• Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)

  • A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
  • By: Sallie Tisdale
  • Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
  • Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (184 ratings)

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Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)

By: Sallie Tisdale
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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Publisher's summary

You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you.

The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys. Tisdale looks at grief, what the last days and hours of life are like, and what happens to dead bodies. Advice for Future Corpses includes exercises designed to make you think differently about the inevitable. She includes practical advice, personal experience, a little Buddhist philosophy, and stories.

But this isn't a book of inspiration or spiritual advice - Advice for Future Corpses is about how you can get ready. Start by admitting that we are all future corpses.

©2018 Sallie Tisdale (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Featured Article: A Future Corpse's Guide to Death Acceptance


Confronting death does not necessitate a spiral into despondency. Instead we may come a realization that, in acknowledging and accepting this fate, we paradoxically lead fuller and more emotionally present lives. In this list, scholars, physicians, journalists, philosophers, and death professionals share their stories, perspectives, and advice, offering a glimpse into how we can prepare for the end with grace, heart, and humor.

What listeners say about Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)

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    3 out of 5 stars

THIS!!!

Beyond the considerable nuance of systemic detail which is explained in this book, the high level educational nature of the author’s insights, much of which I believe points out the sheer contradictory protocol which medical professionals must (or choose to) abide by, but which serve only to accomplish the opposite result of it’s implied intention, this Review is a tome of intellectual and emotional intelligence on a subject which is common to all, the likes of which I could not have imagined before hearing this recording. Brilliance! Thank you Sallie!

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The news that most funeral homes and cremation services are owned by a few corporations.

I liked the tone and the information. The pace was perfect for the subject matter.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a must read for nurse

I have just finished reading this and will read it again. I was so thankful someone wrote about this with such frankness and also so caringly. I have been a NICH nurse for 15 years and deal with death often. thank you for this book. I will be sharing it with everyone.

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6 people found this helpful

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  • AJ
  • 02-08-22

Thoughtful and sweet

Advice for Future Corpses is a really thoughtful and sweet book that meditatively dwells on the morbid for the purpose of dispelling stigma. Tisdale is an experienced nurse who brings lots of stories to bear on the subject. A bit uncomfortable, but it’s hard to imagine a more universally applicable read.

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Thorough Gentle Guidance

The narrator has a soothing voice and reads the author's words with confidence. This book has everything you need to know about death and dying. It's informative! It's thorough! You'll be glad you bought it.

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1 person found this helpful

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Vitally important information

I know this book isn’t supposed to make people happy or anything but learning and remembering to act on this information is so important. Things you never think about but wouldn’t want to leave your loved ones with the responsibilities either. And also learning how to accept the death of a loved one or even yourself is not something we are all taught how to accept but it will happen one day and knowing what is involved will put you and others at ease.

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This Book Changed How I View My World

This book took me on a journey I never knew I needed. As I helped prepare my sister to die I listened to this as an audio book. The advice given helped me mentally and emotionally to coup with what was transpiring. Sallie Tisdale weaves the journey with eloquence and awareness. It was read by Gabra Zackman, her canter and calmness is just right.

The books is something I will return to many times in my life.

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Truth about death

Very well written and spoken. Very informative. It’s a very good read for everyone. It lets you know all the choices people have.

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Talking about death

It was an honest look at death. I am not Buddhist; but the spiritual parts of the book were surprisingly enlightening, in a pleasant way. The author seems to have a curiosity and desire to let us know what she has found out. The bad news she tells you everything. The good news is she delivers it with compassion.

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Very worthwhile contemplations on mortality

Thoughtful and thought provoking discussion about life, death, and choices. Nonjudgmental and nondenominational, though informed by Buddhist thought. Sage advice throughout. Well worth relistening. Several appendices make me think I might want the print copy too.

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1 person found this helpful