NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : How-to Book About Suicide Is Best-Seller

A new book that tells people how to commit suicide has risen to No. 1 on a New York Times best-seller list. “Final Exit” was written by Derek Humphry, executive director of the Hemlock Society, an organization that advocates legalizing euthanasia. The book gives detailed instructions on a variety of ways to commit suicide. The newspaper reported that, in its first week on the best-seller list, the book was No. 1 in the hard-cover advice category. Critics have said the book could be used as a handbook by murderers or depressed people. Others have defended it, arguing that it is a protest against the medical profession for letting terminally ill patients suffer.