Die Wise

A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul

By: Stephen Jenkinson

Narrated by: Stephen Jenkinson

Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the discussion and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail to live forever.

Dying well, Jenkinson writes, is a right and responsibility of everyone. It is not a lifestyle option. It is a moral, political, and spiritual obligation all people owe their ancestors and their heirs. Die Wise dreams such a dream and plots such an uprising. How we die, how we care for dying people, and how we carry our dead: This work makes our capacity for a village-mindedness - or breaks it.

©2015 Stephen Jenkinson (P)2016 Stephen Jenkinson

Critic reviews

"Stephen Jenkinson's elegant and sorrow-freighted book brings prophetic insight rather than pastoral affirmations. A true story-man, Jenkinson paints image after image on the cave wall of his parchment. Die Wise is a formidable body of work, road-tested in ways most of us hope never to know about." (Dr. Martin Shaw, author of Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language)

Living my Death

As someone who work deep in the trenches of the death trade, this book absolutely changed my life. And what a voice...listening to him read it, well, I never wanted it to end.

Very important book

I think this book is so important for our day’s world. It touched me very deeply, open so much space for new thoughts and feelings. Stephen Jenkinson is a Sage, his wisdom is precious and I can listen his soothing voice forever!

Staggeringly Beautiful & as Real as It Gets

If you care deeply about life, you must also care about the end of it. What it brings, what it leaves, and the debt to be paid. Study hard and get to work. This may be your invitation to labor for the coins required for the boatman.

A good handbook for both professionals in hospice care as well as patients.

Very thoughtful & helpful approach to dying. A book I really needed to read as an aging palliative care physician.

A deep and necessary experience.

This book is quiet and momentous, challenging and nurturing. It is for everyone who seeks to see our culture more clearly, and who seeks another way of being within that culture.
The book deserves to be listened to meditatively, in the same manner in which it was written. There are no quick or easy lessons within, but if patience is applied, there are rich benefits of perspective and wisdom and solemnity. Don't fail to listen thoroughly, all the way to the end.
I am thankful to have listened to "Die Wise" on audio book. While I am certain that reading it on paper would have been worthwhile, Stephen Jenkinson's reading of his own words feels like a privilege.
This truly is a deep, necessary, and uncommon gift.

Amazing book, mediocre editing on audio

The editing is a little rough, though I love hearing it from the author himself. The content is fantastic.

Thought provoking and paradigm shifting

I listened to the author read this book on Audible. Soon after starting, I realized that I needed the print version to highlight and reflect. After I finished the audio version, I looked at my highlights and took notes on what stood out to me. I plan to repeat the entire process again. I don't usually feel that strongly about the value of the content. This book is thought provoking and potentially paradigm shifting on many aspects of dying and death. I need a second read to go deeper yet.
If you are interested in the topic of dying well, read this book. And maybe re-read it again.

So rich, I need to listen again

Clearly, I don’t know what I don’t know. I feel like I just got the gist on this first listen despite making notes on many saved clips. There’s some visceral change happening that I can’t put my finger on. I’m still reframing grief.

This week, two different people told me about their best friend who died or is in hospice dying. I showed up differently for them than I would have before reading this book, and I can’t quite name it. But a certain fear or aversion has dissolved or is dissolving. I felt more present and open … accepting that death is a mystery.
I’m learning and questioning practices that have been the norm. I’ll keep working on what it means to Die Wise.

Great listen

Any additional comments?

Its a great book to listen. I didn't rush and even repeated some chapters in order to properly soak in what the author was saying. I challenge you to exercise patience and listen to the whole book without rushing. :)

Wisdom

I was was held by this book in the quiet of both space and thought, It’s lyrics repeatedly coaxing me back to the deep. There I found the challenge to long held thoughts and beliefs, wisdom enlightened by experience and a certain comfortable poetry in its delivery. This one I will reread and reshare.