The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors

Book 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:

An Excellent Guide.......2007-03-05

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.......2004-04-07

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.

Seminal Text of Suicide Assessment.......2001-12-11

There are many books on suicidology and even on clinical interviewing, but none combine the two topics in such an effective and practical manner.

Dr. Shea's book, the second edition to his previous edition, is an excellent tool for any practicing clinician or student. He provides a method of assessment that is quick and efficient without being superficial.

Working in a federal penitentiary, suicide assessments are an important part of my work. I rely on Dr. Shea's assessment techniques on a regular basis because they allow for quick, triage assessments.

I can't recommend a book more highly!

A REAL "Must-Read" for All Clinicians.......2000-06-17

Shawn Shea's The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors is one of the most valuable professional texts I have read in the past decade. The book combines scholarship, practical guidelines and a literary quality that renders it a truly exceptional book in the field. I found the case examples used to illustrate clinical problems invaluable; these vignettes bring the theoretical material "alive" in a way that encourages clinicians from various disciplines and theoretical orientations to meaningfully incorporate the concepts. Shea elucidates such critical issues as risk factors and risk predictors in such a way as to make constructs that are often reifed once again meaningful. As part of my professional responsibilities, I am responsible for training/teaching mental health emergency clinicians aspects of clinical interviewing and suicide assessment. I have incorporated many of the principles in this book into these trainings. The CASE approach to suicidal assessment is perhaps the best approach to this complex task that I have found. The discussion on "contracting for safety/no suicide contracts" is relevant, congruent with current ethical and legal principles, and reflects the difficult reality of working with suicidal patients. I regularly recommend both this book and Shea's book on psychiatric interviewing to participants in the workshops.

Book Description

From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for "encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had," for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.

Customer Reviews:

It Ain't The Same If Your African American.......2006-12-12

This incredibly precious gem of a book was produced on Broadway back in the late 70's or early 80's but I was too young to see it at the time and probably would not have been able to relate to it anyway. In this prose poem, a "choreopoem" Shange depicts the hardships of African American Women in America. The different perspective of their lives is precisely and poignantly elucidated by the incredible and fascinating prose poetry of this book.

It is stunningly shocking that things that white Americans take totally for granted are just not part of the African American milieu in this country. Rape, pregnancy, domestic violence of the highest order, living in squalor and prostitution are all common place in so many of the African American communities of the 70's, 80's, 90's and now the 00's. Shange's representation of the perspective on rape is extraordinary. If an African American girl gets raped, she better not have ever been seen in public with the rapist, or there will be no conviction. Obviously it was invited. Not so with White Americans. But common place with African Americans.

A quick example of her wondrous lyricism are the following two lines that just give a glimpse of the different perspective that African American Women have toward American life:

"... we gotta dance to keep from cryin

we gotta dance to keep from dyin ..."

While the book is surely most meaningful to African American Women, it is recommended for all Americans so that the true reality of this dilemma and this shame can be absorbed and understood by all Americans. Perhaps if we all understood the conditions of the African American Women, something would be done about it. As of now, it is just not the same for people with black skin as it is for all other ethnic minorities in the United States of America.

I just about this today...........2003-02-11

I was Lady in Red in when my high school drama department lauched a production of this book. I had no idea how much it would change my life. So many times I have come back to this book and the women speak to me. It is real and it is riviting. Now that I am...mmore mature, I would love to do this play again. Anyone with a daughter or a neice should read this book. This is one that Showtime or HBO should consider for a movie.

Wonderful.......2001-12-12

This book is absolutely amazing. It speaks to all the aspects that a minority teen girl goes through. It should be a Christmas present for every teenage girl. I loved this book.

Amazing Stuff.......2001-11-27

When I was a little girl my mother was in a local acting group that traveled and put on this play. When I was about 13 years old I saw it in it entiretly for the first time. It was heartwrenching, funny, inspiring and contraversial. I loved every bit of it. Everyone especially women and men who love women should read it at least once, it provides an interesting perspective that you may be unfamiliar with. Being a black woman ain't always easy but it sure is beautiful, if you can find God in yourself.

A powerful hybrid of poetry and drama.......2001-09-19

"For colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf," by Ntozake Shange, debuted on Broadway in 1976. In her introduction to the book version, the author describes the work as "a choreopoem" made up of individual poems that form "a single statement." This work of literature is a powerful exploration of the lives of Black women.

