Books

"Jillian Brasch, OTR, tells the stories of 17 dying patients, whom Jillian Brasch cared for as an occupational therapist. Brasch shows that providing care to someone who is dying isn't depressing--it is awe-inspiring and fosters a profound sense of love. No other book on the market deals with issues of death and dying from the functional and creative viewpoint of an occupational therapist."

(excerpt from Amazon.com)

Hard Choices For Loving People "is a resource for those facing end-of-life decisions... [that] offers honest, practical, reliable advice and information, as well as help with the emotional and spiritual concerns families and patients face during this most difficult time of life." Life-saving measures are not always appropriate in the final stages of a terminal disease, but navigating these choices can be distressing and overwhelming. This book acts as a guide to making well-informed decisions based on medical literature, research, and Dunn's own expertise as a hospice chaplain.

(excerpt from Hard Choices For Loving People (2016) book cover)

This 5-book series is designed to educate and inform families about death and dying. Barbara Karnes, RN, explains the dying process, what to expect, how to help, and how to grieve. Gone From My Sight is provided to families by many hospices and is an excellent jumping off point for anyone seeking to understand the body's natural dying process. Each book uses clear, simplified language and is approachable for readers of all health literacy levels. The series is inexpensive, brief, and supports practitioners in developing shared language with families.

Kerry Egan shares her experiences working as a hospice chaplain in an honest portrayal of how people choose to live while dying. Egan tells the stories of her patients, highlighting the imperfectness and beauty of life, as well as her own story and the professional (and personal) challenges of working with dying patients. "On Living isn't a book about dying. It's a book about living, about making whole the brokenness we all share, by finding courage in the face face of fear, the strength to make amends, and compassion for others and for ourselves."

(excerpt from On Living (2016) book cover)

"Medicine has triumphed in modern times... But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should." Practicing surgeon, Atul Gawande, shares in this book the "ultimate limitations and failures" of the U.S. healthcare system when it comes to death and dying (and what people are doing to change it). "Riveting, honest, and human, Being Mortal shows how the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life - all the way to the very end." 

(excerpts from Being Mortal (2014) book jacket)

"Between days spent waiting for her mother, an anesthesiologist, to exit the OR, and evenings spent in conversation with her parents about their faith, Puri witnessed the tension between medicine's impulse to preserve life at all costs and a spiritual embrace of life's temporality. And it was that tension that eventually drew Puri... to palliative medicine--a new specialty attempting to translate the border between medical intervention and quality-of-life care." Puri shares stories of her family and her patients, "arming readers with information that will transform how we communicate with our doctors about what matters most to us."

(excerpt from Amazon.com)

"Dancing with Broken Bones gives voice and face to a vulnerable and disempowered population whose stories often remain untold: the urban dying poor. Drawing on complex issues surrounding poverty, class, and race, Moller illuminates the unique sufferings that often remain unknown and hidden within a culture of broad invisibility... Demystifying stereotypes that surround poverty, Moller illuminates how faith, remarkable optimism, and an unassailable spirit provide strength and courage to the dying poor. [This book] serves as a rallying call for compassionate individuals everywhere."

(excerpt from Amazon.com)

"Thanks to advances in science and medicine, our parents are living longer than ever before. But our health-care system doesn't perform as well when decline eventually sets in." My Mother, Your Mother describes a new approach - Slow Medicine - that advocates for careful anticipatory "attending" to an elder's changing needs rather than waiting for crises that for acute medical interventions. "This is not a plan for preparing for death." Rather, this book promotes improving quality of life in our loved ones' final years.

(excerpts from Amazon.com)

"In Love is an unforgettable portrait of one couple's determination to support each other in their last journey together." Amy Bloom tells the story of her husband, Brian, and their experiences living, loving, and dying with Alzheimer's disease. Both its "daily frustrations and realities" and the depths of a deep and lasting love. In Love explores what it means to respect one's wish to choose their own end, along with the limitations of Death With Dignity laws in the U.S. (also called Medical Aid in Dying) and how other countries navigate a person's right to choose.

(excerpts from In Love (2023) book cover)

"Informed by her many years working as a nurse, with more than a decade in palliative care, Tisdale provides a frank, direct, and compassionate meditation on the inevitable... Advice for Future Corpses is more than a how-to manual or a spiritual bible: it is a graceful compilation of honest and intimate anecdotes based on the deaths Tisdale has witnessed in her work and life, as well as stories from cultures, traditions, and literature around the world." 

(excerpt from Amazon.com)

"The Five Invitations: 1) Don’t Wait; 2) Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing; 3) Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience; 4) Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things; and 5) Cultivate Don’t Know Mind."

"Awareness of death can be a valuable companion on the road to living well, forging a rich and meaningful life, and letting go of regret. The Five Invitations is a powerful and inspiring exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to impart to all of us, [guiding] us toward appreciating life’s preciousness" and "offering an evocative and stirring guide that points to a radical path to transformation."

(excerpts from Amazon.com)

Mortician and death acceptance advocate, Caitlin Doughty, specializes in debunking myths about death with a sense of humor. In this book, Doughty answers the strange and intriguing questions we have about what happens to our bodies after we die, "from ancient Egyptian death rituals and the science of skeletons to flesh-eating insects and the proper depth at which to bury your pet if you want Fluffy to become a mummy." 

(excerpt from Amazon.com)