Book excerpt: On Suicide is neither a defense of suicide nor an invitation to assisted suicide, but an analysis of the state of mind of those who are suicidal and who actually do commit suicide. It is also a strident defense of the freedom of the individual and a plea for the recognition of the fact that we belong to ourselves before belonging to another person, or an institution, nation, or religion, and that our right to choose to end our life can have priority over social entanglements and biological destiny. Book jacket.