"For colored girls..." does not have a conventional "plot" or characters. The parts of the choreopoem are performed by characters described as "lady in brown," "lady in white," etc. Together, these women talk about spirituality, violence, female sexuality, music, and the discovery of one's heritage. One particularly moving part of the choreopoem is a tribute to Haitian leader Toussaint L'Ouverture.

Book Description

Winner of the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award in Erotica. The punk rock pin-up cultural phenomenon known as suicidegirls.com includes journal entries excerpted from the site and over 200 artful, color photos.

Customer Reviews:

Let's be honest..........2007-09-04

So. I've never wanted to pay for membership on the SG site, but I've always had an attraction and fascination with the whole punk/goth/indie/alternative type of look. So when this book was released, I jumped on it.

- The photos aren't very artistic. They're simple and straightforward, shot with a standard digital camera.
- It's arranged rather simply, with little or no thought to the placement of the images. (Usually two images side by side per page)
- True, you can probably find a lot of similar images on the internet.
- Some of the girls are absolutely beautiful, but I find some rather unattractive.
- The quality of the pictures is rather poor, since the original intent of SG was purely online. So the change from pixels to print never translates well.
- There's very little about the girls themselves... just short, self-written bio's on some of the girls in the back.
- Let's be honest... you're just buying this for the boobies of cute indie chicks... and that's okay.

After a couple viewings, it doesn't have a lasting effect that the likes of Tony Ward or maybe Richard Kern's work might have. Less art and more taboo. It's an inexpensive book, so if you're into the whole naked chicks with tattoos and piercing, I'd say go for it.

Deflated fan.......2007-07-01

The was fine...and thats all....sorry to say
I have been a Suicide Girls fan from the moment i stumbled across their site.
I expected the book to make me go WOW, most of the picvtures were known to me. some were quite ordinary
even for me....a die hard fan it was hrd to find the WOW Factor.

I dunno..............2007-06-19

To each their own,"beauty in the eye of the beholder", & all that.I find this a bit of a yawn - funny how all this leather/tats/piercings/etc seems to symbolize having a "free mind" nowadays.You see this all the time now,these daring "non-conformists" conforming to the hipster wannabe Ideal.Seems so uninspired and well,boring.Again,to each their own.....

Suicide Girls book review.......2007-05-13

This is such an amazing, artistic book. For anyone who is seeking a deeper level of beauty than the plastic blonde bombshell look we are constantly exposed to, this book is awesome. The pictures are well done, and the girls rock.

Join the site instead.......2007-01-23

So why doesn't this book feature big, fat, ugly girls in its photo sets? It's a common criticism of SG, meant to negate its artistic merits. First, the obvious answer: it's erotic photography, meant to entice, arouse, et cetera. Featuring unattractive, unarousing models is obviously defeating the purpose. Sound shallow? It is, but let's not fool ourselves; this is altporn we're talking about. Secondly, anybody who makes this argument has misinterpreted SG's goals. "Redefining beauty" doesn't mean turning ugly ducklings into swans, but rather, to accomodate an alternative market that has been largely ignored up until this point.

Beauty is still beauty.

All that being said, however, this particular book is a rather unremakable collection. Though the website itself is spectacular and features some amazing sets, this book was published before Missy and co. really found their trademark visual style. There's way too many bedroom/domestic shots, rendering the entire collection rather monotonous. Still, it's definitely worth a look, if not neccessarily a must-have.

Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength

Average customer rating:

Sanity and Grace
a book as beautiful as her voice
The truth is: You Never "Get Over It"
A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength
Suicide, another elephant in the living room

Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength
Judy Collins
Manufacturer: Tarcher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1585422606
Release Date: 2003-09-25

Book Description

In this long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron presents the next step in her course of discovering and recovering the creative self.

Walking in This World picks up where Julia Cameron's bestselling book on the creative process, The Artist's Way, left off to present readers with a second course-Part Two in an amazing journey toward discovering our human potential. Full of valuable new strategies and techniques for breaking through difficult creative ground, this is the "intermediate level" of the Artist's Way program.

A profoundly inspired work by the leading authority on the subject of creativity, Walking in This World is an invaluable tool for artists.

