Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

Kathryn Mannix

4.58 · Rating details · 3,040 ratings · 431 reviews

In this unprecedented book, palliative medicine pioneer Dr Kathryn Mannix explores the biggest taboo in our society and the only certainty we all share: death.

Told through a series of beautifully crafted stories taken from nearly four decades of clinical practice, her book answers the most intimate questions about the process of dying with touching honesty and humanity. Sh ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 359 pages

Published January 10th 2018 by William Collins (first published December 28th 2017)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about With the End in Mind, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.58 ·

Rating details

· 3,040 ratings · 431 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

Mar 09, 2018 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: current-events, illness-and-death, medical, wellcome-prize-shortlist, signed-copy, read-via-netgalley, skimmed, memoirs, newbury-library, reviewed-for-blog

This is an excellent all-round guide to preparation for death. It’s based around relatable stories of the patients Mannix met in her decades working in the fields of cancer treatment and hospice care. She has a particular interest in combining CBT with palliative care to help the dying approach their remaining time with realism rather than pessimism. In many cases this involves talking patients and their loved ones through the steps of dying and explaining the patterns – decreased energy, increa This is an excellent all-round guide to preparation for death. It’s based around relatable stories of the patients Mannix met in her decades working in the fields of cancer treatment and hospice care. She has a particular interest in combining CBT with palliative care to help the dying approach their remaining time with realism rather than pessimism. In many cases this involves talking patients and their loved ones through the steps of dying and explaining the patterns – decreased energy, increased time spent asleep, a change in breathing just before the end – as well as being clear about how suffering can be eased.

I read the first 20% on my Kindle and then skimmed the rest in a library copy. This was not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but because it was a two-week loan and I was conscious of needing to move on to other longlist books. It may also be because I have read quite a number of books with similar themes and scope – including Caitlin Doughty’s two books on death, Caring for the Dying by Henry Fersko-Weiss, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, and Waiting for the Last Bus by Richard Holloway. Really this is the kind of book I would like to own a copy of and read steadily, just a chapter a week. Mannix’s introductions to each section and chapter, and the Pause for Thought pages at the end of each chapter, mean the book lends itself to being read as a handbook, perhaps in tandem with an ill relative.

The book is unique in giving a doctor’s perspective but telling the stories of patients and their families, so we see a whole range of emotions and attitudes: denial, anger, regret, fear and so on. Tears were never far from my eyes as I read about a head teacher with motor neurone disease; a pair of women with metastatic breast cancer who broke their hips and ended up as hospice roommates; a beautiful young woman who didn’t want to stop wearing her skinny jeans even though they were exacerbating her nerve pain, as then she’d feel like she’d given up; and a husband and wife who each thought the other didn’t know she was dying of cancer.

Mannix believes there’s something special about people who are approaching the end of their life. There’s wisdom, dignity, even holiness surrounding them. It’s clear she feels she’s been honored to work with the dying, and she’s helped to propagate a healthy approach to death. As her children told her when they visited her dying godmother, “you and Dad [a pathologist] have spent a lifetime preparing us for this. No one else at school ever talked about death. It was just a Thing in our house. And now look – it’s OK. We know what to expect. We don’t feel frightened. We can do it. This is what you wanted for us, not to be afraid.”

I would be happy to see this advance to the Wellcome Book Prize shortlist.

Favorite lines:

“‘So, how long has she got?’ I hate this question. It’s almost impossible to answer, yet people ask as though it’s a calculation of change from a pound. It’s not a number – it’s a direction of travel, a movement over time, a tiptoe journey towards a tipping point. I give my most honest, most direct answer: I don’t know exactly. But I can tell you how I estimate, and then we can guesstimate together.”

