The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead
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Review
So pure and wide in its implications that I think of it almost as a secular, unsentimental Kahlil Gibran: a textbook for the acceptance of our fate on earth (Jonathan Lethem )
Breathtaking . . . Shields had us laughing out loud, even in the face of death (Timeout, Chicago )
Mix equal parts of anatomy and autobiography, science and self-disclosure, physiology and family history; shake, stir, add dashes of miscellany, pinches of borrowed wisdom, simmer over a low-grade fever of mortality, and a terrible beauty of a book is born (Thomas Lynch Boston Globe )
Shields is a sharp-eyed, self-deprecating, at times hilarious writer (Wall Street Journal )
Breathtaking . . . Shields had us laughing out loud, even in the face of death (Timeout, Chicago )
Mix equal parts of anatomy and autobiography, science and self-disclosure, physiology and family history; shake, stir, add dashes of miscellany, pinches of borrowed wisdom, simmer over a low-grade fever of mortality, and a terrible beauty of a book is born (Thomas Lynch Boston Globe )
Shields is a sharp-eyed, self-deprecating, at times hilarious writer (Wall Street Journal )
Product Description
Mesmerized and somewhat unnerved by his 97-year-old father's vitality and optimism, David Shields undertakes an original investigation of our flesh-and-blood existence, our mortal being.
Weaving together personal anecdote, biological fact, philosophical doubt, cultural criticism, and the wisdom of an eclectic range of writers and thinkers - from Lucretius to Woody Allen - Shields expertly renders both a hilarious family portrait and a truly resonant meditation on mortality.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An essay on life giving meaning to life,
By
This review is from: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Paperback)
David Shields has written a very original and moving book about what time does to the human body and what Shakespeare called the 'seven ages of man', ending with the inevitability of death. A mixture of autobiography, science and humour,at the heart of the book is Shield's relationship with his 97 year old father, a titanic egotistical life force whose mere presence comically undercuts the famous writers and scientists who Shield's quotes approvingly. Recommended.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I stopped reading.,
By If Only You Knew (Stroud, Gloucestershire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Paperback)
I really don't like writing bad reviews for books but I gave up on this book - and that is rare for me. I really like an intelligent and thought provoking book and this book is said to be a New York Times best seller so I thought it might be the thing for me. But no. I think the pretentious, fakely profound title should have warned me. What? Does this man think he's the first person who has realised that we are all going to die? I persevered for about 50 pages but there was no story and no characters and, therefore, no reason to keep reading. All the book seemed to consist of is list of obvious facts about the way in which the body changes with age - but we all know that the body ages! I wanted a story, some human content. Maybe this is really a book which appeals to men not women. I was just so disappointed. Was this book really well reviewed by significant publications in America? If so, then this a major case of the emperor's new clothes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (95 customer reviews) 99 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A much needed addition,
By MD in CA - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Hardcover)
As a doctor for the very old, I'm often asked for recommendations of books which consider the critical questions about life, aging, and death. While there are great works of literature which address this topic and standard non-fiction books about death or older adults, this is the first book which examines the topic start to finish, providing a great story, scientific and social science data, and the wisdom of hundreds from the ancient greeks to current pop artists. The books structure, with its weave of memoir, fact, and quotes, reflects how we experience and consider these topics. And as any book on this subject should, it doesn't preach but gives the reader the tools and inspiration to think about these important issues for him or herself.
137 of 152 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Griping Against The Grim Reaper,
By Inner City Intellect - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Hardcover)
David Shields is miffed. His adolescent daughter is a soccer prodigy, romping on the pitch with nary an ache or pain. His father steams towards 100, still vital and prickly in a Catskills stud kind of way. Shields himself is fifty and feels every one of his years. Hangovers are no longer physical but metaphysical, his back is shot and he's developed an obsession with death.But it's the obsession of a man who, for all his gripes, is engaged in life. Death is a shark out there hovering. But until you put the blood in the water, the shark stays put. Shields offers alternating chapters of objective data on the body's demise and famous commentary on The Big Sleep with subjective epigrams of pique and pathos. Shields laments but never mopes. He is in awe (and peevishly envious) of his father who somehow has figured out the cosmic joke of existence yet never pauses long enough to let the realization that the joke is on us get him down. This is a great book, subversive in its brevity and ferocity. A communique of rabbit punches. 45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book!,
By P. Nestor - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Hardcover)
There are some lofty topics that writers--for good reason--hesitate to take on: the meaning of life, the nature of love, what women want, and the pesky issue of mortality are a few that top the list. In a filmed interview, the usually undaunted Jacques Derrida balked when asked, "What is love?" And while he eventually rallied when reminded that all the Greek philosophers spoke of the nature of love (no self-respecting philosopher could ignore that throwing down of the glove), his resistance reminded me that even intellectual heavyweights want to shrug off the tough work of tackling The Big Questions.The Thing about Life is That One Day You'll be Dead is a bold book that explores this odd duality that exists in each of us: we know we'll die--one day--but we're also quite sure this won't happen to us, somehow we'll be the exception. Reading Shields' book, I became aware that this belief of immortality informs everything we do--toe tapping in line in the grocery store, mindless TV watching, cursing the rain--all speak of our subterranean certainty that we'll be around till the end of time. It's a quirky book, almost outrageous in its structure that follows the decline of the human body, and one well worth reading. And no, it's not depressing; Shields is as funny as he is insightful. |
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