Customer Reviews:

Sanity and Grace.......2007-05-06

A moving account of how many lives are touched by a single moments mistake.

a book as beautiful as her voice.......2006-07-16

I purchased this book while in Boulder CO because Judy Collins, one of my favorite artists, was doing a talk and signing at the bookstore that night. Her book is an amazing memoir of life before and after her son completed suicide. She manages to put his life into context by sharing her background. I was mesmerized as I read, and I continue to be impressed by her strength and ability to put her life on display and speak out on so many issues that we as a society would prefer to ignore. The beauty of Judy Collins' singing voice is echoed in her written words. Reading her book is like having a private concert in your home.

The truth is: You Never "Get Over It".......2005-08-19

I didn't experience suicide of a loved one, but did experience the murder of my mother by a psychotic patient who came for treatment where she worked as a social worker, over 40 years ago when I was 9. There are many differences, but also commonalities in suicide, murder, and all sudden, violent death where there is no opportunity to say goodbye. And the major truth is this: you never "get over it." You can go on, and even laugh again and love again and experience great joy again, but part of your heart is permanently ripped out, and you feel it forever, and you never "get over it." The challenge, for survivors, is to try to create a loving, full life in spite of it. This is a key message of Ms. Collins' book.

A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength.......2004-05-22

Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength
by Judy Collins
Reviewed by Suzanne M. Retzinger, Ph.D.

"The streets of London have their map; but our passions are uncharted." (Virginia Woolf).

I was given a copy of Sanity and Grace by a remarkable man - Al Lowman - and was not sure at the time what I was meant to see. I read it to find out. I found a rare combination of expression of feeling and intelligent use of the work that has been done on suicide - woven together into a story. What I saw in Judy Collins's book was a roadmap of the passions. I read the story of a journey from the stigma and shame of a family secret - her son's death by suicide - into the open where healing begins to take place.

Breaking down the ancient walls of a taboo, Judy chose to build bridges, rather than remain behind the wall. She questions why a person would be defined by a moment in time when someone takes his or her life - why this moment would weigh more than all others. A mix of journal entries and prose shows the road from pain to light - and there is light.

Like many who suffer from the death of a loved one, Judy was told to stop talking about it, "get on with your life", "you're bringing others down". I hear this again and again from people who come to the bereavement groups I facilitate. Silence prevents healing - suicide is whispered she says, and "never quite shouted, as it should be, to the rooftops." She refused to stay silent, or to accept shame that would have been isolating. Instead she chose to express her pain. Talking is healing, and grief is the acceptance of that loss.

Judy gives a clear message: there is only one way to heal - right through the pain. She found sobriety, and refused medication for her grief - grief is not a disease, "I wanted to feel everything, the pain and the depression, the hurt, even the rage." And she allowed herself to feel, "let it role over me and around me, let it boil up and claim me, let it wrench the tears out of my eyes and let it roll into rage." Her complex emotions find voice and grace through words.

Going through mourning can feel insane, and no one needs to do it alone. There's "power in the intimacy that comes with sharing secrets", and is in itself healing. A network of caring people and support groups helped her move through. There are support groups - there are caring people to travel with us. Hospice is a starting place to find such a group. By speaking her suffering, and courage to be vulnerable, Judy Collins charts a path for others to follow. A god has given us a voice to speak our pain - let us use it.

I sing my highest praise.

Suicide, another elephant in the living room.......2004-04-05

Just this week in Joyce, Washington, a 12-year old boy--popular and happy by all accounts--took a rifle into his classroom and shot himself in the chest in front of his teacher and 18 classmates. Last month, a 12-year old in Seattle tossed herself off a freeway overpass. Judy Collins is a singer, songwriter, author, and actress, with many years of recovery from alcoholism. Depression, the "dog on the leash" often attached to alcoholism and addiction, plagued her since childhood. Her first husband's father killed himself. Nobody talked about it. Years later, at 33, Ms. Collin's son, after a period of sobriety, relapsed and then killed himself, narrating his own death on audiotape. Suicide is like child abuse, cancer, domestic violence, addiction: the attitude of many is "it's time to move on. Get over it." What Ms. Collins knows and tells eloquently in this book, which also features an excellent reference list of other books on suicide,is that those left behind never get over it. She postulates, instead, that suicide must be talked about. The writing in the book is a combination of songs, poems, journal entries, interviews with other writers on suicide, and anecdotes about Ms. Collin's own life. The writing is sometimes uneven, with breathtaking imagery juxtaposed with cliche or platitude, though I of course enjoy platitudes that come from 12-Step programs because I know what life-savers they are--and this is how Ms. Collins uses them. I "grew up" to the sound of Judy Collins'songs; when she appeared nearby in a concert nearly a decade ago, she never mentioned that her tour was part of her own therapy for her terrible sense of loss and hopelessness from her son's suicide. This singing and her writing lend hope.