“we are privileged to accompany people through moments of enormous meaning and power; moments to be remembered and retold as family legends and, if we get the care right, to reassure and encourage future generations as they face these great events themselves.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck. ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2018 Paul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2018

To completely re-write the original quote that Benjamin Franklin made; there are three things that are certain in life; taxes, your computer crashing and death. The final of these inevitable events will happen to every single person on this planet at some point in the future. Even though it is one thing common to all life, it has reached the point where it is seen now as a taboo, something that we deliberately choose to ignore or rarely talk about when pushed. Death though is something that Dr K To completely re-write the original quote that Benjamin Franklin made; there are three things that are certain in life; taxes, your computer crashing and death. The final of these inevitable events will happen to every single person on this planet at some point in the future. Even though it is one thing common to all life, it has reached the point where it is seen now as a taboo, something that we deliberately choose to ignore or rarely talk about when pushed. Death though is something that Dr Kathryn Mannix has faced throughout her career, and this book, With the End in Mind, is a collection of stories of the last moment of people from all walks of society.

Probably the most poignant stories are those about the children and teenagers who have barely got started at life before it is tragically taken away from them. She talks to patients that have rooms full of their family, dealing with the anger and unfairness of it all, we learn about a young man who does not have long to live, but was still considering suicide as he is so despondent that he will never leave a legacy, but he is one of the first in the country to carry a plan detailing what should happen should he become ill. The media attention raised awareness and they saw a huge rise in others wanting to do the same thing. People react to their terminal illnesses differently. One of her patients was a mother who still feels that she needs to keep up her glamorous appearance, but pouring herself into tight jeans was not helping with the pain; a few subtle changes helped immensely and allowed to be comfortable in the final days. Some of the hardest cases are those that have one close loved one who are not sure how they will cope alone.

It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life. ― Terry Pratchett

All of the stories in this book are sad; people grieving the loss of their loved ones, but in amongst the tears there are moments of comfort and illumination on how to deal with death, all coupled together with the calm and considered advice from Mannix. What she is a big advocate of is communication, telling people what is wrong with you, getting them to ask sensitive questions, finding out if people want to be at home for their last moments, or have no real preference. There is a Pause for Thought moment at the end of each chapter where there are suggestions and practical details are discussed. This book is not going to be for everyone given the subject matter, but it is a step in the right direction to seeing death as an intrinsic part of life and coping with it in the best way for you. Can highly recommend this moving book and I think it should be essential reading for anyone who has any concerns about death ...more

flag 29 likes · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2017 Nigel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-non-fiction, best-2017-books, arc, non-fiction

In brief - Best book of the year without question. A powerful and moving read.

In full
This is the story of some of Dr Kathryn Mannix's patients. She has written this because, as a palliative care specialist of 30 years, she has seen a lot of people dying. She is also aware of the lack of information about the process that is available to patients and their families. This attempts to redress the imbalance. As a by product of this we get to learn quite a bit about the author and her career too.

I ha In brief - Best book of the year without question. A powerful and moving read.

In full
This is the story of some of Dr Kathryn Mannix's patients. She has written this because, as a palliative care specialist of 30 years, she has seen a lot of people dying. She is also aware of the lack of information about the process that is available to patients and their families. This attempts to redress the imbalance. As a by product of this we get to learn quite a bit about the author and her career too.

I have read a few books on the subject of dying over the past few years. They have all been of interest and informed me to some degree whether they illustrate personal stories or look at the bigger picture. The "personal stories" approach ones that I've read so far were those of one person's story. This book contains a lot of personal stories, all different in the same way that we are all different people. One commonality is the misunderstanding of the stages and process of death. The book has a very good introduction to the subject as a whole. There is also a "health warning" on medicines and this book that sets the tone very well.

Very early on in the book I realised why palliative care might suit Kathryn Mannix. Concern, empathy and interest are very evident. The writing seems to reflect what I imagine her personality to be - skilled, caring and empathetic. It is also highly readable. The names of her patients have been changed and there is nothing that will give away exactly who is being referred to.

If there are not signs of dampness around the eyes when reading this book I'd be frankly amazed. My eyes were frequently damp and some of the stories had tears rolling down my cheeks. I must emphasise that this was not in a bad way. This book may well not be for everyone however it tackles very difficult subjects with great gentleness. The people in these stories are remarkable people.

