If …Or Not To Be: A Collection Of Suicide Notes were merely a collection of suicide notes, it would be little more than marginally entertaining. Fortunately, author Marc Eiklund is not content to stop there and write a morbid little novelty, admitting in his introduction that reading suicide notes is "pornography… suicide notes simply should not be read by strangers." It seems like a contradictory premise, but Eiklund's purpose here is to educate. In scarcely 100 pages, we get the history and psychology of leaving suicide notes, an exploration of personal motivations for self-destruction, and an outline of the moral arguments on suicide and the right to die. All this, plus last testaments ranging from famous to anonymous, make for an enlightening peek at the mechanics of despair. It's a profound book, often darkly humorous, and ultimately moving. Its only misstep is in the title; …Or Not To Be is actually a look at people's reactions to self-destruction in themselves and others. It's also a minor masterpiece.