How We Die

Reflections on Life's Final Chapter

By: Sherwin B. Nuland

Narrated by: Sherwin B. Nuland

Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive resource on perhaps the single most universal human concern: death.

Even more relevant than when it was first published, this edition addresses contemporary issues in end-of-life care and includes an all-embracing and incisive afterword that examines the state of health care and our relationship with life as it approaches its terminus. How We Die also discusses how we can take control of our own final days and those of our loved ones.

"Nuland's work acknowledges, with unmatched clarity, the harsh realities of how life departs… There is compassion, and often wisdom, in every page." —San Francisco Examiner

©1994 Sherwin B. Nuland (P)1994 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Eloquent and uncommonly moving… Nuland writes with unsentimental passion." —Time

"Engrossing… We are in the hands of a remarkable portraitist whose cultivated thought…. quietly and informatively instructs and advises us on a subject of universal concern." —The New York Times Book Review

"Nuland's work acknowledges, with unmatched clarity, the harsh realities of how life departs… There is compassion, and often wisdom, in every page." —San Francisco Examiner

Very insightful and educational

A topic that is very touchy for almost everyone is brought into light as the author takes you through some of his patients journey's. He also explains WHY and HOW these types of deaths occur, which in a way answers more questions than people really think to ask. Great Book.

not as comprehensive as I would have liked.

what a pity the unabridged version is not available. In the beginning this version it seemed to offer more of what I sought: The actual mechanisms of death as they vary according to the cause, and what the patient feels as each kicks in. It moves more on to the philosophy of death and wisdom of how loved ones can best help the dying patient psychologically. Useful things to know but not what I sought.

good read, fascinating details

Glad I found it, happy when the author reads.
Insightful and clear, need to know details (in my opinion)

Lacks details; disjointed; and disappointed

As this text is a required reading for a course, I found it convenient to purchase the Audio version. However, it has become clear (after also purchasing the text) this audio lacks details. There are entire sections missing that completely disjoint the stories told. This is a disappointment.

Nuland's vision: a new approach to dying

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This is a modest book, but one in which Dr. Nuland, reading his own work, expresses a clear viewpoint as a physician familiar with every aspect of How We Die. Using various professional anecdotes and personal stories to illustrate the need for change in our approach to dying, Nuland posits that doctors and families need to be honest with their patients and loved ones about the approach of death. Only by offering the dying patient honesty, rather than false hope, Nuland believes, can we spare them unnecessary and ultimately futile treatments, and allow them to prepare themselves properly for death, surrounded by their loved ones, "so that our last moments will be guided not by the bioengineers, but by those who know WHO WE ARE (emphasis Nuland) ."

Nuland repositions death as more than just the final moment marking the demise of a particular individual; he urges acceptance of death as a natural and ever-repeated stage in the eternal cycle of life, as a gift the dying person can give to the new generation, without which new life cannot thrive. He sends out an urgent call for revision of our attitudes towards death, for funding for new facilities and education for professionals who thus will have better expertise in this area, and for what we might now call hospice care, so that, rather than "sequestering the dying", "no man will be left to die alone." How We Die is compelling, timely, and, in spite of its daunting title, uplifting. It's worth a listen.

What three words best describe Sherwin B. Nuland’s voice?

Familiar, kind, emphatic

Did How We Die inspire you to do anything?

Rethink my own attitudes towards death and dying.

Any additional comments?

At first, I found Dr. Nuland's reading style a little over the top. His writing at times is a little fulsome (for e.g. I found it a little fussy to refer to a dying person as a "groundling" at the metaphoric 'performance' of his own death, in which he ought to be the 'principal player.'), but overall Nuland seems very sincere and I grew to like him more and more as he went on. In the end he won me over with his thoughtfulness and sincerity.

This book is important!!

I absolutely loved this piece. "How We Die" is everything a book by a physician on mortality should be. As a nurse in the ER and ICU practice areas, I have struggled with watching how we as a society typically die. Great read, and I believe this to be accessible even without a background in medicine.

Contemporary physician

This book was very well written and allows the reader to understand the anatomy and physiology that occurs in the course of dying.

I am the same age as the author and had strong feelings that he related and highly recommend this book.

Ralph J Argen MD

Timely

This writing and performance comes at such an important time for me as I have just found that a young woman, whom I have known since our childhoods, is faced with impending death due to a rare and aggressive Cancer.
She was totally unaware of the betrayal of her human body until an Emergency Room visit. After a number of days, tests and surgeries to remove the growing mass, the diagnosis of a rare and aggressive Cancer has been given to her.
I have already ordered Dr. Nuland’s book in paper form and will also purchase the Audio Book for this young woman’s Sister, whom I consider like a sister.
Thank you Dr. Nuland for sharing your expertise and wisdom on this difficult, yet unavoidable, topic of great importance. Your sharing lends a measure of comfort in better understanding this sadness suffered in all human lives.

How We Die - great read

Enjoyed the stories, realism, understandability, and pace. Appreciated the treatment of possibility of spirit existing beyond.

Required reading for those still breathing

This book places the responsibility for living and dying where it should be placed, firmly with the individual in process.The suggestion that modern western medicine can and has made life easier is countered with the fact that sometimes, it can prolong life too far, and then allows more suffering than was necessary. It is up to each person to decide whats enough. Thats a hard choice, when you begin to balance what others want, who you will dissapoint,and so on.A very thought provoking look at death in its visceral form, sometimes messy, emotionally charged, very human.