Michael Hebb

Some may find this a slow read. Not because the writing is hard to understand. Michael Hebb’s writing is clear and engaging. This is a book that gets one to ponder. That is the book’s purpose. Each chapter heading is a question to prompt the reader to consider an aspect of death. Hebb takes the subject of death out of the shadows and shows how death is an integral aspect of life. Of the many stories of death and dying throughout the book, some will evoke laughter and others tears, but show more all provide lessons worth considering. Pondering death can lead to a fuller life. If you are living, this book about death is worth reading. show less

Author Hebb is asking a simple thing of us: to talk about death. Specifically, our own deaths. For the vast majority of us, that’s not actually a simple thing. It’s natural for humans to shy away from talking about- even thinking about- our own deaths. And yet it’s the one sure thing about our lives. And yet we ignore it, like the proverbial elephant in the room, until it is suddenly too late to make our plans, to tell people what we want for final arrangements, to decide whether to go show more with hospice or to fight until the end, to tell people we love them or we’re sorry.

Hebb goes around hosting dinner parties where death is the subject. He uses such prompts as “What would you want people to say about you at your funeral?”, “What do you want your legacy to be?” and “Do you have a will and advance directive in place?”

If you don’t think about these things, and deal with them while you are well, you may very well lose control over them. Do you want to be kept alive at all costs, even if it means being hooked up to machines, unable to communicate or move? How do you want your assets to be divided? If you don’t deal with that, the courts will.

This book will help guide you through talking about these things. You will have to really think about how you think about death, and what you want. I am a hospice volunteer, and I highly recommend it. show less