The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying

Rating:
Summary: Inspiration from a crabby, selfish, person is impossible
Review: The story highlights the author's egomania. She talks about people she's encountered as if she has met the devil himself. The list of her foes include her husband, daughter, husband, as well as basically all nurses and doctors. It was difficult to be inspired by a person encouraging compassion when she had so little for others

Rating:
Summary: A Full Life And A Great Read
Review: This is a wonderful book. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross has done the world a tremendous service by helping to humanize death and the process of dying, and in this autobiography she tells of all the surprises and inevitabilities that marked her own growth, and the growth of her work. Somewhere along the line, however, a few years back, Kubler-Ross adopted the role of an amateur prophet, and some of her later works deliver a confusing, inconsistent, and often strident set of contradictory neo-Jungian messages about matters spiritual. Those who think she lost her marbles will find plenty of evidence here as elsewhere to support their views. But this book is actually a whole lot more accessible, and far less preachy, than some of her other books have been. I think one would be unwise to ignore the complications entailed by Kubler-Ross's many spiritual injunctions, but one would be uncharitable to also dismiss the tremendous good that has come out of her life's work. I don't find in this book the accepting, non-ideological compassion of Stephen Levine, nor the unassuming experimental spirit of Raymond Moody, but Kubler-Ross remains incomparable as the initiating spokesperson for a humane death. Her tale is extraordinary, and this book is an exceptional, welcome, and one-of-a-kind read.

Rating:
Summary: A Full Life And A Great Read
Review: This is a wonderful book. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross has done the world a tremendous service by helping to humanize death and the process of dying, and in this autobiography she tells of all the surprises and inevitabilities that marked her own growth, and the growth of her work. Somewhere along the line, however, a few years back, Kubler-Ross adopted the role of an amateur prophet, and some of her later works deliver a confusing, inconsistent, and often strident set of contradictory neo-Jungian messages about matters spiritual. Those who think she lost her marbles will find plenty of evidence here as elsewhere to support their views. But this book is actually a whole lot more accessible, and far less preachy, than some of her other books have been. I think one would be unwise to ignore the complications entailed by Kubler-Ross's many spiritual injunctions, but one would be uncharitable to also dismiss the tremendous good that has come out of her life's work. I don't find in this book the accepting, non-ideological compassion of Stephen Levine, nor the unassuming experimental spirit of Raymond Moody, but Kubler-Ross remains incomparable as the initiating spokesperson for a humane death. Her tale is extraordinary, and this book is an exceptional, welcome, and one-of-a-kind read.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing book by an amazing woman
Review: This is an amazing book. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's life story is inspiring, but her message is more so: When you reach the end of your life you'll be faced with the question "What good have I done? What service have I rendered?" If you wait until then to answer it, she says, it will be too late. Truly words to live by. Dance on, Elisabeth!

Rating:
Summary: Whew! A real roller coaster ride
Review: Those of us who gained immensely from Kubler-Ross' first book "On death and dying" will be interested to read her final book. And what a dichotomy from the first! Instead of a carefully reasoned, almost scientific treatise on the subject of life and death, Kubler-Ross throws us onto the roller coaster that has been her life. Unsatisfactory relationships, a definite superiority complex (Kubler-Ross is always right) and a profound belief that her life has eveolved the way it has in order for her to learn the lessons she needs to - and yet mysterious and thought-provoking. The way in which she refers to her "spooks" (her term), the spirit guides which live with her each day, and her encounters with out of body experiences leave us more grounded souls with a high degree of scepticism. And yet ... Read this book and make up your mind for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Whew! A real roller coaster ride
Review: Those of us who gained immensely from Kubler-Ross' first book "On death and dying" will be interested to read her final book. And what a dichotomy from the first! Instead of a carefully reasoned, almost scientific treatise on the subject of life and death, Kubler-Ross throws us onto the roller coaster that has been her life. Unsatisfactory relationships, a definite superiority complex (Kubler-Ross is always right) and a profound belief that her life has eveolved the way it has in order for her to learn the lessons she needs to - and yet mysterious and thought-provoking. The way in which she refers to her "spooks" (her term), the spirit guides which live with her each day, and her encounters with out of body experiences leave us more grounded souls with a high degree of scepticism. And yet ... Read this book and make up your mind for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed, frank, interesting
Review: Writes about all her experiences, good and bad, that she feels ultimately needed to happen in her life--as she puts it "there are no accidents in life". Have to admit that she lost me in her "channeling to the other side". I did not understand specifically what was fact and what was the fiction of these times that caused her disappointment--one overlapped the other and became a gray area. She appeared as one who was driven to "do good" as a worldly "mover and shaker"--admirable, but also hard to get close to because she was constantly on the move. She challenges the medical profession with the need of allowing people to have "good deaths" by creating the hospice environment for the terminally ill.