladder, a candle, and a can of gasoline. One even has a bunny taking the direct way out, even with a bunch of dynamite on a precarious ledge over him.

There are even some pop culture references, which are handled with utter hilarity. The bunny prepares to beam down from "Star Trek," gets toasted by the Terminator, hangs atop the Tardis, and infiltrates the legendary duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not to mention irritating the Eye of Sauron, and using Gollum for some bunny-stretching.

Yeah, it's basically a one-gag kind of humour,, but Riley manages to keep the chuckles rolling along through the entire book. Part of the humor is in the ridiculous stubbornness these bunnies have to off themselves (for no apparent reason -- it's not like they need a motive), and Riley's creativity in coming up with surreal methods for suicide.

There are a few duds, admittedly -- the deli counter one took me several reads to understand, since you have to pay very careful attention to even spot the bunny in this one. The overpass gag simply doesn't make much sense (okay, what happened there?), and some (like the cheese grater) are just squicky. They're funnier when they're clever.

Riley's artwork is simple and clean, and his bunnies are amusingly stoic as they chase down death. And he shows a variety of bunny deaths -- some are gory, some are physically impossible, and some simply involve bunny parts flying bloodlessly. Some, in fact, only hint obliquely at the bunnies' demises -- and these tend to be the most hilarious of all.

"The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides" compiles the two deliciously dark comic books, and they're just right for people with a sick sense of humour or a hatred of bunnies. Or both.

SICK SICK series
If you wouldn't condone stuff like this written about children then you shouldn't condone it about bunnies or any other animals!! Bunnies are just as helpless as children are. ... Read more

Product Description
Vanity Fair called this intensely erotic story of a young woman's sexual and psychological odyssey "a provocative tour through the dark side." Jesse, a beautiful twenty-nine-year-old, is adrift in San Francisco's demimonde of sexually ambiguous, bourbon-drinking, drug-taking outsiders. While desperately trying to sustain a connection with her bisexual boyfriend in a world of confused and forbidden desire, she becomes the caretaker of and confidante to Madame Pig, a besotted, grotesque recluse. Jesse also falls into a dangerous relationship with Madison, Pig's daughter or lover or both, who uses others' desires for her own purposes, hurtling herself and Jesse beyond all boundaries. With Suicide Blonde, Darcey Steinke delves into themes of identity and time, as well as the common - and now tainted - language of sexuality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (52)

interesting
good book but sometimes i didn't know what was being described ... my fault most likely for being slow (lol). very sexual but dark. its interesting.

Disappointed.... =[
I bought this book absolutely excited, by its title, I love these kind of books, and the few good reviews I read. I don't have a very harsh judgment on books, nor do I ever really dislike many books. BUT this book for one, is not long AT all, so I should be done with it in one sitting right? WRONG, I got to the 4th chapter and was already bored out of my mind. Which by then I SHOULD be extremely into the book. Instead all I knew by the 4th chapter was that she was dick whipped, and the man was gay, weird, and wandered off... Honestly, she did better at describing every single object in her surroundings.... That is what the majority of the book is... A description of walls looking like vaginas, cat object, people sitting, and.... everything else you can imagine....

I was very disappointed by this book.

horrible but could have been good
I bought this on sale here and am very unsure how to write this review except to say I had to write it. The story, unbelivable, disgusting at times, depressing all the timewith characters such as Pig, an obese woman, Madison, who is so hateful even when the author tries to give her authenticity through giving us snippets of Madison's diary, didn't work. Event after horrible event, when you think it can't get worse it does, but in a false way. I did read it fast, so I am thinking why? It was the tidbits of pearls here. The truth is the author speaking through Jessie, a woman who knows heartbreak and despair. I felt that truth that made her write such a horrible book. I read it for those pearls, her prose which comes out unexpectedly and grabs you. Like, "I thought, Even love has it's limits, and I couldn't believe this hadn't occurred to him. and "Liars attracted me because I was one myself"This book lies yet doesn't. The author writes what she knows, Despair but it has no redemption, no happiness, no reality and even the most horrible life has joy. This book had no joy, only despair. The author has the ability to write a good book if she starts caring about the readers and less about herself. Shock value has its place but give us all the truth even if it hs less violence and less despair

It was okay
This book was okay. I think it tried too hard to be dark and sullen. I prefer other books, such as Brass.

