Joined in 2023 
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People witnessed death, dealt with it, prepared for it, even embraced it ( John Donne used to sleep in his own coffin; Jeremy Taylor wrote his 17th-century manuals for the soul, Holy Living and Holy Dying, which became the preeminent works of the ars moriendi tradition; in The Tempest, Prospero consigns himself to an old age in which every third thought will be of death). My rekindled interest at the end of last year in death and subjects surrounding it continues with this fascinating book, which I received as a free proof in exchange for an honest review. The final of these inevitable events will happen to every single person on this planet at some point in the future. Clearly, this book isn't about that, but I would have liked the professionals to also have a little more personality too.
When John Keats was dying of TB in Rome, just 25 and far from family and home, he wrote a series of beautifully judged, empathetic letters of farewell that deal lightly (yet never falsely) with his physical suffering and his emotional anguish. It’s the great nothing; the everything, which makes us and unmakes us, and to which we all come in the end.It’s almost impossible to answer, yet people ask as though it’s a calculation of change from a pound. But there are also things that irritated me and make me question elements of the narrative, which of course make me question it all.
Man, watching your loved one suffering fucks you up for life, far more than "simple" fact of his of her death. But now we need something just as great and just a gamechanging - not just more of a 50 year old novelty.Modern, sanitised death becomes a dirty little secret, almost embarrassing: our language circles round it, we don’t like to name it, cross the road to avoid those recently touched by it, and shy away from the physical, squeamish fact of it, so that the dead body is whisked away, frequently embalmed (for fear of its smell), cremated in “facilities” that are often in industrial zones.
That is what many of the conversations with patients are about and the result is usually a very pragmatic response from the patient and gentle but thoroughly honest comments from the doctors, nurses and therapists. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, regardless of age, as an educational, moral, and preparatory text that will allow the reader to deal with their own death and those of loved ones more meaningfully and considerately. They receive their care via England's national health program, so everyone qualifies for the same care. Meanwhile, the author tells some of her own stories and encourages the reader to think about issues of their own. There are lots of moving stories in here, extremely well written - and I'm sure that this doctor has done a lot of good things.Having qualified as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist in 1993, she started the UK’s (possibly the world’s) first CBT clinic exclusively for palliative care patients, and devised ‘CBT First Aid’ training to enable palliative care colleagues to add new skills to their repertoire for helping patients. I agree with almost everything Mannix says; I would like her, or someone like her, to be my compassionate, wise doctor when I lie dying, easing me out when my time has come.
No es más que una colección de historias diversas sobre un montón de gente que vivió sus últimos días. With a tsunami of death coming soon as the baby-boomers die, there really wont be enough staff trained in this particular way.
I got to the end of Kathryn Mannix s book with just one thought I wish I d been a palliative consultant. This is a gentle book about dying, which is the nicest way to die probably, and I think that it’s a reassuring read if you’re considering the genre, considering doing work in the field, or considering your own mortality in soon days or in some future yet unknown.
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