The book starts with Sabine's story and looks particularly at the process of dying and the need for honesty at such a time. I'll not go through the individual stories - Kathryn writes far better than I do. No two people reading them will react in the same way I imagine however I enjoyed (if I can say that about tales of death) them all and some were very special indeed. What I should say is that some are hard stories and "shocking to read" - you have been warned . However the writing is frequently poetic and has a gentle directness that for me made it an excellent read. The phrase a "survival guide to dying ' seems apt and is coupled with a gentle caring honesty.

I did find some stories ambush you - for me Mark's was one of those. It suddenly hit me quite hard. However this book is so well written that it can allow you tears - not of sadness but maybe of understanding and empathy as well as tears of laughter. I hadn't expected to laugh out loud reading this but I did. One passage even made me both laugh AND cry - not something I expected.

This book worked on more than one level for me. As well as the stories and the "guide to dying" it is a good insight into palliative care and hospices generally; on what they do or hope to do. Due to the issues involved in one story the book also looks briefly at the legalities and ethics involved in dealing with patients who are approaching the end of life. At the end of each batch of stories there is a "pause for thought" section to allow people to consider their own positions. At the end of the book there is a good resources section.

In many ways it was a privilege to be able to read this book. It managed to be both personal & general and profound & trivial however it was almost always powerful and always deeply human and humane. I really would hope that this book would be widely read and not simply by those directly interested from a medical perspective - as the author tells us we will all die one day.

Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review

http://viewson.org.uk/non-fiction/end...
...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2019 Alice Lippart rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, non-fiction, read-in-2019

Surprisingly peaceful and comforting. Well worth reading.

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2018 Shirley Revill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: educational, audiobook, non-fiction, thought-provoking, medical, exceptional-people, biography, memoirs, autobiography, death

I listened to this audiobook and I was very impressed with this book.
The book shares the stories of a palliative care doctor and the people she gets to know who are facing death.
Unfortunately in our society we seem to have become afraid of dying and being able to talk to people facing death.
This is a very well written memoir that will bring a great deal of comfort to so many people.
Well worth reading and very highly recommended.

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Nov 26, 2017 Bookphenomena (Micky) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: grief, work, 2017-read

2.5 stars

WITH THE END IN MIND is written for the public perspective and not professionals working with the grieving, in my opinion. It takes an anecdotal story approach to representing a variety of death, dying and grieving situations and conversations that many might find potentially helpful.

I tried to read it from a dual perspective, as a professional and academic in this field but also as a person inquisitive about their own death and those of my loved ones. However, I found as a professiona ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2018 Mrs. Danvers rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, woman-writer, end-of-life-issues, wellcome-prize-nominee, favorites

This is wonderful. It is similar in many respects to Ira Byock's great work Dying Well. I have referred to that one a number of times when talking to people who were in fear of their death, and I can see how this one would be even more comforting. Mannix has a touch of rose-colored glasses, but I guess I don't mind in this context.

If you find Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End a worthy read, you should definitely look this one up. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2018 Laura rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Kathryn Mannix's With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial is written from her own experiences as a specialist in palliative care, and this proved, for me, both its strength and its downfall. The book is structured around a series of fictionalised case studies drawn from Mannix's own experiences, many of which are deeply affecting. I was particularly touched by the stories of Sally, a young woman dying from melanoma who refused to accept that her condition was terminal, a Kathryn Mannix's With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial is written from her own experiences as a specialist in palliative care, and this proved, for me, both its strength and its downfall. The book is structured around a series of fictionalised case studies drawn from Mannix's own experiences, many of which are deeply affecting. I was particularly touched by the stories of Sally, a young woman dying from melanoma who refused to accept that her condition was terminal, and Holly, a mum of two teenagers dying from cancer of the cervix, who suffered from a last bout of restless energy before passing away. Mannix writes particularly well on the characteristic patterns of somebody who is entering a gradual decline. As the hospice leader she's working with on Holly's case describes it to Holly's daughters: 'Have you noticed that she stops breathing from time to time? That tells me that she is unconscious, very deeply relaxed... That is what the very end of life is like. Just very quiet and peaceful. I don't expect she will wake up again now.'

