Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death (Thorndike Large Print health, home & learning) - Tapa dura

"This is a book so honest, so perceptive and so achingly beautiful that its poetic essence transcends even the anguished story that it tells. Katy Butler's astute 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. This elegiac volume is required reading for every American adult; it has about it a sense of the universal."--Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, author of "How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter "

"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. Knocking on Heaven's Door is a terrible, beautiful book that offers the information we need to navigate the complicated world of procedure and technology-driven health care. I'm recommending it to all my friends with aging parents or partners, and holding on to a copy for myself."--Mary Pipher "author of Reviving Ophelia and Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World "

"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."--Adam Hochschild "author of King Leopold's Ghost and To End All Wars "

"Intimate and wise, heartbreakingly compassionate, and critically helpful, this is a truly important work that I hope will be widely read. We have lost our way and Katy Butler's impeccably researched and powerful tale will help eliminate much suffering on the passage to the mystery of death."--Dr. Jack Kornfield "author of A Path with Heart "

"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. You will not be able to put this book down. Its tenderness, beauty, and heart-breaking honesty matches the stunning data on dying in the West. A splendid and compassionate endeavor."--Joan Halifax, PhD, Founding Abbot, Upaya Institute/Zen Center and Director, Project on Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death

"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. This elegiac volume is required reading for every American adult; it has about it a sense of the universal."--Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, author of How We Die: Reflections of Life's Final Chapter

""Knocking On Heaven's Door" is a disquieting book, and an urgent one. Against a confounding bioethical landscape, Katy Butler traces the odyssey of her parents' final years with honesty and compassion. She does a great service here, skillfully illuminating issues most of us are destined to face sooner or later. I cannot imagine a finer way to honor the memory of one's parents than in such a beautifully rendered account."--Alexandra Styron "author of Reading my Father "

"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. Katy Butler's book will challenge and nourish you. 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."--Anne Lamott "author of Help, Thanks, Wow "

Katy Butlers 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. Knocking on Heavens Door is a terrible, beautiful book that offers the information we need to navigate the complicated world of procedure and technology-driven health care. Im recommending it to all my friends with aging parents or partners, and holding on to a copy for myself.--Mary Pipher "author of Reviving Ophelia andSeeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World "

"Katy Butler's new bookbrave, frank, poignant, and lovingwill 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.--Adam Hochschild "author ofKing Leopolds Ghost and To End All Wars "

A National Magazine Award finalist outlines a less invasive, more humane approach to end-of-life care that reveals the potentially traumatic practices of modern medicine, sharing the stories of her own parents' struggles to achieve peaceful and natural deaths while explaining the political and technological factors that are interfering with patient preferences. (biography & autobiography).