Richard's Book Club #15
-"Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide" by Kay Redfield Jamison (January 6th thru January 13th)
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Falls-Fast-Understanding-Suicide/dp/0375701478/sr=8-1/qid=1168741070/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6589595-9232162?ie=UTF8&s=books
My two-and-a-half-cents:
Seeing as I had the pleasure of attending the 2005 APA conference in DC (2005... Jesus Christ... was it that long ago?), I thought I should read a couple of books from the people I saw there. One of them was Kay Redfield Jamison. Her popular book is "An Unquiet Mind," but I usually can't stand to read memoirs. The other books she has out are on manic-depression in artists (bleh...) and a study on exuberance (huh?). What was left was "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide." Usually suicide books are pretty juicy, and this one was no exception.
A few statistics that haunted me:
Suicide took the lives of 30,622 people in the US in 2001, and is the 11th leading cause of death among Americans. Suicide killed twice as many young males from 1961 to 1973 as the Vietnam War did (101,732 suicides compared to 54,708 war deaths). Similarly, 15,000 more young men died from suicide than from the HIV/AIDS epidemic (1987 to 1996). It's the second leading cause of death among college-aged students (1st being accidental death), and, overall, shows no signs of slowing down.
Jamison has manic-depression and tried committing suicide in her 20's. Luckily she didn't die and this book is a testament not only to survivors everywhere but to the public as a whole. The book is split into four parts: Introducing Suicide, the Psychology/Psychopathology of Suicide, The Biology of Suicide, and the Prevention of Suicide. I was surprised in how well researched this book was (almost 100 pages of research notes) and how well written it is (as well as being Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she's also an Honorary Professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland). That made for a very fast, and heartbreaking, read.
Even if you have no intention of ever reading this book, I suggest going to the book store and reading the essay at the end of Part 1. The essay's entitled "This Life, This Death", and its only 17 pages long. If that doesn't compel you to read the book, nothing I can say will.
Suicide is a major public health crisis that devastates everything in the path of the storm. Luckily I have never experienced suicide from a friend or close family member. I hope I never will. I've said it before and I'll say it again: get informed people.
Killer Quote: "I am still haunted by the words of a colleague and friend whose 19-year-old son died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An extraordinarily warm, lively, and caring mother and clinician, she said, still in shock after her son's death, 'I feel like a mother animal. I keep searching for my baby.'"
Recommended: Yes
Next: "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Falls-Fast-Understanding-Suicide/dp/0375701478/sr=8-1/qid=1168741070/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6589595-9232162?ie=UTF8&s=books
My two-and-a-half-cents:
Seeing as I had the pleasure of attending the 2005 APA conference in DC (2005... Jesus Christ... was it that long ago?), I thought I should read a couple of books from the people I saw there. One of them was Kay Redfield Jamison. Her popular book is "An Unquiet Mind," but I usually can't stand to read memoirs. The other books she has out are on manic-depression in artists (bleh...) and a study on exuberance (huh?). What was left was "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide." Usually suicide books are pretty juicy, and this one was no exception.
A few statistics that haunted me:
Suicide took the lives of 30,622 people in the US in 2001, and is the 11th leading cause of death among Americans. Suicide killed twice as many young males from 1961 to 1973 as the Vietnam War did (101,732 suicides compared to 54,708 war deaths). Similarly, 15,000 more young men died from suicide than from the HIV/AIDS epidemic (1987 to 1996). It's the second leading cause of death among college-aged students (1st being accidental death), and, overall, shows no signs of slowing down.
Jamison has manic-depression and tried committing suicide in her 20's. Luckily she didn't die and this book is a testament not only to survivors everywhere but to the public as a whole. The book is split into four parts: Introducing Suicide, the Psychology/Psychopathology of Suicide, The Biology of Suicide, and the Prevention of Suicide. I was surprised in how well researched this book was (almost 100 pages of research notes) and how well written it is (as well as being Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she's also an Honorary Professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland). That made for a very fast, and heartbreaking, read.
Even if you have no intention of ever reading this book, I suggest going to the book store and reading the essay at the end of Part 1. The essay's entitled "This Life, This Death", and its only 17 pages long. If that doesn't compel you to read the book, nothing I can say will.
Suicide is a major public health crisis that devastates everything in the path of the storm. Luckily I have never experienced suicide from a friend or close family member. I hope I never will. I've said it before and I'll say it again: get informed people.
Killer Quote: "I am still haunted by the words of a colleague and friend whose 19-year-old son died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An extraordinarily warm, lively, and caring mother and clinician, she said, still in shock after her son's death, 'I feel like a mother animal. I keep searching for my baby.'"
Recommended: Yes
Next: "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison