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Death & Dying * = Highly recommended
Book
list for NPR’s "The End of Life"
The Hour of Our Death by Philippe Aries, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981. Summary: Western view of death throughout history.
* The Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994. Summary: A home care worker who assists people with AIDS takes us on her rounds, telling us their stories as she becomes their companion through the everyday gestures that sustain life in the face of death.
* Coming Home: A Guide to Dying at Home with Dignity by Deborah Duda, New York: Aurora Press, 1987. Summary: An excellent source of practical information to support and assist family and friends in easing the path of the terminally ill to a peaceful conclusion.
On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MacMillan, 1979. Summary: A classic and highly influential book, though somewhat dated, in which Dr. Ross advances her model of the "five stages" in the progress of the dying patient. Interesting and humane, with sound practical advice and transcripts of some interviews.
Learning to Say Goodbye: When a Parent Dies by Eda Le Shan, MacMillan, 1974. Summary: Good for an older child or adult. Beautifully and movingly written from a subjective viewpoint. Shows how death is perceived when one is "protected" by others. Explores many myths about death and dying.
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Newland, M.D., New York: A.A. Knopf, 1993. Summary: not available.
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal by Rachel Naomi Remen, Riverhead Books, 1996. Summary: not available.
*The Hospice Movement: A Better Way to Care for the Dying by Sandol Stoddard, New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1991. Summary: Stoddard has written the first book to show the layman how and why hospices work. Drawing on case histories and her personal experience at Christopher's Hospice, she presents the history of hospice, specific information on patient care, medication techniques, and administration.
The Courage to Grieve by Judy Tatelbaum, New York: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980. Summary: not available.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo by Francesca Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa, Boulder: Shambala (Dragon Editions), 1975. Summary: This translation emphasizes practical advice and includes several "inspiration-prayers".
Letters to a Dying Friend by Anton Grosz, Guest Books, 1989. Summary: "Through a series of beautiful and simple letters, Grosz makes The Tibetan Book of the Dead readily accessible to any reader … In a class by itself." --Joseph Chilton Pearce.
Japanese Death Poems, Charles Tuttle Co., 1985. Summary: Written by Zen monks and haiku poets on the verge of death.
* Who Dies? An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying by Stephen Levine, Anchor Books, 1992. Summary: While many books have dealt with the "stages of dying" and particularly the stages of acceptance of death, this is one of the first to demonstrate how to "open to the intensity of living with death." It is a deeply spiritual book written by a wise and humorous man.
Healing into Life and Death by Stephen Levine, Anchor Books, 1987. Summary: This book takes up where Who Dies? left off. It goes beyond just looking at the death of a person and investigates the healing response to other forms of suffering.
Facing Death and Finding Hope: A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying by Christine Longaker, Doubleday, 1998. Summary: not available.
* The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, Harper, San Francisco, 1992. Summary: This book is a work of reference and source of sacred inspiration. It translates the esoteric practices offered in the Tibetan Book of the Dead into simple, powerful and pragmatic techniques that can help transform our lives, prepare us for death and assist us in helping the dying.
*The Screaming Room by Barbara Peabody, San Diego: Oak Tree, 1986. Summary: A mother's account of caring for her son with AIDS.
AIDS The Ultimate Challenge by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, New York: MacMillan, 1987. Summary: not available.
AIDS: The Lonely Voyage, Nancy Shands, San Carlos, CA: Wide World, 1988. Summary: Eloquent and poignant account of what it's like to have AIDS, much of it is told in the words of 25 men who have AIDS or are infected with the AIDS virus.
* And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts, New York: Viking Penguin, 1993. Summary: not available.
Grace and Grit by Ken Wilber, Shambala, 1991. Summary: The story of a couple's five-year journey through marriage, illness, and, finally, death, is a vivid and inspiring portrayal of their inner experience, where the perennial wisdom of the ages is brought to bear on the issues of health and healing, wholeness and harmony, suffering and surrender.
Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken, North Point Press, 1982. Summary: "For all the fine books we've had on Zen the last two decades, not one has quite disclosed the guts and bones of how to do it, and keep doing it, as this book does." --Gary Snyder.
Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck, Harper San Francisco, 1982. Summary: not available.
Nothing Special by Charlotte Joko Beck, Harper San Francisco, 1989. Summary: not available.
Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron, Shambhala, 1994. Summary: not available.
* When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, Shambhala, 1997. Summary: not available.
The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving Kindness by Pema Chodron, Shambhala, 1991. Summary: not available.
The Opening of the Wisdom Eye by Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House. Summary: not available.
Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom by Joseph Goldstein, Shambhala, 1994. Summary: not available.
* Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Shambhala, 1997. Summary: not available.
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, Boston: Beacon Press, 1976. Summary: not available.
Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh, Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1987. Summary: not available.
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Hyperion, 1993. Summary: Kabat-Zinn, who was featured in Bill Moyers' Healing and the Mind PBS television series and book, is the founder and director of the highly successful Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. His presents dharma as both contemporary and timeless.
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Delta, 1990. Summary: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain and illness. Describes the program of the Stress Reduction Clinic (above).
A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield, Bantam New Age Books, 1993. Summary: Promises of Spiritual Life. Spiritual living in the modern world, including practical techniques, guided meditations, stories.
Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, Image Books, Doubleday, 1971. Summary: This book is the fruit of decades of study and experience. It is a practical non-academic and deeply moving essay on the very nature of prayer.
* The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry by Stephen Mitchell, ed., Harper and Row, 1989. Summary: not available.
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg, Shambhala, 1995. Summary: not available.
Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness by David Steindl-Rast, Paulist Press, 1984. Summary: "To bless whatever there is, and for no other reason but simply because it is, that is what we are made for as human beings." --Brother David.
*Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, Weatherhill, 1970. Summary: This book is about how to practice Zen as a workable discipline and religion. Here one begins to understand what Zen is really about. Every page breathes with the joy and simplicity that makes a liberated life possible.
Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective by Mark Epstein, M.D., Basic Books, 1995. Summary: Integrates Buddhist concepts with psychotherapy in a way which shows how they support each other.
Suicide and the Soul by James, Hillman, Spring Publications, 1964. Summary: not available.
Peoplemaking by Virginia Satir, Science & Behavior Press, 1972. Summary: not available.
Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag, Random House, 1979. Summary: not available.
*Grief Counseling & Grief Therapy (Second Edition) by J. William Worden, Springer Publishing Company, 1991. Summary: not available.
*Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, 1963. Summary: A short but powerful book describing the author's experience as an inmate in a Nazi concentration camp. Out of this traumatic experience, Frankl manages to see a profound aspect of human nature: to live one must find a personal meaning in life. The second half of the book describes his development of logo-therapy, an approach to help people discover their own individual meanings.
An Interrupted Life--The Diaries of Etty Hillesum 1941-43 by Etty Hillesum, New York: Washington Square Press, 1981. Summary: The story of a woman living in a concentration camp.
* How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service by Ram Dass & Paul Gorman. Summary: This book combines practical and spiritual wisdom for us in our efforts as members of the helping professions, as volunteers, as community activists, or simply as friends and family trying to meet each other's needs. "A truly glorious book which is a must for anyone in the field of service." – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
The Death of Ivan Ilich by Leo Tolstoy. Summary: Strongly recommended. A brilliant account of the death of a bourgeois Russian Judge, with probably more insight into the psychology of death than any other work of literature.
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