33 Meditations on Death

Book excerpt: AS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4 'Start the Week' : 'very moving - brilliant and profound' "Brilliant - a grimly humorous yet humane account of the realities of growing old in the modern age." - Henry Marsh "A remarkably likeable guide to a grisly subject ... daunting, yet ultimately life-affirming" - Independent What is a good death? How would you choose to live your last few months? How do we best care for the rising tide of very elderly? This unusual and important book is a series of reflections on death in all its forms: the science of it, the medicine, the tragedy and the comedy. Dr David Jarrett draws on family stories and case histories from his thirty years of treating the old, demented and frail to try to find his own understanding of the end. Profound, provocative, strangely funny and astonishingly compelling, it is an impassioned plea that we start talking frankly and openly about death. He writes about all the conversations that we, our parents, our children, the medical community, our government and society as a whole should be having. And it is a call to arms for us to make radical changes to our perspective on 'the seventh age of man'. - More praise for 33 Meditations on Death: "This book will stay with you." - Derren Brown "Bursting with empathy, common sense and humour." - Professor Dame Sue Black