Rating: 
Summary: A Unique Read
Review: How We Die is a moving and unaffected book about one's dying. Dr. Nuland attempts to answer in uncommonly moving observations
what it looks like, what it feels like on life's final journey. Interestingly, upon reading the insightful descriptive stories, I believe the reader will look at life in a very different way.
I found Dr. Nuland to have the rare ability to explain the "hard to explain" status of dying in an easy, readable format. The seriousness of death was dealt with in a compassionate way and Dr. Nuland softened the message.
Rating: 
Summary: very good material, but I have a problem with chapter 8
Review: This book names and explains the most common ways in which one will die. My favorite quote from the book is "good health guarantee's nothing". By this the author means that you have no control over when and how you will die. A person in tip top physical shape could be killed by a natural disaster, a murderer, a freak accident, disease or could become very old and die a very slow and agonizing death. While an obese person may get colon cancer and wind up dying with a smile on his face. All of the chapters of the book with the exception of chapter 8 is five star material. I enjoyed studying chapter 2 and learned a great deal about how the heart operates and exactly what happens when people get heart disease. I found the story in chapter 3 about the author's grandmother slowly deteriorating over the years and dying particularly poignant. He wrote about what was going on with her and explained why different things were happening. This made me reflect on what will eventually happen to me as I grow older (if I make it that far). I also found chapter 5 on Alzheimer's equally poignant. He wrote about how a woman's life changed after realizing that her husband had Alzheimer's. Reading about what the woman had to go through with her husband may bring tears to your eyes. There are other parts of the book which are just as sad, but the chapters on Alzheimer's and on the author's grandmother affected me the most. In chapter 8 on AIDS, the author quotes the bible and seems to lose his objectivity to a certain extent by becoming emotional. As a muslim, I disagree with god ever being without sight or hearing as the author prefers to conclude with AIDS. If the natural order of things is not necessarily the will of god, then who or what is the natural order of things? Enough books quote the bible, I will leave with a quote from the Qur'aan (english translation) 29:57 "Everyone shall taste the death. Then unto Us (god) you shall be returned." Since everyone will die and be returned to his or her creator, everyone should prepare for that moment. "How We Die" is good preparation but is not the final word.
Rating:
Summary: A Reflective Look at Death and Dying
Review: Doctor Nuland's book, How We Die, is an important and reflective work on an even more important topic. Death is something that Americans have increasingly been able to shield from their eyes, as more deaths take place in hospitals surrounded by specialists rather than at home or in a hospice. How We Die chronicles these changes in dying, and serves as a basis for suggestions on how death could be made a more dignified experience. Nuland uses different ways Americans die - heart disease, cancer, trauma, etc. - to start each of the chapters. He then covers both the medical details of death by that particular disease and also specific ethical issues concerned with the treatment of that illness. Also included in each chapter are remembrances of specific cases in which Nuland treated that illness; and many of these reflections are brave and poignant. This book served as the starting point for a discussion in my bioethics class concerning the topic of death and dying. As a general rule, I think it would be a useful exercise to read this book with a group of some sort, to assist in sorting out the highly emotional issues.
Rating:
Summary: Surgeons Dirty Little Secret
Review: The medical minutiae aside the book gave personal case histories of the authors experience with deaths from the more common causes of death and the effects on both the patients and survivors. Most unexpected was that the author owned up to why doctors insist on unnecessary suffering and expense for their patients. It not just that his wife needs an extra mercedes to match her new pair of shoes! He cites the case of a 92 year old Miss Welch who at first contact told him she had been on the planet "quite long enough, young man." He pushed her into "lifesaving" surgery instead of letting her pass on. If he hadn't, he explains, he would have had to answer to the hospitals weekly surgical conference which reviews deaths and treatment decisions. His course of action would have been seen as his decision, not the patients "before unbending colleagues to whom her death would seem a case of poor judgement, if not downright negligence of the clear duty to save life. I would almost certainly be castigated over my failure to overrule such a seemingly senseless wish. I can imagine what I might hear: 'How could you let her talk you into it?' 'Does the mere fact that an old lady wants to die mean you should be a party to it?'" Doctors as we know seem to subject to hyperinflatedegoitis and this kind of peer pressure is very effective in making sure that millions of dollars are spent needlessly and patients will not be able to spend their last moments attempting to bring orderly closure to their lives at home instead of in an impersonal emergency ward of a hospital. The book tells us that now over 80 percent of patients die in hospitals, whereas in 1950 is was 50 percent.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: A plainly written, thought provoking book. Some of the writing is a bit muddled, especially near the end but overall the book is certianly worth reading. After all, its a subject we all will become familiar with sooner or later.
Rating:
Summary: Sensitive presentation
Review: The subject of our own mortality is difficult to consider. However, this book allows the reader to contemplate all aspects of the end of life. The author's sensitivity and insight are like having someone to hold your hand as you undertake an unwelcome journey.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you for writing this book.
Review: I wanted 'TO KNOW'. While my dad was dying of cancer, I desperately attempted to get doctor after doctor to tell me about various aspects of his illness. Not once did I get an answer. After reading this book, in a lot of ways, now, I know. (My only critism being that some of the phrasing and sentence structures made the book awkward to read at times.)
Rating:
Summary: We all wonder, "How will it feel?"
Review: Nuland won the National Book Award for this frank and sometimes disturbing reflection on death. And while this is challenging material, especially for anyone who has nursed the terminally ill or suffered a grievous loss, How We Die ultimately puts death in its place, robbing it of some of its mystery.
Rating:
Summary: How We Die
Review: This is not a book of philosophy so much as a thoroughly readable book that explains how various parts of the body, including the cells and organs of it, age and ultimately fail. It also makes apparent that other simpler organisms are in a more anomolous position, dividing indefinately into separate organisms, making the original cell virtually immortal. One interesting example of cellular immortality is the on going life of cancerous tissue preserved in a culture medium for decades after the death of the person from whom it was removed. The ambiguous concept of death is also discussed as our society grows more technologically able to prolong the dying process without acheiving a guality of life for that individual. The ethical issues that have arisen are discussed thoroughly not only from the perspective of death in the United States, but from that of other countries with other cultures and legal standards regarding the dying. An excellant book on a difficult subject.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be afraid to read this book
Review: I'm not sure what made me read "How We Die". It just appeared on my reader's radar a couple of years ago. First let me say that what I came away with was a profound sense of the awesomeness of human life and death, especially the awesomeness of physical death. The author explains in careful and graphic detail what happens to the body's systems under various scenarios that eventually result in the inevitable death of the body. Strangely, this information was more embracing and empowering than depressing and sad. Somehow, the knowledge of WHAT really happens when we die frees me to move on to HOW I feel about it and how I can deal with it. For me, the book stripped much of the power from various traditional, political, religous, legal, societal, and familial interpretations of this event, and allowed me to start to think it through for myself. Long after I finished the book, I found myself reflecting on the information presented by the author, and more importantly, digging deeply into my own psyche and soul to uncover what I really feel and believe. When my father died last year, I felt able to observe and participate in the process with less fear and dread, and more of a sense of power than if I had never read the book. While the events and circumstance of his illness and eventual death were extremely sad and difficult, I credit this book (and the mental and emotional effort I put into reading and reflecting on it) with allowing me to accept the fact that my father was going to die, and to deal with everything that had to be dealt with. Thank you, Dr. Nuland.
| 
