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How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter | 
 enlarge | Author: Sherwin B. Nuland
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.90
You Save: $14.05 (94%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 8287
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0679742441
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.078
EAN: 9780679742449
ASIN: 0679742441
Publication Date: January 15, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: 100% Money Back Guarantee. Support Literacy! Default Text
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Product Description
Attempting to demythologize the process of dying, Nuland explores how we shall die, each of us in a way that will be unique. Through particular stories of dying--of patients, and of his own family--he examines the seven most common roads to death: old age, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, accidents, heart disease, and strokes, revealing the facets of death's multiplicity.
"It's impossible to read How We Die without realizing how earnestly we have avoided this most unavoidable of subjects, how we have protected ourselves by building a cultural wall of myths and lies. I don't know of any writer or scientist who has shown us the face of death as clearly, honestly and compassionately as Sherwin Nuland does here."--James Gleick
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
 Comforting September 18, 2008
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
When I found out that my 80 year old grandmother had advanced cancer and was choosing not to treat it... I found myself suddenly afraid for her because I was uncomfortable with the fact that I didn't know what would happen to her at the end. I didn't know anyone with cancer who chose not to remove it or treat it with chemo.
I bought this book because it gave me exactly what I wanted to know and didn't try to beat around the bush about the bodily processes that happen when we die.
At first I was only interested in finding out about cancer, but I found myself reading the book from cover to cover.
It is so wonderful to find someone who is willing to give the facts on this subject! It gave me great comfort because I knew what was coming and didn't have to fear the unknown... When my grandmother's disease progressed, I was ready. She passed on 09/02/2008.
 To the wastebin! June 15, 2008
1 out of 13 found this review helpful
Prepare yourself for a collection of voyeuristic anecdotal accounts of the dying experience. This book is void of any commendable consequence. I could not even offer it as a donation to a charitable organization. The book has been discreetly relegated to the trash bin beneath the putrifying garbage. There it will remain until next Tuesday, trash pickup day.
Facing the end of life April 28, 2008
Technical informations, personal experiences, history and philosophy put the reader face to face with the end of life aspects. Informations that will help take decisions when death is near.
The magnifying glass over physiology let the reader think about many others aspects of life.
For Physicians and Patients Alike... February 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I believe this is a must read book for doctors and patients alike. While not cozy and comforting, it presents the facts in a wholly acceptable and honest manner.
I read this after both of my parents passed away from cancer 10 months apart in an attempt to make some sense of what they endured both mentally and medically. This book provided the answers and a great measure of righteous anger at the attending physicians and their attitudes that somehow they could cure the uncureable right up until the very last moment, depriving everyone of the necessary time to say the things that needed to be said.
This book will tell you that you, as the patient, must seek the truth about your illness as it isn't always handed to you by your physician. For the physician, it teaches how to tell the truth without destroying the time left to terminal patients.
A sobering but compassionate look at the statistics November 26, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Nuland may have written one of the most poetic and philosophically sobering accounts of the process of dying. As a practicing physician, he is very much in command of his facts. He has a reverance for the human body and acknowledges the miracle of life. He also recognizes how those in his profession can be a hindrance for people at the end of life because everything in their background, make-up, and training makes them want to rescue dying people from their inevitable demise regardless of the pain and indignity their "solutions" might inflict on their patients. Nuland writes movingly of the end-of-life experiences of family members and patients. In HOW WE DIE he achieves a delicate balance of presenting facts and statistics in memorable ways while also sharing profound stories of loss and regret along with stories that offer hope that even the most gruesome of deaths can be meaningful experiences to the dying and their loved-ones. The chapters on specific illnesses (heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, AIDS) are worth re-reading before interacting with anyone suffering from these conditions.
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