{"product_id":"the-art-of-dying-well-9781501135477","title":"The Art of Dying Well","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis “comforting…thoughtful” (\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e) guide to maintaining a high quality of life—from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath—by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven’s Door \u003c\/i\u003eis a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” (\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” (\u003ci\u003eUSA TODAY\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Dying Well\u003c\/i\u003e is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely. Butler expl\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Butler’s factual, no-nonsense tone is surprisingly comforting, as are her stories of how ordinary folks confronted difficult medical decisions… Her thoughtful book belongs on the same shelf as Atul Gawande’s best-selling \u003ci\u003eBeing Mortal\u003c\/i\u003e and Barbara Ehrenreich’s \u003ci\u003eNatural Causes\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A roadmap to the end… combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eKate Tuttle, \u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A commonsense path to define what a 'good' death looks like.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An empowering guide that clearly outlines the steps necessary to avoid a chaotic end in an emergency room and to prepare for a beautiful death without fear.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Straightforward, well-organized, nondepressing… Free of platitudes, Butler’s voice makes the most intimidating of processes—that of dying—come across as approachable. Her reasonable, down-to-earth tone makes for an effective preparatory guide.” \u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I unwrap new books about end-of-life issues with a certain world-weariness. That changed when I received a copy of Katy Butler’s \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Dying Well…\u003c\/i\u003e For all of us boomers who have wondered how we might apply what we learned from the passing of our parents, and make the process smoother -- and yes, profound -- for our children, here are some really good answers.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eBarbara Peters Smith\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eSarasota Herald-Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book is filled with deep knowledge and many interesting experiences. It is a guide for staying as healthy and happy as possible while aging, and also shows how important it is to be medically informed and know our rights in the communities where we live, in order to stay in charge of our lives and therefore less afraid of the future. Katy Butler has written a very honest book. I just wish I had read it ten years ago. You can do it now!”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eMargareta Magnusson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Dying Well \u003c\/i\u003eis a guide to just that: how to face the inevitable in an artful way. Katy Butler has clear eyes and speaks plainly about complicated decisions. This book is chock-full of good ideas.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eSallie Tisdale, author of\u003ci\u003e Advice for Future Corpses\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In plain English and with plenty of true stories to illustrate her advice, Katy Butler provides a brilliant map for living well through old age and getting from the health system what you want and need, while avoiding what you don't. Armed with this superb book, you can take back control of how you live before you die.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eDiane E. Meier\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eMD, Director, Center to Advance Palliative Care \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Katy Butler has given us a much needed GPS for navigating aging and death. \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Dying Well \u003c\/i\u003eis a warm, wise and straightforward guide, hugely helpful to anyone—everyone—who will go through the complex journey to the end of life.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eEllen Goodman\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eFounder, The Conversation Project\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“No, you won’t survive your death, but you can live until the very last moment without the pain and humiliation that inevitably accompany an over-medicalized dying process. Katy Butler shows how, and I am profoundly grateful to her for doing so.” \u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eBarbara Ehrenreich, author of \u003ci\u003eNatural Causes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a book to devour, discuss, dog-ear, and then revisit as the years pass. Covering matters medical, practical, financial and spiritual – and, beautifully, their intersection – Katy Butler gives wise counsel for the final decades of our ‘wild and precious’ lives. A crucial addition to the bookshelves of those seeking agency, comfort and meaning, The Art of Dying Well is not only about dying. It’s about living intentionally and in community.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eLucy Kalanithi, MD, FACP, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Art of Dying Well is the best guidebook I know of for navigating the later stages of life. Katy Butler’s counsel is simple and practical, but the impact of this book is profound. A remarkable feat.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eIra Byock, MD, author of \u003ci\u003eDying Well \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Best Care Possible\u003c\/i\u003e, Active Emeritus Professor of Medicine, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Katy Butler and \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven's Door\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a book so honest, so insightful and so achingly beautiful that its poetic essence transcends even the anguished story that it tells. Katy Butler’s perceptive intellect has probed deeply, and seen into the many troubling aspects of our nation’s inability to deal with the reality of dying in the 21st century: emotional, spiritual, medical, financial, social, historical and even political. And yet, though such valuable insights are presented with a journalist’s clear eye, they are so skillfully woven into the narrative of her beloved parents’ deaths that every sentence seems to come from the very wellspring of the human spirit that is in her.