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Tag Archives: death and dying
Your one wild and precious life
It’s been raining buckets this weekend, but after lunch the sun came out, and I threw on my gym shorts and beaten tennis shoes and hit the road. Water covered lawns, filled ditches, flooded the street — but the bright … Continue reading →
On death, food, and state capitals
One title I intended to read in the hospital but did not get to was The Death of Ivan Ilyich, my second work by Tolstoy. It concerns the sudden decline of a self-satisfied and absorbed lawyer named Ivan Ilyich, who … Continue reading →
Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science
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Tagged Alabama, business, death and dying, food and drink, occupational account
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6 Comments
Present Concerns and even more Lewis quotes
Although Present Concerns’ title makes it sound as though it consists of essays by Lewis written about 1940s issues, the contents still speak to our present day. One of the passages, quoted to me from a friend, leapt out … Continue reading →
Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture
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Tagged CS Lewis, death and dying, essays, philosophy
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9 Comments
Selections from “A Grief Observed”
A Grief Observed was not written as a book, but was published as such from four reflective notebooks that Lewis kept while reeling from the death of his wife, Joy. The collection is raw, intimate, and personal; we find Lewis … Continue reading →
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, A Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life © 2013 Rod Dreher 292 pages What is a meaningful life, but one lived in close connection with others? Journalist Rod … Continue reading →
This Republic of Suffering
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War © 2008 Drew Gilpin Faust 401 pages Oft in dreams I see thee lying On some battle-plain Lonely, wounded, even dying — Calling, but in vain Weeping sad … Continue reading →
Eyeball-eating cats, an OB-GYN’s diary, and plague
Last week I read several titles that I want to share without necessarily writing full reviews for, since they’re on the shorter side. They are… This is Going to Hurt: The Secret Diary of a Junior Doctor, Adam Kay Will … Continue reading →
Posted in history, Reviews
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Tagged death and dying, Early American Republic, health/wellness, history, humor, on the job
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1 Comment
Alice Roosevelt, Linux, and Death
Approaching the end of the month, as we are, time to post a few also-reads: Alice and the Assassin, R.J. Koreto. Entertaining historical fiction following the infamous pistol-packing Alice Roosevelt and her cowboy Secret Service bodyguard. Following the assassination of … Continue reading →
Posted in historical fiction, Reviews
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Tagged death and dying, historical fiction, mystery, Technology and Society
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4 Comments
Heavens on Earth
Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopiapub. 2018 Michael Shermer320 pages Alone among the animals, human beings live in the knowing shadow of our own mortality. It is rarely a specter which is embraced, and … Continue reading →
Posted in science
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Tagged death and dying, Michael Shermer, science, skepticism, transhuman
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6 Comments
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory© 2014 Caitlin Doughty272 pages Memento mori — remember your death. Young Caitlin Doughty couldn’t help but remember it; as a child she was traumatized by the memory of another girl … Continue reading →