Death is the last taboo in our society. While we are fully aware of death on a social level, for example seeing disasters and dramatized killings on television, we are increasingly shy about death on a personal level. Off the screen few of us will have witnessed a death or seen a corpse. Death has become frightening and unfamiliar.

But, as medical science becomes ever more sophisticated, death is demanding attention as we live longer and our deaths become more protracted. The number of people over 65 in the UK and US will increase by one-third in the next ten years, and both as a society and as individuals we need to inform and prepare ourselves better for dying and death. This book seeks to address the confusion and denial around this subject in an open, honest and practical way.

This book covers: