Final Exit really is a mediocre book overall. It was revolutionary when it was first published 20+ years ago. The current edition is poorly organized, poorly edited, and simply WRONG on several counts. The author has no sense of numeracy (he doesn’t even seem to understand the concept of a “rate” vs a “number”) and simply rattles off whatever convenient anecdotes he has to prove his points. Extremely disappointing because suicide is such an important decision, and we shouldn’t leave it up to innumerate poets to tell us what is and is not effective for suicide.
It lists hanging and gunshot under the chapter called “Bizarre Ways to Die”, yet these are two the most reliable and common ways to commit suicide. It says that “hanging is almost always an act
of protest, a desire to shock and hurt someone.” WTF? Hanging is reliable, probably the most reliable method of suicide to those with limited resources and likely around as reliable as helium exit bag. For some reason he devotes a whole chapter to air embolism instead of lumping it with his “bizarre ways” chapter.
He vastly overestimates the ability for many of us to get drugs like ******** and Seconal and basically gives no actionable advice other than, “get them from your doctor or go on an overseas adventure to find a such a willing doctor.” Peaceful Pill Handbook actually gives you specific, actionable instructions that are within the resources of most of us.
All of its evidence for claims are based on anecdotes that give a very misleading picture of the data that is available. For instance, the author suggests that gunshot is an unreliable way to die. His only evidence is that Hideki Tojo attempted suicide by shooting himself in the heart and failed because he missed his heart. No matter that the available data suggests that gunshot to the head is fatal around 70-90% of the time and that this can likely be improved by using multiple large caliber guns and aiming for either the brain stem or cerebellum instead of the frontal lobe. His chapter on cyanide simply lists anecdote after anecdote about how various individuals did or did not die after consuming cyanide.
The critical bits of the methods are scattered about in different chapters (and the helium method is deliberately described vaguely in order to get people to buy his Ebook “How to Make a Your Own Helium Hood Kit”). The chapters on methods seem to have no organizing principle (probably made worse with the introduction of the helium method in the late 90s — author just drops in chapters on helium in the middle of the book without rewriting other sections to accommodate the existence of the helium method).
Five Last Acts by Chris Docker and Suicide and Attempted Suicide by Geo Stone are far, far better. The Stone book is pretty outdated though.
hello 45 thanks so much for all your input. i really appreciate it. if you have time and would like, would you mind emailing me sometime? since we cant discuss this here? i have that one and peaceful pill book, but seems like your way intelligent and can interpret the books alot better than i can. my name is Ally thanks again
We can talk over email. You can find my email on my author page or by searching for me on the dashboard or by hovering your cursor over my name on one of my comments (i have it hyperlinked).
Trolls are people who enjoy being spiteful and cruel to other users, don’t really get them on here but they do get on other sites so take care. Are you looking for a way out to use like now or are you just curious if the time arises in the future looking4peace. I know from your previous post that you are depressed living at home and not having a job although I feel voluntary work to be very positive. You say you think your parents would rather you left home but they wouldn’t want you to kill yourself and even at 32 a lot of children still live with parents here in the UK as it’s so expensive not to. I always feel it’s the parents who brought us into the world, none of us ever asked for it, I certainly wouldn’t want to have be born, oh well. If things do change for the better then you will be able to move forward, you deserve some luck, and hold you head up as voluntary work is worthwhile and hopefully future employers will see that, it’s what I did for a while to show I was still prepared to work after a few years unemployed.
i’m looking for a way out as soon as possible 32 years of this is more than enough. and i see what you mean about trolls now and its ok if theyre on all sites because at this point they are everywere. to were i only go out of this house for the sake of someone or something else. for example walking the dog or going to the grocery store. but even thatss becoming more of a nightmare now. i’ve alsways had to deal with bullying REGARDLESS bad enough from people I didnt know AND people that were suppossed to love and take care of me. Now its everyone all the time. I’m afraid i’ll do something impulsive out of anxiety one of these days and i dont want to be selfish and have my parents find me dead so the only other option is leaving ya know. DIe on the streets since thats obvously what people out there seem to want anyway they can keep throwing rocks at a corpse i’m just getting extremely tired of this. i made so many changes but nothing mattered ya know. i know you probly think its paranoia and i would think that if someone told me something like that. i hope i find something or somewere soon. and my poor dog deserves an owner that can take him on a decent walk
No way do I think it’s paranoia, the doctor tells me I suffer paranoia as well but I know the truth, I don’t have your problems in everyday life and know it must be bad for you. I have an embarrasing condition which I know others are beginning to talk about but I’m to ashamed to talk about it, even on here. I was pushed out of a job because of it and I should of ended it then, I was 29 or so then, I’m 46 now and feel like I’ve no options left in life. The stupid thing is I keep trying, I was going to put a post up tonight saying that, how I want to die and yet how I want to live. I don’t know why people are being cruel, you mentioned tattoos in your last post but it can’t be that, so many people I see have tattoos which are visible, I feel sorry for you in that. Bullying is an evil thing, I just wish you didn’t have to end it, I said before that to volunteer is such a good thing to do and shows a good person.
