How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
By:
Sherwin B. Nuland
Buy it now at Amazon.com!
Lowest New Price: $4.10
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Description:
Attempting to demythologize the process of dying, Nuland explores how we shall die, each of us in a way that will be unique. Through particular stories of dying--of patients, and of his own family--he examines the seven most common roads to death: old age, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, accidents, heart disease, and strokes, revealing the facets of death's multiplicity.
"It's impossible to read How We Die without realizing how earnestly we have avoided this most unavoidable of subjects, how we have protected ourselves by building a cultural wall of myths and lies. I don't know of any writer or scientist who has shown us the face of death as clearly, honestly and compassionately as Sherwin Nuland does here."--James Gleick
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 1995-01-15
Customer Review: 1 out of 5
To the wastebin! - Prepare yourself for a collection of voyeuristic anecdotal accounts of the dying experience. This book is void of any commendable consequence. I could not even offer it as a donation to a charitable organization. The book has been discreetly relegated to the trash bin beneath the putrifying garbage. There it will remain until next Tuesday, trash pickup day.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Facing the end of life - Technical informations, personal experiences, history and philosophy put the reader face to face with the end of life aspects. Informations that will help take decisions when death is near.
The magnifying glass over physiology let the reader think about many others aspects of life.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
For Physicians and Patients Alike... - I believe this is a must read book for doctors and patients alike. While not cozy and comforting, it presents the facts in a wholly acceptable and honest manner.
I read this after both of my parents passed away from cancer 10 months apart in an attempt to make some sense of what they endured both mentally and medically. This book provided the answers and a great measure of righteous anger at the attending physicians and their attitudes that somehow they could cure the uncureable right up until the very last moment, depriving everyone of the necessary time to say the things that needed to be said.
This book will tell you that you, as the patient, must seek the truth about your illness as it isn't always handed to you by your physician. For the physician, it teaches how to tell the truth without destroying the time left to terminal patients.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
A sobering but compassionate look at the statistics - Nuland may have written one of the most poetic and philosophically sobering accounts of the process of dying. As a practicing physician, he is very much in command of his facts. He has a reverance for the human body and acknowledges the miracle of life. He also recognizes how those in his profession can be a hindrance for people at the end of life because everything in their background, make-up, and training makes them want to rescue dying people from their inevitable demise regardless of the pain and indignity their "solutions" might inflict on their patients. Nuland writes movingly of the end-of-life experiences of family members and patients. In HOW WE DIE he achieves a delicate balance of presenting facts and statistics in memorable ways while also sharing profound stories of loss and regret along with stories that offer hope that even the most gruesome of deaths can be meaningful experiences to the dying and their loved-ones. The chapters on specific illnesses (heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, AIDS) are worth re-reading before interacting with anyone suffering from these conditions.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
On my second reading! - Anyone interested in physiology will love this book. Easy to read, fascinating for the lay person as well as any premed student! I've got an 88 yr. old mother and this book explained so much!
--> Find out more about "How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter" at Amazon.com or Order Now
| 