There is a vast literature on death and dying, but there a few reliable accounts of the ways in which we die. The intimate account 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, to help us rid ourselves of that fear of the terra incognita.
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 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.
“This is indeed a rare book. I do not recall ever reading a description of the final chapter of life that so eloquently describes the various ways in which death approaches. Dr. Nuland offers important and insightful vignettes that are both moving and hopeful. It is a book that all physicians and medical students should have in their library.”
—
“In a remarkable feat of alchemy, Dr. Nuland has taken some technical and potentially depressing material and transformed it into a moving, readable and truly important book. Every doctor and every patient should read it.”
—
“Dr. Nuland is a sensitive, thoughtful and articulate physician. In this passionate considerations of some of the major causes of death in our society he has brought together a remarkable mix of clinical accuracy, epidemiologic fact and a clear call for all of us to examine the realities of the process of dying, but his compassion leavens and softens the message he brings us.”
—