Suicide Blonde
This book was a good guilty pleasure. It really wasn't about suicide at all, which is what I was expecting. I would only read this book once. ... Read more

Product Description
This newly revised edition of the book is designed for adult caregivers to read to surviving youngsters following a suicidal death. The story allows individuals an opportunity to recognize normal grieving symptoms and to identify various interventions to promote healthy ways of coping with the death of a special person. Although the language used in the book is simplistic enough to be read along with children and ultimately stimulating family discussion, it can be beneficial to all who have been tragically devastated by suicide. It is recommended for this book to be utilized in conjunction with therapy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Beautifully Written Story
Someone I Love Died By Suicide is a beautifully written and illustrated story that will help a child understand and cope with the loss of a loved one to suicide. The simple and direct language defines suicide and walks the child through the complicated grief process. Crossing 13

Must read for infants to early teens
I bought this book for my daughter who is almost 12yrs old.It looks like a young child's book, but the words are meant for all!Must read for all child survivors of suicide.The book explains that what happened is not the child's fault.Which many children go through a stage of feeling the suicide was their fault.Children need to know from other sources than the ones who love them that it's not their fault - this book does that

What a wonderful resource!!
As a trained psychologist and former Children's Program Coordinator at a local Hospice, I was very pleased to discover this compassionate and supportive book for children who have experienced the loss of a loved one due to suicide. The issue is sensitively handled, and practical and healthy ways of coping are facilitated. A helpful support for families faced with this loss and an INVALUABLE tool for all professionals who work with children and loss. A great resource for school personnel to have on hand as well! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (20)

Sent me the wrong book, not this one
I really recommend Native American Spirituality, the book Belltower Books sent me instead of this. However, Hello Cruel World also looks really interesting. I am enjoying the other book so much, though.

101 Alternatives
It was an okay read, but isn't anything I haven't thought or heard of before so it didn't help me as much as I thought it would. Still, it's nice to know that the author is thinking of creative outlets for suicidal/freaky people.

Books like this that make me worry about our youth.
As an adult, I stopped each time the F word was used, when teens were counciled to "Kill every last one of the MotherF.....s. *(Okay, not really)", or they are told that anorexia, sex, drugs, and alcohol, while not the best alternatives, are stillalternatives - really?!

So, I stopped for a minute and stepped back asking myself why the author used such shocking language throughout and shocking suggestions and I thought perhaps it was because she was talking to teens in really tough places that needed shocked. But then I thought, you know what? That's really disrespectful to think that that is the only way you can talk to a teen. They are a lot more savvy than we often give them credit for and I appreciate it when authors write to and for teens with humor and respect.

This book does not do that. I would not recommend it for anyone.

Much love, respect and experience went into this
I just got this yesterday and am so impressed with it.This is not just rehashed or safe, "approved" information here (although she does cover those options), but she obviously really worked to create something that might save somebody's life at almost whatever cost, except for doing anything that would hurt someone.

The 101 Alternatives are awesome and this is really a book you can USE, again and again.It also inspired me to want to write something that could help other people someday.It gave me some hope that I might actually be able to live a decent life.Again, totally impressed with how much is packed into this book, I plan on carrying it around with me for awhile.

Saved my life a few times.
I was given this book by a school counselor on our final session. I had just graduated and my school health insurance was ending, but I was still depressed and suicidal. This book ended up being a 'portable counselor' - and actually helped me more than counseling sessions did.

The book is written as though she's talking to you. Reading through this book is like talking to an **experienced** friend who has all sorts of suggestions. With each suicide alternative she usually also refers to other books/media to check out if you're interested.