I find books of this kind difficult to review because the risk of sounding like you're passing a (totally unqualified) judgment on the writer's professional career. But ultimately I have to judge With the End in Mind as a book that Mannix has written, separating it from Mannix's personal achievements, and in this context, it fell very short. It's crucial to feel that you trust and respect the voice that is telling you such sensitive stories, but With the End in Mind left me feeling frustrated, angry and suspicious. This was for a number of interconnected reasons:

Unlike similar medical writers - Henry Marsh's Do No Harm and Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, Better and Complications come to mind - I felt that Mannix was keeping her professional distance, positioning the reader as her patient. Each section ends with a 'Pause for Thought' that I found simplistic and patronising, and unlike Marsh and Gawande, she writes virtually nothing at all about her own professional mistakes, although she says a little about other people's. In every story, she positions either herself or her palliative care colleagues as the all-knowing voice of reason, and after a while, this started to feel a bit sinister.

This was compounded by her discussion of euthanasia, a subject that is obviously very relevant in this context. While I am broadly pro-euthanasia, I wouldn't have minded if Mannix had directly challenged my views by offering up new evidence to support her obvious concerns about euthanasia options such as those offered in the Netherlands. Instead, I found her approach incredibly disingenuous. I almost stopped reading With the End in Mind after 'Please Release Me: B Side' where Mannix tells a story about one man's unpleasant experience in the Netherlands that is entirely based on hearsay, and I realised that a number of stories she had been telling in that section had been deliberately engineered to emphasise the benefits of palliative care as opposed to euthanasia. Again, I would have found this less troubling if Mannix had been upfront about it: instead, she claims that 'many of us in palliative care roles are exasperated by the trenchant, black-and-white opinions of the campaigners for either view [on euthanasia]' but makes her own views pretty clear when she says at the end of the chapter on the Netherlands that 'Once the euthanasia genie is out of the bottle, you must be careful what you wish for', echoing familiar 'slippery slope' arguments. All of this made me very uneasy and uncomfortable.

Finally, Mannix uses the metaphor of 'natural birth' throughout the book to promote her vision of a 'natural death'. She writes that 'both processes can proceed safely without intervention, as any wise midwife knows.' This infuriated me because of the damage, pain and suffering the language of 'natural birth' and the doctrine of little medical intervention has caused to women and their babies. Indeed, the Royal College of Midwives recently dropped campaigns for what they called 'normal birth' in recognition of this fact, although women are still denied the right to choose interventions like caesarians (in contravention of NICE guidelines on childbirth) as a consequence of this ideology. As the language of 'natural birth' is unfortunately quite common, I wouldn't see this as a significant problem for Mannix if she didn't repeatedly return to this metaphor across the course of her book. This, along with the problems I've noted above, left me doubting everything she said about birth and about death.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2020 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: four-star

An emotional journey through one woman’s experience working in palliative medicine that challenges pre conceptions about the field while encouraging thoughts and discussions around our own mortality.

This book tells dozens of stories about people facing the end of their lives, and how best medical and nursing personnel work together to ensure their patient experiences a good death. Meanwhile, the author tells some of her own stories and encourages the reader to think about issues of their own.

I ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2020 Joachim Stoop rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cancer-loss-grief

The book is as helpfull, wise and sensitive as everybody's been saying and I would've given it 5 stars, but...

It sounds kind of harsh, yet one out of forty chapters made me lower my general score with one star. It was a chapter about a dying person in Holland who felt he was pushed by his doctor into ending his life with euthanasia. Although anecdotal, this was presented by Mannix as the usual method in The Netherlands: doctors brainwashing patients into believing that their lives became too har ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

May 04, 2019 Rona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was a bit startled by some of the negative reviews for this book which I read when I was half way through. I can’t agree with any of them as I thought it a well balanced, kind, considerate and helpful book which raises issues we really should be engaging with now.

