The Lost Art of Dying

The opening chapter is a doctor\’s frank confession of the limitations, even abuses, of modern medicine at the end of life. But there is plenty of blame to go around, including for the survivors and even the dying themselves. The middle chapters are slightly less strong, though well-written and full of insight. For example, we can go wrong when facing death by fighting too much against the inevitable, or by trying to flee the inevitable by leaping to take our own life prematurely through so-called euthanasia. The closing chapters are the most beautiful and profound, revealing how we can live and die with the most goodness and beauty for ourselves, our families, and our communities. She writes gracefully and brings up riches mined from deep within ancient wisdom. As a Catholic myself, I appreciated that she, an Episcopalian, ends up practically where the Church does: Death should not be purposefully hastened, but extraordinary medical measures may be avoided. She also sees great value in the traditional teachings of medieval Catholics on the virtues and the way to die well. She mines much wisdom as well from pagan Aristotle and from Christians\’ elder brothers, the Jews. In general, however, she doesn\’t make any religious theme prominent, doubtless because the secular can make great use of this powerful book — and are perhaps most in need of it. The only thing that surprised me and is a minor weakness was the relative lack of discussion of hospice, though it makes fleeting appearances, is how her grandmother died, and would seem quite congenial to her views. We should all be grateful a doctor could write so frankly about her modern profession\’s limitations and so richly about older sources of knowledge, beauty, and consolation. 1 person found this helpful

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member