A Commonsense Book of Death
Reflections at Ninety of a Lifelong Thanatologist
Published on 3. October 2008
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-7425-6331-5 (ISBN)
Description
Thirty-five years ago, in 1973, the author, then in the middle of life, age 55, wrote Deaths of Man, a set of essays about death. The book was nominated for the National Book Award in Science and recently the American Psychological Association selected it as a "classic" and provided a retrospective review. Now, in 2008 the author, age 90, revisits some of his original concepts with the experience of thirty-five years of clinical perspective and personal travail and what it is to face his own death. This book touches on provocative topics such as some proposed criteria for a good death, a variety of ways in which we seek to survive our own death in our postself; the world-wide coarsening of death, and a chapter on suicide in which the author discusses his theory that the black heart of suicide is psychological pain. The book contains ideas like subintentioned death in which the individual, unbeknownst to the self, plays an indirect, unconscious role in bringing the death date forward. Perhaps the most dramatic feature of this new revision is an essay by the author's psychotherapist (about what he was like as patient discussing his own death). It is an essay which the author will not have seen.
Reviews / Votes
A Commonsense Book of Death is not to be missed. Dr. Shneidman takes us on a journey through death's possibilities, its probabilities, like the soulful guide he is, like the very great teacher he is. It is a pleasure to take a walk through these dark woods with someone who can light up the shadows so brightly and so lovingly. -- Judy Collins Always inventive, constantly creative and entertaining, the honored professor of thanatology and founding father of suicidology reveals, at age ninety, how it feels to be Edwin Shneidman, intimately involved now in life's last phase. -- Robert E. Litman, Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center Ever the Captain, Edwin Shneidman grabs the oars on this journey down the river Styx. With greater staying power than his Requiem suggests, Ed's pen is mightier than the scythe. -- Kita S. Curry, Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center Thomas Paine published Common Sense anonymously, in fear of retribution from monarchy loyalists. Nevertheless, it was an instant best seller and sparked a revolution. Ed Shneidman's A Commonsense Book of Death lays bare his insight, his wisdom, even his psychotherapy to lead us to revolutionary ways of understanding and coming to terms with the end of life. This book sparks deep reflection and great comfort. -- Alan Berman, American Association of Suicidology Dr. Shneidman is the Durkheim of contemporary suicidology. As a Japanese psychiatrist (and a devoted Shneidmanian), I enthusiastically recommended this extraordinary book to all those who wish to improve their insights into the nature of death itself. -- Yoshitomo Takahashi, National Defense Research Institute, Tokyo This beautifully crafted work by Dr. Shneidman is more than a compilation of his life's stunning work. It breathes life into death and has everyone reading it thinking about his or her own postself. Thank you Ed! -- Richard I. Ridenour, U.S. Navy, Medical Corps, Retired It used to be said that all one needed to raise a baby was an actual infant and a copy of Benjamin Spock's book on child care. Perhaps now, concerning the other end of life, we can venture the thought that if you are an aging person all you need to gain a better death is your own aging body and a copy of Shneidman's A Commonsense Book of Death. The author's lofty goal seems to be no less than to tame death. He attempts to do this by making death a legitimate topic for academic inquiry and then discussing it, reasonably, in a commonsense way, as though it were no more frightening that raising a baby. If you are mortal you will want to chew on this extraordinary book. -- Janet McCord, director, program in thanatology, Marian University At ninety, the most brilliant scholar in thanatology and suicidology is giving us a book flourishing in intellectual power and deep humanity. In this book, the private Edwin Shneidman merges with the professional expert on death and dying, disclosing his reflections about his own end of life process as well as an essay from his current psychotherapist. I was very moved. -- Gudrun Dieserud, Norwegian Institute of Public Health This volume touches the very heart of human existence, especially what a good-enough death might be like. This passionate book is the fruit of one of the most emblematic characters in the scientific approach to death and dying. Although this book is about death, it is a true gift from life. -- Maurizio Pompili, Sapienza University of RomeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
445 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7425-6331-5 (9780742563315)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Edwin Shneidman, Ph.D., Lett.D. (Hon) is professor emeritus of thanatology at UCLA. He is the founder of the American Association of Suicidology and founding editor of the quarterly journal Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior. While at at the National Institute of Mental Health he directed the nationwide program in suicide prevention. He has been a fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University)and a visiting professor at Harvard University. He has written or edited a dozen books, primarily on suicide and death. In his nineties, he is a widower, has four sons, all health professionals, and six grandchildren.
Content
Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Part 3 Act One - 1973: Extended Excerpts from the Original Deaths of Man Chapter 4 Introduction Chapter 5 The Dying Person - and After Chapter 6 1. Death Work and Stages of Dying Chapter 7 2. An Appropriate Death Chapter 8 3. Postvention and the Survivor-Victim Chapter 9 4. The Postself Chapter 10 Views of Death Chapter 11 5. Personal and Impersonal Aspects of Death Chapter 12 6. Ambivalence and Subintention Chapter 13 Medico-Legal Aspects of Death Chapter 14 7. Death and the State Chapter 15 8. The Death Certificate Chapter 16 9. The Psychological Autopsy Chapter 17 Dimensions of Death Chapter 18 10. Megadeath: Children of the Nuclear Family Chapter 19 Afterword Part 20 Intermission - 2005: Professor Brewster Smith's Retrospective Review of Deaths of Man Part 21 Act Two - 2008: Revised Thoughts and Concepts of the Original Deaths of Man, 35 Years Later Chapter 22 I. One Fundamental Attribute of Death: On and Off Chapter 23 II. Two Basic Orientations toward Death: Mine and Yours Chapter 24 III. Three Stances toward Death: Intentioned, Subintentioned, Unintentioned Chapter 25 IV. Four Traditional Categories of Death: The Death Certificate Chapter 26 V. Clarifying Equivocal Deaths Chapter 27 VI. A Psychological Autopsy in a Military Setting Chapter 28 VII Appropriate Death: Criteria for a Good-Enough Death Chapter 29 VIII. Commonalities of Suicide: A Cubic Model Chapter 30 IX. The Coarsening of Death: Postvention Chapter 31 X. The Postself: Quasisurvival after Death Chapter 32 Requiem Part 33 Mourning After - 2008: "Wednesdays with Ed": A Candid Report by the Author's Psychotherapist