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Online groups:
alt.suicide.holiday
alt.suicide.methods
Suicide Methods Hideout
Final Exit really is a mediocre book overall. It was revolutionary when it was first published 20+ years ago. The current edition is poorly organized, poorly edited, and simply WRONG on several counts. The author has no sense of numeracy (he doesn’t even seem to understand the concept of a “rate” vs a “number”) and simply rattles off whatever convenient anecdotes he has to prove his points. Extremely disappointing because suicide is such an important decision, and we shouldn’t leave it up to innumerate poets to tell us what is and is not effective for suicide.
It lists hanging and gunshot under the chapter called “Bizarre Ways to Die”, yet these are two the most reliable and common ways to commit suicide. It says that “hanging is almost always an act
of protest, a desire to shock and hurt someone.” WTF? Hanging is reliable, probably the most reliable method of suicide to those with limited resources and likely around as reliable as helium exit bag. For some reason he devotes a whole chapter to air embolism instead of lumping it with his “bizarre ways” chapter.
He vastly overestimates the ability for many of us to get drugs like ******** and Seconal and basically gives no actionable advice other than, “get them from your doctor or go on an overseas adventure to find a such a willing doctor.” Peaceful Pill Handbook actually gives you specific, actionable instructions that are within the resources of most of us.
All of its evidence for claims are based on anecdotes that give a very misleading picture of the data that is available. For instance, the author suggests that gunshot is an unreliable way to die. His only evidence is that Hideki Tojo attempted suicide by shooting himself in the heart and failed because he missed his heart. No matter that the available data suggests that gunshot to the head is fatal around 70-90% of the time and that this can likely be improved by using multiple large caliber guns and aiming for either the brain stem or cerebellum instead of the frontal lobe. His chapter on cyanide simply lists anecdote after anecdote about how various individuals did or did not die after consuming cyanide.
The critical bits of the methods are scattered about in different chapters (and the helium method is deliberately described vaguely in order to get people to buy his Ebook “How to Make a Your Own Helium Hood Kit”). The chapters on methods seem to have no organizing principle (probably made worse with the introduction of the helium method in the late 90s — author just drops in chapters on helium in the middle of the book without rewriting other sections to accommodate the existence of the helium method).
Five Last Acts by Chris Docker and Suicide and Attempted Suicide by Geo Stone are far, far better. The Stone book is pretty outdated though.
Thanks for the info on Five Last Acts…I wasn’t aware of it’s existence 🙂
Hopefully it can be purchased without the brouhaha in my country.
hello 45 thanks so much for all your input. i really appreciate it. if you have time and would like, would you mind emailing me sometime? since we cant discuss this here? i have that one and peaceful pill book, but seems like your way intelligent and can interpret the books alot better than i can. my name is Ally thanks again
We can talk over email. You can find my email on my author page or by searching for me on the dashboard or by hovering your cursor over my name on one of my comments (i have it hyperlinked).
Just be careful cuz there’s some seriously shithouse trolls on some of those sites. I’ve been there.
thanks 45. Hello kontin i dont know what you guys mean by trolls? i keep hearing that from others not sure what it means
Trolls are people who enjoy being spiteful and cruel to other users, don’t really get them on here but they do get on other sites so take care. Are you looking for a way out to use like now or are you just curious if the time arises in the future looking4peace. I know from your previous post that you are depressed living at home and not having a job although I feel voluntary work to be very positive. You say you think your parents would rather you left home but they wouldn’t want you to kill yourself and even at 32 a lot of children still live with parents here in the UK as it’s so expensive not to. I always feel it’s the parents who brought us into the world, none of us ever asked for it, I certainly wouldn’t want to have be born, oh well. If things do change for the better then you will be able to move forward, you deserve some luck, and hold you head up as voluntary work is worthwhile and hopefully future employers will see that, it’s what I did for a while to show I was still prepared to work after a few years unemployed.
i’m looking for a way out as soon as possible 32 years of this is more than enough. and i see what you mean about trolls now and its ok if theyre on all sites because at this point they are everywere. to were i only go out of this house for the sake of someone or something else. for example walking the dog or going to the grocery store. but even thatss becoming more of a nightmare now. i’ve alsways had to deal with bullying REGARDLESS bad enough from people I didnt know AND people that were suppossed to love and take care of me. Now its everyone all the time. I’m afraid i’ll do something impulsive out of anxiety one of these days and i dont want to be selfish and have my parents find me dead so the only other option is leaving ya know. DIe on the streets since thats obvously what people out there seem to want anyway they can keep throwing rocks at a corpse i’m just getting extremely tired of this. i made so many changes but nothing mattered ya know. i know you probly think its paranoia and i would think that if someone told me something like that. i hope i find something or somewere soon. and my poor dog deserves an owner that can take him on a decent walk
No way do I think it’s paranoia, the doctor tells me I suffer paranoia as well but I know the truth, I don’t have your problems in everyday life and know it must be bad for you. I have an embarrasing condition which I know others are beginning to talk about but I’m to ashamed to talk about it, even on here. I was pushed out of a job because of it and I should of ended it then, I was 29 or so then, I’m 46 now and feel like I’ve no options left in life. The stupid thing is I keep trying, I was going to put a post up tonight saying that, how I want to die and yet how I want to live. I don’t know why people are being cruel, you mentioned tattoos in your last post but it can’t be that, so many people I see have tattoos which are visible, I feel sorry for you in that. Bullying is an evil thing, I just wish you didn’t have to end it, I said before that to volunteer is such a good thing to do and shows a good person.