They say that the Victorians were happy to talk about death, but not sex, and now we’ve reversed that as no conversation about sex seems too much, and yet we can’t even bring ourselves to use words like died/dead/death, only passed o ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2018 Carolinemawer rated it it was ok · review of another edition

There are lots of moving stories in here, extremely well written - and I'm sure that this doctor has done a lot of good things.
But I often felt uncomfortable with what felt like a hierarchical doctor-knows-best approach:
- The idea of the 'Leader' when surely the patient and their family should be leading or at least in parallel with the doctors
- There were lots of peoples problems 'solved' here - rather than empowerment so that individuals and their families could be supported in choosing thei There are lots of moving stories in here, extremely well written - and I'm sure that this doctor has done a lot of good things.
But I often felt uncomfortable with what felt like a hierarchical doctor-knows-best approach:
- The idea of the 'Leader' when surely the patient and their family should be leading or at least in parallel with the doctors
- There were lots of peoples problems 'solved' here - rather than empowerment so that individuals and their families could be supported in choosing their own ways forward. Most outrageous was the agitated woman given medication to counteract the agitation some other medication had caused. Exhausted by all the running around (caused by the agitating medicine), the lady promptly died. The Leader (maybe it's a cult?) knew this was likely to happen - but didnt get informed consent from the woman or her family - who were then called in to witness how 'peaceful' their relative was.
- The story about assisted dying in the Netherlands felt like one-sided propaganda. Of course, if the man felt harassed, that's appalling. But this ignores the 'doctor-knows-best' use of medication described above - assisted is apparently OK if the Leader and the author decide to do it. It also ignores the significant number of individuals who are either rich enough to travel from the UK to Switzerland or not so rich but just as desperate - and so who throw themselves down stairs / try to poison / or suffocate themselves - all alone since they are concerned for their family with the current law.
Since the author is writing as someone working in palliative care, she also ignores / maybe doesnt know about the bits before patients get to palliative care. This 'transition' is extremely painful for patients, families, and doctors too. There's a myth that modern medicine is all powerful. This is of course ridiculous - there is a 100% death rate. But palliative care / hospice medicine seems to work according to another myth - that they are the ones to help with death. I think this is just as ridiculous. There are not enough hospice / palliative care staff to help with deaths now (the focus is still on cancer). With a tsunami of death coming soon as the baby-boomers die, there really wont be enough staff trained in this particular way.
The sub-title of the book talks about wisdom in a age of denial.
But the book seems to me to have more denial than wisdom.
Cicely Saunders made a great and gamechanging leap forward in thinking of hospice. But now we need something just as great and just a gamechanging - not just more of a 50 year old novelty. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2018 Robyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

Not a book I really wanted to have a reason for reading, but nonetheless one we all should. Clear-eyed accounts of Dr. Mannix’s career in palliative care and the many lessons learned.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 18, 2020 Jessie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

With The End In Mind is Kathryn Mannix’s layman’s guide to death and dying. Mostly a reflection on her years as a palliative care medicine doctor, Mannix shares with readers what the process of death looks like, what is valuable to people at the end, and why honest conversations about the one true inevitable event in our lives yields so much less fear and such richer endings. I’m a sucker for qualitative snippets of the great transition, and the time before and after, because I am grateful for t ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2018 Bon Tom rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I believe this is that kind of book which is only going to affirm you in your belief, whatever it is. Which, probably, in this case and with most people, is of bipolar nature.

If you are wired so that you think there's grandeur, learning, redemption, or whatever other "quality" in suffering except pointless pain, you are going to stand your ground and use this book to reinforce your rationalizations about why the pain (physical suffering) is unavoidable, even necessary part of human experience.

On ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2018 Darryl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This outstanding book, which was shortlisted for this year's Wellcome Book Prize and was written by a palliative care physician in the UK, describes several remarkable people she cared for at the end of their lives, their families and other loved ones, and her experiences and lessons learned during her four decades in clinical practice. Dr Mannix demystifies and humanizes the experience of death for her patients, their families, and especially her readers, as people who have or very likely will ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2018 Rod MacLeod rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Brilliant, insightful, compassionate and wise. Kathryn has skilfully negotiated a territory that few have tried and she has done it with skill.
It should be required reading for everyone who cares for those who are dying in whatever role they have.
Thank you so much for your honesty and for taking what was possibly a great deal of time and effort in doing so.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2019 Gayle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Warning - do not read this book in public!! (Unless you like crying in public) However I would add this aside we should all read it!
An accessible and moving account of death and what to expect and what we all need to consider. It’s not morbid, but it is sad and moving but also hopeful and considerate. Can not recommend this highly enough!