I've read the first part of the book 3 times since it was given to me less than a year ago. Yet, I still haven't entirely read through all the alternatives - I typically find something that I can work on that helps me feel better. Hello Cruel World *always* helps if I can remember to reach for it, but sometimes I just can't even make it to my bookshelf. This book is especially helpful if you're dealing with LGBT and gender issues.

The best part about Hello Cruel World is that it's easy to read when you're depressed. Nothing is easy to read when you're depressed, right? It was written intimately and warm and each of the alternatives is written with a brevity that makes it bearable. Her cheesy humor somehow works when you're wanting to kill yourself. Just flip to something that sounds interesting and it's hardly a chore to read it.

I let a friend borrow the book a couple weeks ago but this is one of those books that I need to keep track of because I never know when I'll need it again. I'm actually here to purchase a copy for that friend because I really need mine again. =P

BTW: Just a tip - If you're transgender MtF I recommend Julia Serano's "Whipping Girl" before reading Kate's "Gender Outlaw" or any other trans specific books. ... Read more

Product Description
A nonjudgemental guide for people whose lives have been touched by suicide offers practical answers to such related concerns as what to tell others, insurance coverage, preventability, and what to do with suicidal feelings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I found out I was not alone
When my loved one died by suicide, I didn't know where to get help.I found your book and knew that I was not alone.Since this I have been able to also write about my circumstance and your book has been helpful. Thank you for it.Shirley Olson. author of "Life after Death" coming to Amazon soon. also author of "The Truth Shall Set You Free"and "Train Wreck in the Sierras"

Excellent book on a sensitive subject
I don't do much reading in psychology these days, although many years ago I completed a Master's and most of the coursework for the Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Calfornia. I ultimately decided not to pursue a career in it, so never finished the Ph.D., but at one time had an excellent background in the subject. Anyway, I happened to see this book in the psychology section of a local book store, and although the clinical area wasn't my specialty (I being more in the psychobiology area), it caught my eye, and I ended up reading some of it.

This seemed to be a well-written and practical book on what can be a sensitive subject in our culture (or in any culture, probably). It contains a lot of background information on suicide, and more importantly, on how to deal with it if you know someone who has. I would have no reservations recommending this book for someone who needed advice or help dealing with the suicide of someone in their life.

It contained some fascinating facts on the incidence of suicide--especially in Japan. For example, it seems that there is a volcano named Mahari Yama on the little island of Ohshima, 60 miles from Tokyo. According to legend, if you commit suicide by throwing yourself into the crater, you are instantly cremated, converted to a whisp of smoke, and instantly go to Heaven.

A 26-year old student by the name of Ueki threw herself into the crater in the early 30's. Ueki's story became an instant sensation and legend itself, and by the time the authorities had blocked access to the crater in 1935, 940 people--800 men and 140 women, had committed suicide this way--an amazing statistic as well as amazingly tragic story.

Anyway, I was impressed with the book and can recommend it for anyone needed help with this difficult area.

It answered a lot of questions
I found this book wery good, especially becouse now I know it's normal to feel the way I do after my mothers suicide.
I found in it answer to every question I've asked since, and to many more. Eric Marcus thank you for this book, it has helped me a lot.

excellent resource
I completely disagree with the misspelled review above.

I picked thisbook up in a physical bookstore today, and sat on the floor and read muchof it. I found that it covered every question my friend (whose loved onecommitted suicide) is struggling with right now, and very thoroughly.

The only reason I didn't buy that copy was that someone had gone throughand underlined parts. Underlining a book in a bookstore? What's up withthat? I guess, however, it was even helpful to that person who saw the bookbefore me in the bookstore.

I am thrilled to have discovered this bookand am sending it directly to my friend. It is exactly the book I waslooking for.