Death and the Kings Horseman (Modern Plays)

Average customer rating:

A good intro to the work of this winner of Nobel Prize for Literature
Death and the King's Horseman
Western Ignorance and Centrcity Imposing Itself On Africa
One Great Writer
A review for Mr Helle

Death and the Kings Horseman (Modern Plays)
Wole Soyinka
Manufacturer: A&C Black
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0413333604

Book Description

Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny. When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favorite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors. A British colonial officer, Pilkings, intervenes.

"This play, by the winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature, asks: "On the authority of what gods" the white aliens rupture a world. It puts exciting political theatre back on the agenda ... a masterpiece of 20th century drama."- Guardian

"The action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone: a clash of values and cultures so fundamental that tragedy (ensues): a tragedy for each individual, each tribe."- Daily Telegraph

"A transfixing work of modern world drama."- Independent

Customer Reviews:

A good intro to the work of this winner of Nobel Prize for Literature .......2007-01-30

This is a definate must read. Written as a poetic play, Soyinka captures the Yoruba experience during the British occupation of Nigeria. It captures their perception of their colonizers, their religious ideologies in sharp contrast with that of the British, their political stance including about Yoruba persons who worked for the British at the time(hence, the mimic men/women) and their trauma and lamentations regarding the slave trade. The title refers to a specific issue that main protagonists will struggle with, leading to the Yoruba/British clash of religious and political ideologies. The result unveils the hypocracy of forced-conversion and explores issues of (in)humanity, suicide and freedom by examining each group's relationship with their leaders, their understanding of the divine God(s) and destiny. This book is one of the texts used in African literature classes.

Death and the King's Horseman.......2004-05-07

Soyinka both entertains and asks subtle questions about mass psychology, individual psychology, and universal human struggles of the will.

Western Ignorance and Centrcity Imposing Itself On Africa.......2003-04-15

In this play Soyinka gives such roundness to his characters that it is hard for some to decipher their goodness or "badness" as characters. The play is a story of the western colonizers' failure to recognize African culture as substantial. The play deals with the Yoruba religion and a specific ritual that is thwarted by an ignorant colonizer who does so for reasons traced back to ethnocentricity and racism. The man who is deemed to kill himself is pitied by the westerners and this shows their hippocrisy. By demanding that suicide was immoral and could not be a spiritual endeavor they denied the status of one of the most important men to grace Western Civilization with their presence: Jesus Christ. Christ gave himself away the same way that the character in this play does and did so for spiritual reasons that transcended himself.
THe play gives great insight into African culture and builds with intensity to a hugely climatic ending that is rewarding for the reader to experience.

One Great Writer.......2000-05-25

At a university seminar in the US recently, Prof. Soyinka was asked to respond to charges by certain critics that his writing wasn't 'African' enough. He responded, saying "The people who say these things, I refer to as neo-Tarzanists, people whose Africa is the Africa of Tarzan, swinging from tree to tree. That's not my Africa", he said, to a standing, thunderous ovation. It is difficult to imagine a writer in English today with a wider grasp of the language. Some of his work is unbelievable - metaphor, irony, the supernatural, interwoven with tragedy, lyricism, and language. Top-draw.

A review for Mr Helle.......2000-04-24

Hello! And welcome to my review of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman. In my opinion the book lacked suspense, a characteristic I admire in a piece of work. It wasn't completly mundane but neither was it the kind of book I can't put down once I start reading. What I did in fact like about this play was Soyinka's use of language. The characters in the play expressed themselves through Soyinka's thoughtful words. There were some passages that stuck with you even after reading the play. For instance "There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of a man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves it's course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?" That right there is one of my favorite passages. When reading this play expect more of these philosophical character monologues. The play also had some situational irony. Some roles were reversed while others were forgotten. It also introduced you the culture and traditions of Africa. The tension builds throughout the play and explodes in the end. But I don't want to give it all away. If you like the kind of pieces which explore foriegn cultures than this might be your bag. Personally I wouldn't have read this book if I didn't have to.Anyways thanks for reading my review...I'm out!

