Authoritative, accessible, personal, profound—there’s never been a book on suicide like this. It will help you understand yourself and your loved ones, and it will change the way you think about this most vexing of human problems.
Published in the UK as A Very Human Ending: How Suicide Haunts Our Species.
For much of his thirties, Jesse Bering thought he was probably going to kill himself. He was a successful psychologist and writer, with books to his name and bylines in major magazines. But none of that mattered. The impulse to take his own life remained. At times it felt all but inescapable.
Bering survived. And in addition to relief, the fading of his suicidal thoughts brought curiosity. Where had they come from? Would they return? Is the suicidal impulse found in other animals? Or is our vulnerability to suicide a uniquely human evolutionary development? In Suicidal, Bering answers all these questions and more, taking us through the science and psychology of suicide, revealing its cognitive secrets and the subtle tricks our minds play on us when we’re easy emotional prey. Scientific studies, personal stories, and remarkable cross-species comparisons come together to help readers critically analyze their own doomsday thoughts while gaining broad insight into a problem that, tragically, will most likely touch all of us at some point in our lives. But while the subject is certainly a heavy one, Bering’s touch is light. Having been through this himself, he knows that sometimes the most effective response to our darkest moments is a gentle humor, one that, while not denying the seriousness of suffering, at the same time acknowledges our complicated, flawed, and yet precious existence.
Authoritative, accessible, personal, profound—there’s never been a book on suicide like this. It will help you understand yourself and your loved ones, and it will change the way you think about this most vexing of human problems.
University of Chicago Press
November 5, 2018
9780226463322
6.0 × 9.0 in / 272 pages
"Touches upon some deep questions relevant to all of us ... Bering is refreshingly direct. He grasps nettles and assiduously avoids clichés. A Very Human Ending transcends its own objectives. It is a fascinating, thoughtful, unflinching meditation on one of the most intriguing and curious aspects of the human condition.”
Evening Standard
“A brave and important exploration of a subject we urgently need to demystify. It will change every reader for the better.”
Derren Brown
"Jesse Bering asks the questions no one else dares, he tells truths that others shy away from, and he writes the books that I wish I had written. To me, he is everything a great scientist and communicator should be. Suicide may be an uncomfortable subject yet the escalating numbers of people who take their lives each year means we must make it’s unravelling our priority. I have no doubt this book will have a profound impact on all who read it, and add considerably to our understanding of that self-willed oblivion, whether it lies palpably just beneath our own skin, or the skins of those we love. But perhaps most importantly of all it will help dispel the stigma and shame that so perniciously clings to all suicides."
Dr. Christian Jessen
"Suicide is one of the toughest subjects to write about, and psychologist Jesse Bering does it with candor, scientific integrity and genuine empathy ...The book itself is a testament to the human spirit. Suicidal is a vital book--informative, engaging and enlightening despite its dark subject matter.”
Shelf Awareness
"Bering carefully balances his natural whimsy and avid curiosity with deep compassion in this look at how suicidal urges work ... Both heartening and deeply illuminating.”
Publishers Weekly
“Jesse Bering is the best science writer at work today."
Dan Savage
If you’d like to follow along with Jesse’s writings – he finally has a new book in development! – just add your email address below.
Jesse is Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago.
