The untold story of an iconoclastic scientist: a psychiatrist who dedicated his career to documenting consciousness after death.
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From God to sex to suicide to the afterlife, Jesse uses humor and science to explore, at the deepest levels, what it means to be—and to think—human.
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A research psychologist and the author of several acclaimed popular science books, Jesse and his work have been featured on numerous documentaries, television shows and radio programmes, including ‘Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman’, ‘Conan’, ‘Chelsea Lately’, ‘Q&A’ (Australia), NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ and the BBC. He has written for Scientific American, Slate, Guardian, The New York Times, Discover, Chicago Tribune, New Republic, Vice and many others. He currently writes the weekly sex and science column LE BON COUP DU DIMANCHE SOIR for the French magazine Le Point.
Jesse is Professor of Psychology and Head of the Science Communication Programme at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He lives on the Otago Peninsula with his partner Juan and their border terriers, Hanno and Kora.
“You must buy [Bering’s book] to be both entertained and the life and soul of cocktail parties from now ‘til the end of the world.”
Jezebel
"By the time you finish reading these sentences someone in the world will have committed suicide. Why do more than a million people a year kill themselves? To answer this question we need a brilliant research scientist, an insightful psychologist, and a sensitive but powerful writer who has seriously contemplated taking their own life. Jesse Bering fits all three criteria and the book you hold in your hands is a deeply moving narrative that cuts to the heart of the ultimate question any of us could ever ask: why should I live? Given what’s at stake in the topic, Suicidal may very well be the most important book you will ever read.”
Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine
“Bering's a supple, witty writer, and praiseworthy terms like wry and irreverent suggest themselves readily. The book is a humane flirtation with the often-strange intimacies that drive people's lives.”
Michael Washburn, The Boston Globe
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