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book: The Incomparable Guide to Movie Stars' Homes, Movie and TV Locations, Scandals, Murders, Suicides, and All the Fam

Average customer rating:

Not your average tacky guide book.
Wish I had this book a few years ago
Tinseltown Mania
Decidedly Worth Your Time (and $)
Great resource for DIYers with cars

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book: The Incomparable Guide to Movie Stars' Homes, Movie and TV Locations, Scandals, Murders, Suicides, and All the Fam
William A. Gordon
Manufacturer: North Ridge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0937813036

Amazon.com

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is the joyously affirmative answer to the question "Is there an alternative to the prepackaged bus tour of Tinseltown?" William Gordon's guide delivers all the juicy scandal you've come for, but at your pace, at your discretion, and without crackly speakers blasting in your ear. You want to see former homes of Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, or Elvis Presley, current homes of Elizabeth Taylor, Ronald Reagan, or Hugh Hefner, and the site of the Charles Manson cult murders? Gordon helps you conduct your own exploration, and supplies invaluable tidbits of information, such as how Jayne Mansfield came to receive $50,000 worth of free merchandise to decorate her Pink Palace. Gordon covers 32 neighborhoods, providing a practical tour guide as well as a fun gift for the star-struck and Hollywood-bound.

Book Description

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is the first and only book to reveal where today's Hollywood lives, works, and plays. Arranged geographically, the book covers not only Hollywood, the community, but more than 30 separate areas of greater Los Angeles where entertainment history was made (see contents).

To make sightseeing as easy as possible, the book features 33 easy-to-follow maps.

To ensure accuracy, The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is updated once a year. The publisher is now offering to provide readers with e-mail updates if any new attractions open (or are discovered).

Customer Reviews:

Not your average tacky guide book........2007-01-12

The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is full of interesting facts, historical tidbits and interviews with Hollywood natives that provide readers with a realistic view of Hollywood, past and present. As any worthwhile tour guide should, this book lists hundreds of locations of interest to visit in and around the Hollywood area, extending it's reach to surrounding Los Angeles communities that have ties to the entertainment business. However, the tone of Gordon's book is informative, straightforward and friendly, not off-putting or intentionally misleading, as some guide books can be.

Not surprisingly, Gordon's book is even a fun read for those of us born and raised in Hollywood. For me it brought back memories of old haunts, and it evoked nods of approval among friends as we read through many accurate descriptions of favorite locales and pages of sound advice about what to visit and why, as well as what to avoid.

Whether you're a native of the Los Angeles area, a tourist planning just a few days' visit to Hollywood, or a local history buff searching for a fun and interesting book to read, you can't go wrong picking up a copy of William Gordon's Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book.

Wish I had this book a few years ago.......2005-11-08

About 5 years ago I took a summer job giving tours of Hollywood on an old trolley car. One of my most memorable experiences was the day one of the guides for the Beverly Hills tour got sick and I was thrown into the front seat of a tour van and sent on my way to give a tour of the star's homes. It was without a doubt one of the more embarrassing moments of my life as it wasn't my regular gig and I had to make a lot of stuff up because I had no idea whose house was whose and the guy driving the van was as clueless as I was. But if the owner's of the tour company had seen fit to give me this book beforehand I would have known where I was and all those tourists wouldn't have asked for their money back when the tour was over.

Tinseltown Mania.......2003-04-12

There must be 50 Hollywood homes books on the market. If you visit Beverly Hills, a tour-bus or map salesman will gladly take your money. But W. Gordon's remarkably accurate and truthful guide will spell out where the buses point out homes where movie stars never lived. Gordon provides detailed directions and maps to the sites you want to see. And loads of "goodies" and information. He shows you how to get to Arnold's palatial block of homes in Brentwood, and warns that driving there is a $ 500 fine and possible jail time! Wow! He also gives directions to Rudolph Valentino's original 1920's mansion(and much, much more). Forget the B.S. Here it is. When I e-mailed him for an up-date, he gladly provided it for free(see the book). Why waste time driving around freeways?

Decidedly Worth Your Time (and $).......2002-03-02

This is a not so typical tour guide which provides its reader with a lot of bang for his/her buck. It provides information which is fairly accurate regarding the living (who tend to move quite a bit). The listings provided for death scenes are very accurate (assuming you only die once). Ditto for burial sites (assuming that remains stay put in one place.....unfortunately, that isn't always true as I seem to always be finding out). What is really impressive about the many editions of this book that have been published to date is that the author constantly updates the information in the book, so that it is as accurate as it can be given the odd and fluctuating state of celebrity mindsets (and fortunes).
So if you are willing to assume that some of the information may become outdated, you will probably enjoy this book quite a bit.