Could be great-lacks much
This book could be good. The topic is an important one, one that faces many different people. The content however was very dissapointing. This book contains a lot of repetivness.. and not much but the same facts statedover and over.. I was very dissapointed. ... Read more

Product Description
Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins is the most brilliant homicide detective in the Los Angeles Police Department and one of its most troubled. In his obsessive mission to protect the innocent, there is no line he won’t cross. Estranged from his wife and daughters and on the verge of being drummed out of the department for his transgressions, Hopkins is assigned to investigate a series of bloody bank robberies. As the violence escalates and the case becomes ever more vicious, Hopkins will be forced to cross the line once again to stop a maniac on a murder binge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Suicide Hill
Loved this early (1980s) Ellroy novel. A recommend especially if you are an Ellroy fan.

suicide hill - best of three
I read this as the last of three in the paperback edition of the Lloyd Hopkins series, and found it the best - unusual, since at that stage, one can normally see through the plot and the characters. The Llloyd Hopkins character in the first two books, particularly the first, seems a little unreal, but in Suicide Hill he has graduated to semi vetera nstatus, and his hard man view on life is more plausible. Also, the plot has some unusual twists and turns, and actually keeps you riveted right to the end - unlike the earlier two, where you can see the end of the plot from several chapters earlier.
As usual, all of the sleazy underside of LA is well exposed, along with its hip language and slick turns of phrase - to the degree that Ellroy can well assume the mantle of a latter day Dashiel Hammett. The bad guy characters are a little more developed and more believable than in the earlier Hopkins novels, particularly the relationship between the Garcia brothers, which generates a degree of empathy for real life brothers.
Worth reading - but do read the first two in the trilogy, just to save the best till last ... Read more

Product Description

Too often people suffering the aftermath of a suicide suffer alone. As the survivor of a person who has ended his or her own life, you are left a painful legacy -- and not one that you chose. Healing After the Suicide of a Loved One will help you take the first steps toward healing. While each individual becomes a suicide survivor in his or her own way, there are predictable phases of pain that most survivors experience sooner or later, from the grief and depression of mourning to guilt, rage, and despair over what you have lost.

You may be torturing yourself with repetitive questions such as "What if...?" "Why didn't we...?" and "Why, why, why?" Healing After the Suicide of a Loved One will steer you away from this all-too-common tendency to blame yourself and will put you on the path to healing and recovery. Remember, your wounds can heal and you can recover. Filled with case studies, excellent information, valuable advice, and a completely up-to-date reading list and directory of suicide support groups nationwide, this valuable book will give you the strength and hope to go on living. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Grieving sister
My sister killed herself two days ago and I am so lost and heartbroken. I went looking for a book to help me get through the pain. This book was not helpful. It seems like the author is trying to educate you on the subject of suicide rather than help you deal with it. I dont want to read a book full of other peoples stories. I am living my own nightmare I dont need to hear about other people's horrible experiences. It tells you the normal symptoms a suicide survivor experiences and tells you that they are normal, so what. I dont need to be told its normal to have nightmares, I need to know what to do about it. This book might be better for someone who lost someone several years ago and wants some things explained to them, but for someone experiencing a recent death this book does not offer any comfort, I am returning it.

Healing After the Suicide of a Loved One
This book was well written and very sensitively written.The whole topic of suicide is often left and not talked about.This book really helped me and my family and knowing others have gone through the same nightmare and survived, is also helpful.I would recommend this book to anyone suffering loss.
M. Duffin

Suprisingly frank
To write a book with a subject of this magnatude is diffucult as there are so many variables that are unique in each suicide case.I was able to indentify mine, and learn from others.This book, or any like it, will not cure your pain, but will open the door of understanding.Worth the read.

not as good as some other books
Helpful but general - to simplistic. I thought No Time to Say Goodbye was much better written. Maybe because the author lived through this hell herself.

Very Helpful
This is a wonderful book...it was very helpful in helping me understand why someone would take their own life.It helped me understand that what I was feeling was very normal.I recommend this book to anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide. ... Read more

Product Description
This provocative study explores what happens to those who commit suicide. Drawing on communications from the spirits of more than 100 "successful" suicides, it offers an intriguing look at what the dead themselves say about suicide, its repercussions, and their experiences in the afterlife. Bringing together the channeled messages of three types of suicide — traditional suicide, assisted suicide, and the suicide mass murder adopted by terrorists — the book covers a wide range of topics, including why people commit suicide, what it is like to cross over, adjustment problems, what suicides would say to those left behind, and what they would tell others thinking of taking their own lives. Additionally, the book conveys powerful messages from suicide bombers, warning potential terrorists of the serious karmic consequences that await them. For anyone contemplating suicide or euthanasia, the book offers profound, sometimes unsettling, insight into the ramifications of these acts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

