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How We Die | 
 enlarge | Author: Sherwin B. Nuland
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $2.01 (12%)
New (8) Used (9) from $1.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 964178
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0679437193
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.078
UPC: 090129437191
EAN: 9780679437192
ASIN: 0679437193
Publication Date: April 26, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
There is a vast literature on death and dying, but there are few reliable accounts of the ways in which we die. The intimate accounts of how various diseases take away life offered in How We Die, is not meant to prompt horror or terror but to demythologize the process of dying. Though the avenues of death -- AIDS, cancer, heart attack, Alzheimer's, accident, and stroke -- are common, each of us will die in a way different from any that has gone before. Each one of death's diverse appearances is as distinctive as that singular face we each show during our lives. Behind each death is a story. In How We Die, Sherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon and teacher of medicine, tells some stories of dying that reveal not only why someone dies but how. He offers a portrait of the experience of dying that makes clear the choices that can be made to allow each of us his or her own death.
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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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