Great resource for DIYers with cars.......2000-05-09

When I took an exploratory job trip for two weeks in L.A., I had a copy of the previous edition of "The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book" and found a lot of cool stuff using this book. (I drove by O.J. Simpson's home -- which he has since sold -- as well as the former homes of Joan Crawford and Shirley Temple in Brentwood).

Since I drove down from San Francisco I stopped in Malibu and drove through some of the exclusive star neighborhoods mentioned in here (that was the first time I'd ever seen a street sign marked "Private") and I saw someone who looked suspiciously like Pierce Brosnan riding his bike and he waved! Surreal!

Book Description

The Art of Suicide is a history of the visual representation of suicide from the ancient world to its decriminalization in the 20th century. After looking at instances of voluntary death in ancient Greece, Ron Brown discusses the contrast between the extraordinary absence of such events in early Christianity and the proliferation of images of biblical suicides in the late medieval era. He emphasizes how differing attitudes to suicide in the early modern world slowly merged, and pays particular attention to the one-time chasm between so-called heroic suicide and self-destruction as a "crying crime".Brown tracks the changes surrounding the perception of suicide into the pivotal Romantic era, with its notions of the "man of feeling", ready to hurl himself into the abyss over a woman or an unfinishable poem. After the First World War, the meaning of death and attitudes towards suicide changed radically, and in time this led to its decriminalization. The 20th century in fact witnessed a growing ambivalence towards suicidal acts, which today are widely regarded either as expressions of a death-wish or as cries for help. Brown concludes with Warhol's picture of Marilyn Monroe and the videos taken by the notorious Dr Kevorkian.

Customer Reviews:

Intense & Fascinating.......2005-05-19

Reaktion books are exceptionally high quality both in their art reproductions and in the well researched content. Ron Brown, the author, is an academically-oriented suicidologist and although this can make for a difficult read, it was not a dry one and he did an excellent job of explaining his subject without pretension.

The book explores depictions of suicide through art from the Greco-Roman era (with the first piece being of Ajax's "heroic" suicide) to 20th century work such as the seemingly emotionless style of Andy Warhol and the actual photography of the Heaven's Gate cult's mass suicide. He also touches briefly on 21st century art.

Along with the artwork and Brown's interpretations (and that of others), he puts the pieces into historical context and comments on the legal and social opinions and reactions to suicide. What perhaps is infuriating for this reader is the long expanse of time when suicide was considered "feminine" - the woman being depicted as weak, prone to "the easy way out," and so on. And yet, throughout this period historical evidence seemed to show that men were the ones commiting self-murder the majority of the time. For women it was a solution to unrequited love or something equally as emotional. For men it was an answer to the pressures of work, status, and other "noble" pursuits. However offensive this may be from the standpoint of modern day feminism, it is a fascinating piece of history.

Also of interest is the Jesus/Judas dichotomy. Judas having commited suicide by hanging led to hanging being both a form of suicide and a punishment for criminals of the most basest character. Jesus' crucifixion on the other hand, and the suicides of martyrs, were considered forms of "good" deaths. Interpretations of this sort, and those of influential historical figures like St. Augustine, characterized the interpretations of suicide within society for far, far too long. The time period when religion dictated morality was an especially harsh time for the interpretation of suicides.

I was somewhat unhappy with the predominance of post-modernist interpretation even in those times when post-modernism had yet to surface. Foucault is often referenced and this leaves a certain skepticism about the author's opinions. I was also surprised by the detailed interpretations given some of the art pieces - the question being raised: how do you know? What appear rather explicable works of art are shown to have all sorts of hidden complexities and though they certainly made sense and were of great interest, how can we be sure this is what the artist meant to convey? I was also rather disappointed that many of the pieces of art referenced were not included in the book. I understand how difficult it would be to include each piece but, sadly, the average reader would have no other way of viewing them - especially without reference of where the pieces are to be found. How wonderful it would be if Reaktion - or Taschen or Phaidon Press would take up the task of working with Brown to reproduce every painting in one collection (without the necessity of text besides title, artist, and source.)

I also hoped to see reference to the works of Bosch (especially Mad Meg), Bruegel, Dali, and Francis Bacon.. but they weren't included.

The book is a very welcome addition to my collection on the topic and I highly recommend it to both art lovers and those intrigued by the subject matter.