Book Review: The Lost Art of Dying by L.S. Dugdale

The Lost Art of Dying
by L.S. Dugdale (155.937 Dug)

This book caught my eye as I was browsing the new non-fiction shelves. As someone who lost her father in the past year, I was impressed with the description inside the front cover: “Our culture has overly medicalized death, making it institutional and sterile, prolonged by unnecessary resuscitations and other intrusive interventions…our reliance on modern medicine often extends suffering and strips us of our dignity.” The author tells us that our lives do not need to end this way. As a medical doctor with years of experience helping patients with end-of-life issues, the author presents a history of the practice of ars moriendi, the art of dying, and offers a plan for living well and dying well through preparation for death. Looking at death through the eyes of faith, the reader sees how death is treated by various cultures and what it means in our communities today.

[ publisher’s official Lost Art of Dying web site ]

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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