The End: The Human Experience Of Death

(Paperback)

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A fascinating exploration of the universal human experience of death. We sat around and on the bed, laughing and joking as if this was a typical family gathering. The shrunken form of our dying grandmother lay on the bed, breathing fast and shallow, her once-bright eyes half closed and sunken in their sockets. To some it might have seemed disrespectful to be treating her as part of the furniture as she took what were her very last breaths on this earth. But to us, it seemed almost normal that we should carry on being her boisterous, jovial grandchildren, filling her ears with the sounds of normality as she slipped away. Looking back on that experience, Bianca Nogrady realised she had so many questions. Was her grandmother in pain Could she hear them Did she know they were there Was she aware of what was happening to her What was she experiencing as the spark of life that had sustained her for 87 years finally flickered out We know so much about birth - generations of women have shared their experiences with their sisters, daughters and grand-daughters, medicine has exhaustively explored and documented every possible angle of birth, and it is a joyous

Reviews

..".brave, clear-eyed work." --Publishers Weekly
"Nogrady's book offers a comprehensive reflection on everything we know--and what we can only guess--about the end." --Scientific American

Author Bio

Bianca Nogrady is a freelance science journalist whose work has appeared in publications such as Scientific American, New Scientist, The Australian, Ecos, Australian Doctor, Medicine Today and on the ABC s science and health websites. She is co-author of The Sixth Wave with Dr James Bradfield Moody, and is currently working on her third book - a science-fiction novel. Bianca lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband and two children.