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SevenPonds / Books to Lend Insight / End-of-Life Healthcare, Medicine & Science Books

End-of-Life Healthcare, Medicine & Science Books

Understanding the medical side of dying can help reduce fear and uncertainty. These books explore the science of death and explain what to expect, treatment options, and how to advocate for yourself or loved ones in healthcare settings.

Book Cover for "How to Change Your Mind"

"How To Change Your Mind"

By Michael Pollan

Public acceptance of psychedelics for palliative care has been rising in recent years, thanks to numerous studies detail…

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"Grief on the Front Lines"

By Rachel Jones

The world of medicine and professional caregiving is fraught with trauma. Doctors, nurses and ancillary staff members ex…

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“How We Die”

By Sherwin Nuland

Sherwin Nuland, an accomplished surgeon, wrote “How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter” in an effort to reveal …

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“The Book of Self-Care: Remedies for Healing Mind, Body, and Soul…

By Mary Beth Janssen

In “The Book of Self-Care: Remedies for Healing Mind, Body, and Soul,” Mary Beth Janssen invites us to become spiritual …

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“The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing o…

By Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is one of the world’s leading experts on trauma and has spent three decades working with survivo…

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“Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals Ab…

By Caitlin Doughty

In “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?” Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, encourages curiosity about death from readers of all age…

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book cover of when breath becomes air showing a feather falling

“When Breath Becomes Air”

By Paul Kalanithi

Paul Kalanithi’s cancer became the impetus for his bestselling memoir, “When Breath Becomes Air” – fulfilling his lifelo…

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"When Death Becomes Life"

By Joshua D. Mezrich, M.D.

“When Death Becomes Life” by Joshua D. Mezrich focuses on three compelling aspects of the century-old practice of human …

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"Aromatherapy, An Introductory Guide to the Healing Power of Scen…

By Nicola Jenkins

When Donna Karan’s late husband Stephan Weiss had lung cancer, he used aromatherapy to help him through his illness. Men…

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"Extreme Measures"

By Jessica Nutik-Zitter, M.D.

“Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life” by Jessica Nutik-Zitter, M.D. is a book about America’s ext…

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Cover of At the End of Life

"At the End of Life: True Stories of How We Die"

By Lee Gutkind

Lee Gutkind’s “At the End of Life: True Stories of How We Die” is not an an easy read. True stories about death and suff…

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"Facial Reflexology"

By Marie-France Muller

While Western medicine excels at treating the physical body in moderate to extreme states of imbalance, other holistic t…

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"The Good Death"

By Ann Neumann

After Ann Neumann’s father died following a long illness, she felt lost. For more than a year, she traveled from city to…

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"Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife"

By Mary Roach

In the preface to “Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife,” authorMary Roach tells her reader that she is not interested i…

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"Healing Spaces"

By Esther M. Sternberg, M.D.

“Healing Spaces,” by Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., is an interesting and sometimes enlightening book. Written in 2009, it d…

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"Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Com…

By Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley

Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kellley, the authors of “Final Gifts,” are hospice nurses with years of experience in the c…

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"The Thing About Life is That One Day You'll Be Dead"

By David Shields

At 97 years old, David Shields’ father was still a firecracker with a fierce sense of optimism. Shields simply couldn’t …

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"The Death of Cancer"

By Vincent T. DeVita Jr., M.D. and Elizabeth DeVita Raeburn

“The Death of Cancer” is a gripping account of the ongoing battle against what is perhaps the world’s most feared diseas…

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"Dying Into Life: The Yoga of Death, Loss and Transformation"

By Jivan Joti Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D

Dying Into Life: The Yoga of Death, Loss and Transformation by Jivan Joti Kaur Khalsa Ph.D is a thorough, highly logical…

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"Death, Society and the Human Experience"

By Robert J. Kastenbaum

Robert J Kastenbaum’s Death, Society, and the Human Experience is an almost 500 page text divided into 15 chapters that …

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"Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives"

By David Eagleman

Eagleman, a neuroscientist, blends some wonderfully creative and deliciously imaginative details into his writing; his e…

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"Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories"

By Terrence Holt

When you’ve worked in a hospital’s ICU as long as Terrence Holt has, you learn a thing or two about death. His book, Int…

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Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical…

By Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell

Judy Melinek’s Working Stiff is the kind of memoir that reads like a season of the TV show “CSI”. In her book, she write…

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Twelve Breaths a Minute: End-of-Life Essays

Twelve Breaths a Minute: End-of-Life Essays

By Lee Gutkind

Much like our Opening Our Hearts series here on the SevenPonds blog, Twelve Breaths a Minute: End-of-Life Essays is a bo…

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Atul Gawande Being Mortal book cover

"Being Mortal"

By Atul Gawande

The concept of death is a compelling subject to dwell on. As we grow and mature, it becomes ingrained in us that, while …

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"Yoga for grief Relief"

By Antonio Sausys

My timing to review this book could not have been better. I experienced my second-ever difficult trauma a few months ago…

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"God’s Hotel"

By Victoria Sweet

What is the most efficient strategy of providing health care? Should quality food and one-on-on doctor-patient care be r…

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“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers”

By Mary Roach

Mary Roach’s “Stiff” is by no means a book that was meant for the masses to enjoy. The incredible detail with which the …

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"Erasing Death"

By Sam Parnia

When one thinks of death, it is usually thought of as a sudden event. But today, we have developed a medical science of …

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"The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform Care Th…

By Ira Byock, M.D.

Reform for Ira Byock means better doctor-patient/family relationships; it means changing the way we educate our medical …

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"Proof of Heaven"

By Eben Alexander, M.D.

“It was like being struck by a freight train,” said neurosurgeon Eben Alexander in his book Proof of Heaven (2012) on th…

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“The Denial of Death”

By Ernest Becker

During our childhood, gradually through observation then perhaps all at once through our parents’ telling, we all come t…

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Light on Aging and Dying

By Helen Nearing

I was recently rummaging through an old bookstore when I stumbled on a copy of the book Light on Aging and Dying, by Hel…

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"Physics of the Future"

By Michio Kaku

Predicting the future has always been tricky. Yet everyone, from a working family, to the Harvard School of Business, to…

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"Pleasure Healing: The Hand-Sized Guide to Self-Healing"

By Mary Beth Janssen

During a recent visit to the Kabuki Gardens of San Francisco’s Japantown (where I’d stopped in for a Swedish massage), I…

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"How We Age: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Growing Old"

By Marc E. Agronin

From the book How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Growing Old by Marc E. Agronin, MD. Excerpted by arrangem…

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