Aging Dying

In the 1960s Ram Dass was a Harvard professor who turned to Eastern religion to answer the questions troubling his generation. He shared his story in the landmark classic, Be Here Now, which instantly captured the spiritual longings of his contemporaries. In Still Here, Ram Dass once again brings understanding, common sense, and reassurance for those of us facing the final season of life.

Born with the extraordinary power to look deep within the human heart, David Selig recklessly misuses his gift in the pursuit of pleasure, until his power begins to die and he must come to terms with what it means to be truly human. This is a fascinating portrait. Never has the experience of...

#1 New York Times Bestseller In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from...

A profoundly personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America "Schiller unpacks a complicated subject with curiosity and empathy...[A] deeply human portrayal of what it means to get older in a society unprepared to care for its most vulnerable...

The cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project and pioneer behind the compassionate care movement shares an inspiring exploration of the lessons dying has to offer about living a fulfilling life. Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every...

A Columbia University physician inspires us to rethink death and offers insights on how we can learn to embrace the art of dying well in this wise, clear-eyed book that is as compelling and soulful as Being Mortal, When Breath Becomes Air, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. As a specialist in both...

Aging isn’t graceful. It isn’t wise. It isn’t dignified. It’s hilarious. From Michelle Ward, author of the Cheap Therapy series, comes the ultimate survival guide for men who are discovering that their bodies now sound like bubble wrap, their mornings feel like crime scenes, and their testicles are auditioning for a bungee-jump. Inside, you’ll discover: Why socks have become an Olympic event. The truth about sneezes that feel like seismic activity. Bathroom trips that last longer than TV episodes. The betrayal of bald spots, ear hair, and rogue eyebrows. The medical circus of ...

The first book to validate the meaningful dreams and visions that bring comfort as death nears. Christopher Kerr is a hospice doctor. All of his patients die. Yet he has cared for thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love and grace. Beyond the physical realities of dying are...

Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional...

With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Justin Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man’s last wish into a rich tapestry of family love. “A work of art . . . a great American novel.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer On an evening in late summer...

From the author of Confessions of the Fox comes a novel in which a yenta on her deathbed gives an unrepentant account of all her failures—including her child. “A rant of comedic genius . . . [Jordy Rosenberg] writes with an enchanting command of language and satire.”—Melissa Broder, The...

In the spirit of Amor Towles and George Saunders, the renowned, bestselling Norwegian author Frode Grytten takes readers on a quietly epic journey: ferry driver Nils Vik’s last route along the fjord, on what he knows will be his last day alive. Nils Vik wakes up on November the 18th and knows...

This program is read by Michael J. Fox. A moving account of resilience, hope, fear and mortality, and how these things resonate in our lives, by actor and advocate Michael J. Fox. The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future; as...

“Honey isn’t one of these frail wraiths who sip tea and shuffle in worn slippers. Honey subsists on Viognier and Valium and slips on Louboutins just to run to the grocery store.…a feisty heroine readers will embrace as an octogenarian with attitude to spare.” — Booklist Meet a woman as...

At seventeen, Mara Ives has one goal for her compulsory Service Year: do the work, follow the rules, protect her future, and get out. Then she is assigned to Haven District 12. In a society where medicine has pushed human life far beyond its old limits, Haven cares for people whose added decades require more labor than the professional healthcare system can comfortably supply. Teenagers like Mara are drafted into the gap. Her most difficult assignment is Elias Vale, age 132: lucid, proud, infuriating—and far more connected to the history of compulsory Service than Mara first realizes. As ...

From the celebrated author of Nickel and Dimed, an exploration of how we are killing ourselves to live longer—not necessarily better. "Sharp and fearless." —Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City A...

The scene plays out in ICUs every day: a family gathered around a bed, a decision that must be made, and no idea what the person who matters most would actually want. The conversations that should have happened years ago never did. And now there is no time. The Last Conversation is the workbook that helps you change that story for your family. Written for adult children of aging parents, for people navigating a serious diagnosis, for anyone who has watched a family go through a death without adequate preparation and vowed to do it differently — this book is a practical, compassionate, and...

"Wonderful... Physicans would do well to learn this most important lesson about caring for patients." —The New York Times Book Review Over the years that Victoria Sweet has been a physician, “healthcare” has replaced medicine, “providers” look at their laptops more than at their...

This helpful and encouraging resource offers support for everyone accompanying someone at the end of life - from the moment we first learn that someone is dying through the time of death and beyond. Kirsten DeLeo shares down-to-earth advice and offers simple practices to help us handle our emotions, deal with difficult relationships, talk about what matters, listen fully, practice self-care, and work through challenging situations with presence and grace.

For readers of Being Mortal and Modern Death, an ICU and Palliative Care specialist offers a framework for a better way to exit life that will change our medical culture at the deepest level In medical school, no one teaches you how to let a patient die. Jessica Zitter became a doctor because...