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We're All Going to Die

A Joyful Book About Death

Leah Kaminsky

$29.99

Paperback

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English
Harper Collins
23 May 2016

ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— When I first saw Dr Leah Kaminsky’s book I wondered who might be the audience for a book on this topic. Those with a morbid fascination? Hypochondriacs? Or someone actually facing down death? Perhaps it is best to start with Kaminsky’s own reason for writing it - confronting her own fear of death. In doing this, she looks at death from many angles - child mortality, near-death experience, death-defying risk-taking, hypochondria, depression and suicide, illness, and how to die well - if that is possible.

Having strong elements of memoir, Kaminsky is at her most captivating when relating personal experiences - with her children, her mother’s suicide, with friends and her patients throughout her medical career - and we sense that the frankness and self-examination with which she writes about these did not come easily. Craig Kirchner

A joyful book about the necessity of celebrating life in the face of death. The one certainty about life is that everybody is going to die. Yet somehow as a society we have come to deny this central fact - we ignore it, hoping it will go away.

Ours is an ageing society, where we are all living longer, healthier lives, yet we find ourselves less and less prepared for our inevitable end. Leah Kaminsky is an award-winning writer and GP, who is confronted by death and mortality on a daily basis. She shares - and challenges - our fears of death and dying. But she also takes joy in people whose response to their imminent death is to choose, instead, to consciously embrace life.

Like 90 year old Julia, a great-great-grandmother, officially an LOL in Leah's medical terminology (little old lady), who wants to compete in the Senior Olympics. Or a dying friend, who throws himself a 'pre-funeral' gig, to say goodbye to everyone he loves. As Leah says in this uplifting book,  'If we truly open ourselves up to the experiences of those directly confronted with their own mortality, maybe we will overcome our own tunnel vision and decide to live our lives more fully.'

This is an engaging, compassionate and compelling book about death - or more specifically, about how, by facing and accepting our coming death, we can all learn to live in a more vital, fearless and truthful way.

'A beautiful, brave, inspiring work.  Required reading for anyone who plans to die.'  Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff

'Everyone dies, and so I highly recommend Leah Kaminsky's sensitive and at times irreverent book about death to everyone.' Sandeep Jauhar, New York Times bestselling author of Doctored and Intern

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By:  
Imprint:   Harper Collins
Country of Publication:   Australia
Dimensions:   Height: 210mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 20mm
Weight:   401g
ISBN:   9781460749999
ISBN 10:   1460749995
Pages:   288
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Reviews for We're All Going to Die: A Joyful Book About Death

ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— When I first saw Dr Leah Kaminsky’s book I wondered who might be the audience for a book on this topic. Those with a morbid fascination? Hypochondriacs? Or someone actually facing down death? Perhaps it is best to start with Kaminsky’s own reason for writing it - confronting her own fear of death. In doing this, she looks at death from many angles - child mortality, near-death experience, death-defying risk-taking, hypochondria, depression and suicide, illness, and how to die well - if that is possible.

Having strong elements of memoir, Kaminsky is at her most captivating when relating personal experiences - with her children, her mother’s suicide, with friends and her patients throughout her medical career - and we sense that the frankness and self-examination with which she writes about these did not come easily. Craig Kirchner


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