ON DEATH AND DYING

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This book initially brought professional as well as public attention to a seriously neglected subject. It remains one of the best on the subject, for both the dying and those close to them and for those whose professions involve helping such people.

Rating:
Summary: Feeling good About Death
Review: This book may serve as training wheels for those who have done little thinking or reading about death or dying but beyond that it is of limited value.
Ms Ross has been a tireless proponent that a humanistic answer to death is unquestionably necessary and effective. She panders to our need to believe that death is easier and less painful then it actually often is. So this is a well written and convincing book to those who want to feel good and want to feel in control of death. But death can be a profoundly transformative force in peoples lives when we do not seek simple answers and answers that act as prozac. Dealing with death in a genuine and full way is difficult, time consuming. But since people prefer quick easy, feel good answers this book fits the bill just fine. What surprises me is why this book doesnt come with a packet of "Hot Cocoa For the Mortal Soul"


Rating:
Summary: Helpful during difficult time
Review: This book was recommended to me when my mother seemed to be dying of cancer. It explored the taboo topic of death, accepting the pending death and offerred a whole new perspective on how to accept and understand the process. It is controversial in the medical community and a must read for anyone with a loved one who is terminally ill or who is terminally ill themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Passing through grief
Review: This book was very helpful to me when I lost two of my loved ones. It gave me understanding and enabled me to be patient with the grieving process. I recommend it. I also recommend "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" for help with grief.

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for everyone
Review: This classic should be read by everyone in order to be better prepared for that which we all will face. Death is a subject that for too long has been in the closet but it should not be. This is a topic that needs to be dealt with realistically and this book will help in that process. It should be a springboard for all families and friends to help one another in the final, most difficult journey.

Rating:
Summary: Still the Best Book on the Subject
Review: This, the first real look at this still too often taboo subject, remains the best. From a warm and sensitive viewpoint, Kubler-Ross provides effective guidance and understanding for the dying, their families, and the medical professional who serve them.

Rating:
Summary: Used to be hot stuff.
Review: When I first started teaching an undergraduate course in Death & Dying in 1972, I could correctly assume that every student had already read Kubler-Ross. Now, they've never heard of her, which is a pity. Despite the total lack of evidence to support her five-stage paradigm, she did us all a favor by pulling the shroud off of the topic. She was the first popular writer to deal with feelings of the dying patient. Her book, which cost $1.95 back then, was hot stuff. She actually talked to terminally ill people and didn't beat around the bush. Now we've got any number of pop psychologists applying her five -stage theory to all sorts of things she never even thought of: grief, marriage problems, alcohol treatment, you name it. I tell my students that the staging theory has been around for 32 years now. If it is going to have any experimental support, perhaps it might have emerged by now. The fact is that people are much more complex than any five stages can account for, and people can hold more than one emotion at a time. I've heard Kubler-Ross herself say this many times. But, we can remember five ideas, so there you have it. If she'd proposed a 16-stage hierarchy, she would have never gotten big. At any rate, there are no real scientists in thanatology that now credit her much at all any more, but for historical purposes this is still a valuable book.

Rating:
Summary: Used to be hot stuff.
Review: When I first started teaching an undergraduate course in Death & Dying in 1972, I could correctly assume that every student had already read Kubler-Ross. Now, they've never heard of her, which is a pity. Despite the total lack of evidence to support her five-stage paradigm, she did us all a favor by pulling the shroud off of the topic. She was the first popular writer to deal with feelings of the dying patient. Her book, which cost $1.95 back then, was hot stuff. She actually talked to terminally ill people and didn't beat around the bush. Now we've got any number of pop psychologists applying her five -stage theory to all sorts of things she never even thought of: grief, marriage problems, alcohol treatment, you name it. I tell my students that the staging theory has been around for 32 years now. If it is going to have any experimental support, perhaps it might have emerged by now. The fact is that people are much more complex than any five stages can account for, and people can hold more than one emotion at a time. I've heard Kubler-Ross herself say this many times. But, we can remember five ideas, so there you have it. If she'd proposed a 16-stage hierarchy, she would have never gotten big. At any rate, there are no real scientists in thanatology that now credit her much at all any more, but for historical purposes this is still a valuable book.

Rating:
Summary: A *very* useful guide through a *very* difficult time!
Review: When my mother was dying, I was confronted with a *lot* of issues to which I had never given much thought, having never been in that kind of position before. So, even the attitudes and beliefs about death I had carried for some time were brought into question, and I really needed some kind of simple guidance into how to approach all the very painful and confusing issues, both externally and internally. After I read this book, I was very much more confident about my own reactions, and had a lot more insight into how to handle the various communication and interpersonal difficulties inherent in this very stressful time.It's a simple book, easy to understand, and addresses all of the most important issues in a kind but factual manner.