<p>I'm wondering the <em>best</em> way to start a pthread that is a member of a C++ class? My own approach follows as an answer...</p>

I usually use a static member function of the class, and use a pointer to the class as the void * parameter.  That function can then either perform thread processing, or call another non-static member function with the class reference.  That function can then reference all class members without awkward syntax.