Happier endings : a meditation on life and death

by Erica Brown    (Get the Book)
Living well seems to be the fixation of every disposition and discipline; there is never a shortage of opinions. Dying well, however, has traditionally fallen to the philosopher. Confronting death head on, Brown (Inspired Jewish Leadership) illustrates a practical stance on approaching the unknown. We all will die, so why avoid the inevitable? But why expedite it as well? Despite America's youth-obsessed and aging-averse culture, significant progress is being made in the field of thanatology (the study of death), and Brown establishes her place among the heavyweights of the field-even suggesting an additional stage to Kubler-Ross's five stages of death: inspiration. As the dark matter of life, death affects many aspects of everyday living; the financial, in the booming and discomforting "death industry" and embalming dedicated to preserving remains; the medical, with treatments aimed at delaying the inevitable; the spiritual, serving the contemplation of the soul; and the ritualistic, with detailed traditions surrounding death and mourning. Fear and death don't present themselves as the most ideal topics for a life-affirming book, but Brown manages to overcome negativity in her effort to create happier endings, for the living and the dying. --Publishers Weekly