In this unprecedented book, palliative medicine pioneer Dr Kathryn Mannix explores the biggest taboo in our society and the only certainty we all share: death.
Told through a series of beautifully crafted stories taken from nearly four decades of clinical practice, her book answers the most intimate questions about the process of dying with touching honesty and humanity. She makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation but with openness, clarity and understanding.
With the End in Mind is a book for us all: the grieving and bereaved, ill and healthy. Open these pages and you will find stories about people who are like you, and like people you know and love. You will meet Holly, who danced her last day away; Eric, the retired head teacher who, even with Motor Neurone Disease, gets things done; loving, tender-hearted Nelly and Joe, each living a lonely lie to save their beloved from distress; and Sylvie, 19, dying of leukaemia, sewing a cushion for her mum to hug by the fire after she has died.
These are just four of the book's thirty-odd stories of normal humans, dying normal human deaths. They show how the dying embrace living not because they are unusual or brave, but because that's what humans do. By turns touching, tragic, at times funny and always wise, they offer us illumination, models for action, and hope. Read this book and you'll be better prepared for life as well as death.
A Sunday Times bestseller, and Book of the Year shortlisted for Wellcome Book Prize.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008210915
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 250 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 22 mm
‘It is incredibly moving, of course, but what it isn’t is miserable. Yes this is a book about death, but it is also a book about joy. There aren’t all that many books that change the way you see the world. This book really might. It will make you want to do a better job of loving and living. It will make you want to be kinder. And it will make you want to cherish every precious moment of your precious life.’Sunday Times ‘Extraordinary and profoundly moving. … Any reader will come away with the wish that they will be cared for at the end by someone with Mannix’s imaginative sympathy and matter-of-fact generosity of perception’Rowan Williams, New Statesman ‘Illuminating and beautiful … I shed a few tears but it’s not gut wrenching and Mannix weaves the light and dark strands of her experience with finesse. It’s essential reading for anyone who will encounter death, and that means all of us.’Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times ‘I got to the end of Kathryn Mannix’s book with just one thought – I wish I’d been a palliative consultant … A reminder that talking about death is an Act of Love’Greg Wise ‘In the last few years, there has been a crowd of books by doctors, scientists and writers that have sought to show us different, kinder ways of ending: Atul Gawande, Oliver Sacks, Henry Marsh… the list is long. Now Kathryn Mannix joins this distinguished group. Mannix’s aim is to shed a soft, clear light on a subject too often avoided. Mild, tender and conciliatory, I would like her to be my compassionate, wise doctor when I lie dying.’Observer
This is a hugely important book that covers new ground.
For most people death is the final taboo. Mannix sketches in the historical background in which (n Western Society) death has been shunted off from the...
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My rekindled interest at the end of last year in death and subjects surrounding it continues with this fascinating book, which I received as a free proof in exchange for an honest review. This is a professional memoir... More
This was a remarkable book, and one that I needed to read. Although it is primarily about death, it is also very much about life – about living your life to the full, by not fearing death when it ultimately comes:... More
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