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eDr. Sherwin B. Nuland, author of \u003ci\u003eHow We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven’s Door\u003c\/i\u003e is a thoroughly researched and compelling mix of personal narrative and hard-nosed reporting that captures just how flawed care at the end of life has become.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eAbraham Verghese, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is some of the most important material I have read in years, and so beautifully written. It is riveting, and even with parents long gone, I found it very hard to put down. ... I am deeply grateful for its truth, wisdom, and gorgeous stories—some heartbreaking, some life-giving, some both at the same time. Butler is an amazing and generous writer. This book will change you, and, I hope, our society.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eAnne Lamott, author of \u003ci\u003eHelp, Thanks, Wow\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Shimmer[s] with grace, lucid intelligence, and solace.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eLindsey Crittenden, \u003ci\u003eSpirituality and Health Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] deeply felt book...[Butler] is both thoughtful and passionate about the hard questions she raises — questions that most of us will at some point have to consider. Given our rapidly aging population, the timing of this tough and important book could not be better.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eLaurie Hertzel, \u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This braid of a book...examines the battle between death and the imperatives of modern medicine. Impeccably reported, \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven's Door\u003c\/i\u003e grapples with how we need to protect our loved ones and ourselves.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMore Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A forthright memoir on illness and investigation of how to improve end-of-life scenarios. With candidness and reverence, Butler examines one of the most challenging questions a child may face: how to let a parent die with dignity and integrity. Honest and compassionate...\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Katy Butler’s science background and her gift for metaphor make her a wonderfully engaging storyteller, even as she depicts one of our saddest but most common experiences: that of a slow death in an American hospital. \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven’s Door\u003c\/i\u003e is a terrible, beautiful book that offers the information we need to navigate the complicated world of procedure and technology-driven health care.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eMary Pipher, author of \u003ci\u003eReviving Ophelia\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSeeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Katy Butler's new book—brave, frank, poignant, and loving—will encourage the conversation we, as a society, desperately need to have about better ways of dying. From her own closely-examined personal experience, she fearlessly poses the difficult questions that sooner or later will face us all.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Adam Hochschild, author of \u003ci\u003eKing Leopold's Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTo End All Wars\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is the most important book you and I can read. It is not just about dying, it is about life, our political and medical system, and how to face and address the profound ethical and personal issues that we encounter as we care for those facing dying and death. [This book's] tenderness, beauty, and heart-breaking honesty matches the stunning data on dying in the West. A splendid and compassionate endeavor.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eJoan Halifax, PhD, Founding Abbot, Upaya Institute\/Zen Center and Director, Project on Being With Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This beautifully written and well researched book will take you deep into the unexplored heart of aging and medical care in America today. With courage, unrelenting honesty, and deepest compassion, ... \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven’s Door\u003c\/i\u003e makes it clear that until care of the soul, families, and communities become central to our medical approaches, true quality of care for elders will not be achieved.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eDennis McCullough, author of \u003ci\u003eMy Mother, Your Mother: Embracing \"Slow Medicine,\" the Compassionate Approach to Caring\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Butler’s advice is neither formulaic nor derived from pamphlets... [it] is useful, and her challenge of our culture of denial about death necessary... \u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven’s Door\u003c\/i\u003e [is] a book those caring for dying parents will want to read and reread. [It] will help those many of us who have tended or will tend dying parents to accept the beauty of our imperfect caregiving.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eSuzanne Koven, \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven's Door\u003c\/i\u003e is more than just a guide to dying, or a personal story of a difficult death: It is a lyrical meditation on death written with extraordinary beauty and sensitivity.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eKnocking on Heaven's Door\u003c\/i\u003e is] a triumph, distinguished by the beauty of Ms. Butler's prose and her saber-sharp indictment of certain medical habits. [Butler offers an] articulate challenge to the medical profession: to reconsider its reflexive postponement of death long after lifesaving acts cease to be anything but pure brutality.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eAbigail Zuger, MD, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e -- Abigail Zuger, MD * New York Times *","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49531341341015,"sku":"9781501135477","price":16.82,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781501135477.jpg?v=1731882729","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-art-of-dying-well-9781501135477","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}