Waiting to Die

Book excerpt: During his many years researching the near-death experience (NDE), Dr. Kenneth Ring was concerned with answering the question, "What is it like to die?" In this book of fifteen sparkling and delightfully witty essays, his question becomes more personal, "What is it like waiting to die?" More specifically, what is it like for an octogenarian who has spent half his life studying and writing about NDEs to face his own mortality? Laced with humor, these essays are not morbid or morose, but highly entertaining and edifying. They are not just full of an old man's droll complaints about his wayward bodily decay, but also contain serious reflections on life and insights from his work on death and a possible afterlife. In addition, Ring reflects on what other literary figures have written about death, and he delves into subjects like psychedelics and their possible use with the dying. All his essays trace his sometimes surprising, and occasionally antic, journey along the road whose terminus is certain but unknown. They let the reader glimpse into what it has been like for one elderly, but still lively, man waiting to die who has so far failed to reach his goal, though he is convinced he will get there in the end.