Showing titles in Death & Dying

As a retired brain surgeon, Henry Marsh thought he understood illness, but he was unprepared for the impact of his diagnosis of advanced cancer. And Finally explores what happens when someone who has spent a lifetime on the frontline of life and death finds himself contemplating what might be his own death sentence. As he navigates the bewildering transition from doctor to patient, he is haunted by past failures and projects yet to be completed, and frustrated by the inconveniences of illness and old age.

The loss of a child is the most devastating event a parent can face. Sharing her experience about the loss of a desperately loved daughter, and the effects that go beyond what people could ever imagine, Liza Jankowski explores her deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding stillbirth in this moving memoir. As she discusses the impact on her relationships, her subsequent pregnancy and what she ultimately learned, "Changed" weaves a powerful combination of a mother's personal journey with helpful information to offer comfort, hope and understanding.

The night before her father dies, 18-year-old Jeannie Vanasco promises she will write a book for him. But this isn't the book she imagined. The Glass Eye is Jeannie's struggle to honor her father, her larger-than-life hero but also the man who named her after his daughter from a previous marriage, a daughter who died. After his funeral, Jeannie spends the next decade in escalating mania, in and out of hospitals - increasingly obsessed with the other Jeanne. Obsession turns to investigation as Jeannie hunts for clues into the mysterious circumstances of her death.

“A documentary filmmaker and daughter of the late, great New York Times columnist David Carr celebrates and wrestles with her father’s legacy in a raw, redemptive memoir.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “A breathtaking read . . . a testimony equal parts love and candor. David would have had it...

A belief in the afterlife is common to almost every faith and culture around the world. Even people who don't consider themselves spiritual share a fascination in life after death. In this powerful guide narrated by Candida Gubbins, author and intuitive, Diane Ahlquist, shares her own knowledge...

After his father died, Leon Wieseltier began to observe the traditional year-long period of mourning, going to the synagogue three times a day to recite the prayer known as the mourner's Kaddish. Struck by the profound, yet unexpected power of this practice and the poverty of his knowledge about it, Leon began to study the history and meaning of this ancient ritual.

In this groundbreaking book, Anita Hannig brings us into the lives of ordinary Americans who go to extraordinary lengths to set the terms of their own death. Faced with a terminal diagnosis and unbearable suffering, they decide to seek medical assistance in dying—a legal option now available to one in five Americans. The Day I Die tackles one of the most urgent social issues of our time: how to restore dignity and meaning to the dying process in the age of high-tech medicine.

A legendary New York Times war correspondent delivers his unforgettable final dispatch: a deeply moving meditation on life inspired by his sudden battle with terminal brain cancer. For thirty years, Rod Nordland shadowed death. As one of his generation's preeminent war correspondents, he...

The Widow's Survival Guide shows women that they are strong enough to survive and thrive in life after loss. Within The Widow's Survival Guide, Charity Pimentel-Hyams, a widow at 37 with children aged five, three, and one at the time of her husband’s tragic and unexpected death, takes women through the challenges and triumphs of young widowhood.

When Kristin Meekhof lost her husband to cancer, she discovered what all widows learn: the moment you lose your partner, you must make crucial decisions that will impact the rest of your life. But where do you begin? This inspiring audiobook shows grieving widows what to expect and how to deal with the challenges of losing a life partner.

Vanessa's husband, Paul, dies suddenly and tragically on their regular Sunday morning swim. How will she cope with her dilapidated house, her teenage children, the patients who depend on her? Will therapy help? Why do mysterious white feathers start appearing in unexpected places? Beautifully written and honestly relayed, Vanessa uses her professional skills to explore the many questions posed by unanticipated death and to try to find a way forwards.

This is a vastly expanded and revised edition of the 2007 classic, Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite, now updated after a decade, containing many gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in one the most famous national parks.

Grieving Dads: To the Brink and Back is a collection of candid stories from grieving dads that were interviewed over a two-year period. The audiobook offers insight from fellow members of, in the haunting words of one dad, "this terrible, terrible club," which consists of men who have experienced the death of a child. They are real stories that pull no punches and are told with brutal honesty. Men that have shared their deepest and darkest moments. Some of these men have found their way back from the brink, while others are still standing there, stuck in their pain.

Losing a parent is a traumatic blow, and the grief can seem unbearable. But you are not alone, and you can get through this. In this first book dedicated to the experience of adults who have lost a parent, expert on grief Katherine Fair Donnelly shares intimate, telling interviews with surviving sons and daughters and presents practical ways in which surviving family members can take steps toward recovering from their devastating loss.

From a social critic and journalist, a poignant book that encourages publicly grieving of what we've lost in order to move towards a hopeful future. “Detailed, lucid and richly sourced, Sarah Jaffe’s From the Ashes shows how the transformational power of grief can fuel revolutionary change...

In The Grief Experience you’ll receive the gift of understanding the important and life-changing healing work that happens when you let go of old, conditioned patterns of belief around the grief process and gain new, healthier, more aligned and effective knowledge and tools. The 25 experts who came together for this collaboration share intimate stories and powerful strategies that will help you if you’re struggling with deep loss. Where there is deep grief, there was great love, and this book is the ultimate guide back to that love.

No one who listen to this book will ever again think of his or her own death in the same way. The first part of the book consists of a thought-provoking essay, in which Fingarette examines the metaphors that mislead us: death as parting, death as sleep, immortality as the denial of death, and selflessness as a kind of consolation. He also thinks through some of the more illuminating metaphors: death as the end of the world for me, death as the conclusion of a story, life as ceremony, and life as a tourist visit to earth.

An adrenaline-fueled read that will stay with you long after you turn the final page, Bad Call is a "compulsively readable, totally unforgettable" memoir about working on a New York City ambulance in the 1960s (James Patterson). Bad Call is Mike Scardino's visceral, fast-moving, and mordantly...

On Not Dying is an anthropological, historical, and philosophical exploration of immortality as a secular and scientific category. Based on an ethnography of immortalist communities - those who believe humans can extend their personal existence indefinitely through technological means - and an examination of other institutions involved at the end of life, Abou Farman argues that secular immortalism is an important site to explore the tensions inherent in secularism.

Unlock life's full potential by embracing the unavoidable. In a world that often shies away from its deepest truth, The Death Mindset dares to explore the profound paradox at the heart of human existence: that our awareness of death is not a source of fear to be avoided, but a powerful catalyst for living a richer, more meaningful life.