The value of channeled messages
The book presents messages from different sources/channels with different messages. Older channels have different answers to the question "What really happens in the afterlife?, than contemporary channels, and there are differences even among them. In the introduction (or somewhere) the authors explore why this is, how channeled messages are influenced by personal opinions of the medium and the culture of the time.

One important reason, perhaps the most important one, why channeled messages are different, even among contemporary ones is this: When a message is communicated (through channeling in this case), the recipient colors/filters that message through his own personality, beliefs, personal history and so on, therefore that same message may have a different meaning to two different recipients. That explains why channeled messages are different and even why two seemingly different messages may in some way have the same essential non-verbal meaning to two different persons reading it.

The best approach to reading channeled messages is to discard those messages that do not resonate with your personality and instead take seriously only messages that - for you - have a spark of truth and leads to personal/spiritual progress. Because of the above, my position is that channeled messages should not be taken literally, rather their purpose is to open up new territory in the mind, both consciously and unconsciosly.

Ofcourse, this perspective complicates matters in that it creates uncertainty regarding what really happens in the afterlife, maybe something entirely different. My view is that what happens the afterlife is highly dependent on personality and spiritual development, even culture and time period.

The strenght in this book lies in its broad spectrum of channels/mediums (although it could well be broader), making it possible for a wide variety of readers to find in it sparks of truth and messages that resonate with their personalities and current personal/spiritual development. I would be interested in reading a similar book with the topic of the ultimate purpose of existance and god.

A 360 degree view from the afterlife
This is not a book about channeling in general, Klimo wrote that book years ago. It addresses a very narrow topic. If you have problems with the idea of channeling, read something else. It also does not promote the Bible or the views of any particular religion. One "reviewer" here, David Olenick, wrote a review "Why not suicide?" After reading the book I found it difficult to believe that he read it.
This book is not a quick read with simple answers. It is an academic work with a balanced approach that includes almost any imaginable slant and point of view.
Most of the channeled sources are suicides, a few are higher sources with a broader view.
The most common denominator is that suicide is escapist and irresponsible behavior.
Instead of working out the problems people were meant to solve they ran away instead.
For assisted suicide from intense pain, the angels will cut you some slack.
About a third of the book concerns suicide bombers. The view from the other side is that such suicides simply compound the sin of suicide with the even worse sin of murder.
The bottom line is, Don't Do It, life does not end, you will have the opportunity to judge yourself later. If you feel too weak to go on call a hotline and ask for help solving your problems.
Well written and researched.

Compelling examination of fascinating research
Klimo, a Ph.D. teacher, author and researcher, and Heath, an M.D., have written a fascinating book about suicide and what may happen on the other side afterward. If you think this is a wild idea, open the book to any page, and you will stop smiling, start reading, and find you are unable to stop. This research suggests that learning and loving may be the point of life, and the book will leave you feeling more committed to those you love, and less anguished about the fate of those you have lost.

The Complete Dream Book, 2nd edition: Discover What Your Dreams Reveal about You and Your Life

Excellent resource book
Suicide: What Really Happens in the Afterlife is well researched, including historical, cultural, spiritual and psychological aspects of both suicide and channeling - for instance, how channeled messages have changed over time as the beliefs of the in-body mediums and society have evolved. It also offers many examples of communication from the interlife for various scenarios (accidental suicide, suicide from depression, from loss, suicide bombings, etc.).As a research and reference guide, it is well worth having. It would be a great first book to have on this topic.

Religion, right or wrong?
I don't know what to think of this book.I have never talked with a spirit so I am not sure about it.I just want to know why when Jesus knew he was going to die that he did nothing to stop it when he could have stopped it.To me that is suicide all the way.Why is it bad for others to do it then? ... Read more