Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Buy Used
£0.30
+ £2.80 UK delivery
Used: Good | Details
Sold by betterworldbooksltd
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Ships from the UK. Former Library books. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Your purchase also supports literacy charities.

Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See this image

The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead Hardcover – 4 Apr 2008

by
David Shields (Author)
› Visit Amazon's David Shields Page
search results for this author
David Shields (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars 3 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
New from Used from
Kindle Edition
"Please retry"
£4.99
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
£21.74 £2.20
Hardcover, 4 Apr 2008
—
— £0.30
Paperback
"Please retry"
£9.99
£4.41 £0.83
Audio Download, Unabridged
"Please retry"
£0.00
Free with your Audible trial
Audio CD, Audiobook
"Please retry"
—
£58.17 £22.70
Top Deals in Books
See the latest top deals in Books. Shop now
click to open popover

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Top Deals in Books
See the latest top deals in Books. Shop now

Product details

  • Hardcover: 225 pages
  • Publisher: Potter Style; 1 edition (4 April 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307268047
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307268044
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 2.6 x 21.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,703,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

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)

About the Author

David Shields is the author of nine other books, including Reality Hunger and Black Planet, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His work has been translated into a dozen languages.

www.davidshields.com

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars
5 star
0
4 star
2
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
1
See all 3 customer reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsAn essay on life giving meaning to life
By J. H. Bretts VINE VOICE on 3 April 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
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.
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsEven people with a short attention span will enjoy this pointillistic book.
By Alan Coady on 16 Aug. 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this unusual book. In energetic, pointillistic style it leaps from simple anatomical facts to personal reflections on being an (ageing) man, a son, a father. The whole is peppered with quotes from serious and flippant people about the human condition.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
1.0 out of 5 starsI stopped reading.
By If Only You Knew on 12 Jun. 2011
Format: 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.
Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars 111 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Celebration of the Materialistic Life 27 Nov. 2014
By Let's Compare Options Preptorial - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I don't think I've ever read a book more centered on humans as pure animals. If you are an atheist, or have zero sensibility to humans as eternal souls, this book is tailor made for you. Living entirely in our neurons, of course we'd be obsessed with the loss of sexuality and the end of life as this author pretends to be-- it's the stuff of chase and escape that drives neurons.

Even "eternal life" in this 1 dimensional frame means genetic manipulation to make bodies live longer-- or why not the borg, or uploading "us" into silicon? I kept looking for even the tiniest hint of the detached wonder of seeing eternal horizons as an immortal soul, but nope, this is how it feels to be a body, period. Awful book, and a great reason to reconsider life beyond the material. The author's intelligence and skill easily shows that he's not stupid enough to not have considered the real possibility that we're far more than bodies, but he stays consistent to the end to his "spin" to look tough. I cracked up at some reviewers who said this would be a great title for someone facing immanent death! Did they even read this?

Dante would love the book, the subtitle should surely be abandon all hope... Not a lot of fun, but if you love starkness, or are dedicated to the materialistic life, this could be a sort of bible of the consequences.
1.0 out of 5 stars lame. A long 16 Nov. 2016
By William M - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Quite simply.... lame. A long, endless string of facts about how ones body changes as it ages. Personal anecdotes do nothing to bring any sort of cohesiveness to this rambling mess. This was a national best seller?? What nation? Stay away from whichever one it is and if the USA, then hang your head in embarrassment. No redeeming qualities. Not funny, not insightful, no greater point or meaning to be found.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stills and a movie 5 Mar. 2010
By eric - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I'm trying to determine why I found this book so fascinating. I think it has something to do with the rhythm. Shields offer us a series of snapshots--these being the many many factoids about our bodies--interspersed with the movies--these being the stories that he tells about himself and his father. This is his rhythm: snapshots, movies, snapshots, movies. I loved this interplay.

Shields has a wickedy dry, and yet very empathetic sense of humor. He piles up the facts and tells us a few stories. If you can find the secret of life in all this, fine. If not, that's ok as well.

Shields isn't pretending to offer any answers. That's the point: life flowers and wilts. In a way it's noble, and in a way, ridiculous. Bittersweet--that's how I'd characterize this book. Resigned. And fun to read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Bravely develops awareness of one's end 24 Oct. 2011
By A dad - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Audio CD Verified Purchase
Author David Shields crossed the point in life where one begins to feel they will die. This is not merely acceptance of a fact. It's having the omnipresent awareness of the things that are changing to bring death closer. With this knowledge and feeling, there is no escape from seeking the meaning of one's life. Shields does this while holding nothing back from his audience including highly personal details. His style made me feel what he feels, and this in turn helped me to think similarly of my own life.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this book, but found it more to be a memoir of the author's life. 26 May 2008
By Sahra Badou - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
The author's obsession with death is revealed throughout the book. The interesting question is: `Do atheists and theists view death in the same light?' If you read books by saints or religious people, you'll find that indeed they welcome death. Death to them is not an end but a beginning. At death, we are reunited with our loved ones. The world of the dead is another world where we are as much alive as in this world.

Throughout our body, since conception, a process of birth and death is taking place every second--new cells are born while old ones die. Our body is attuned to the constant bombardment of birth and death taking place, yet we--the part that is not the body (call it spirit or soul)--are not. Why? Why do some people welcome death while others shun away from it? Would we be scared of dying if there was no love in this world? These are actually very interesting questions to ponder.

A lot of the book was about the author's relationship with his father. I found some chapters slow. I wanted the author to go more into the core of life and death. Maybe I missed something. Maybe the author wanted us to learn about death through his relationship with his father. If he did, I missed the point. I also found too much personal information about the author and his family that distracted me from the essence of the book. For example, the author talks about his sex life, his girlfriend's herpes, and his acne during his youth. Was the book meant as a biography or a memoir?

I did like the scientific information included, such as the difference in size between a girl's and a boy's brain and the physiology of ageing.

Some interesting chapters in the book:

Our birth is nothing but our death begun: existence is warfare. Human beings have existed for 250,000 years; during that time, 90 billion individuals have lived and died.

Decline and fall: All mammals age; the only animals that don't age are some of the more primitive ones: sharks, alligators, Galapagos tortoises. Schopenhauer said, "Just as we know our walking to be only a constantly prevented falling, so is the life of our body only a constantly prevented dying, an ever-deferred death."

Life is that which gives meaning to life: life is perfected by death.
How to live forever: In ancient Greece, old men were advised to lie down with beautiful virgins.

Towards the end of the book you'll realize that we are not learning how to live, but how to die.
Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Look for similar items by category

Feedback