More Books

• • Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial, by Mark Harris, 2007. This book examines the new green burial movement by following a dozen families who conduct natural burials for their dead, including burials in backyard grave sites and “natural cemeteries,” as well as sea burials and funerals at home.
  • Making Friends with Death; A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality, by Judith L. Lief, 2001. Practical exercises for deepening awareness and appreciation of change; practices for cultivating kindness as well as caregiver guidelines, drawn from the Buddhist tradition.
  • Dying Well; The Prospect for Growth at the End of Life, by Ira Byock, M.D., 1997. A longtime spokesman for the hospice movement, the author provides a blueprint for families, showing them how to deal with doctors, how to talk to friends and relatives, and how to make the end of life as meaningful and precious as the beginning.
  • A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as if It Were Your Last, by Stephen Levine, 1997. Imagine that you had only one year left to live. What would you do differently? Stephen Levine provides a year-long program of strategies and guided meditations to help the reader work through this exercise.
  • On Death and Dying, by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, MD., 1st ed. 1969. This is a classic but is still relevant today, especially as it advocates for respecting the dignity and wishes of the dying.