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2018 Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The primary thought on reading this book is that if you enjoyed Being Mortal by Atul Gawande then this very much feels like a companion read. One that I think that everyone should read and share with their loved ones.

Dr Kathryn Mannix is a palliative care Consultant and in this book she writes about her experiences of working with dying patients. She looks at the pattern of dying and what most people will experience as they die. Her insights into the support of the patient and the care of their ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 24, 2017 Martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, netgalley, read-2017, read-women-17

"I realise that it is a rare privilege to be present and to serve those who are approaching their unmaking. I was discovering that I was not afraid of death; rather, I was in awe of it, and of its impact on our lives."

Perfect for fans of When Breath Becomes Air, With the End in Mind is a collection of case studies about dying from Dr. Kathryn Mannix, a specialist in palliative care. Far from being melancholy (though I'll admit I shed a tear or two), this collection is a hopeful and comfortin ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 20, 2017 Leigh Kramer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: grief-and-loss, nonfiction

Why do we struggle to talk about death and dying?

This is a question I’ve often asked myself in the past 15 or so years. Because my maternal grandparents were both one of thirteen children, I grew up in a large extended family and, as such, I grew up going to funerals. I learned how to mourn from my relatives and how to have hard conversations. It was a sad part of life. But it was part of life.

When I started my first fieldwork placement at hospice as a social work intern, it quickly became clear ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2019 Tiffany Cheung rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a book that should be read by everyone. Death is generally accompanied by fear of pain, disappointment and end. Dr Mannix intricately weaves stories and conversations to make you breathe out and know that death is perhaps something that can be understood with compassion and respect.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2020 Jack Gibson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone!

Shelves: medical, biographical, favorites, self-discovery-improvement

Much exists in today's world about how to (perhaps) live a life well and get the best out of it. Yet, in a world which puts increasing emphasis on knowing and facing truths, why should the topic of death often be overlooked and kept behind closed doors of discussion, if indeed the topic comes up at all...

Dr Kathryn Mannix, to take her direction, urges that we should take the narrative of this book like any other necessary prescription: in good faith, aware of side effects and at the right time. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 01, 2020 Debra Forsythe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Tough but good read, beware the emotional triggers

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2018 Jason Pettus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, npr-worthy, contemporary

This is a great idea for a book, especially in these times, a look at what kinds of advice we can glean about aging from the words and actions of the advanced elderly as they approach the ends of their lives. Unfortunately, though, the actual execution of the idea is deeply flawed; the "lesson" part of each story takes up only one paragraph, often devolving into the kind of hokey and cliched advice you can get from an Ann Landers column or a Pluggers comic, while it's impossible to describe the ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2020 Gavin Whyte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s written with such warmth, compassion, and integrity, and it contains just the right amount of humour. The narrative isn’t intrusive; it knows what’s important.

Yes, the book’s full of sad stories, and occasionally I swallowed a lump, but it’s a book about death and dying, and how people cope in/with their final moments, so it never was gonna be much of a hoot.

Many of us won’t read a book like this because we don’t want to look at death, think about death, speak about ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2017 Thomas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Best book I've read in ages.

This is an incredible book that will truly affect you. I found myself on the train running the full gamut of emotions: from being close to tears to laughing at an anecdote to genuinely feeling unsettled. And all because Kathryn Mannix forces you to look death up close and personal. But this isn’t just a collection of her stories as a palliative carer. It’s also a meditation on death and everything that comes with it. She groups her stories into themes such as Patterns ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 24, 2018 Georgi_Lvs_Books rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, treasured-favourites, audible

This book has meant a lot to me.

It has helped me to understand death better. It has also gave me peace of mind for when I seen my dad pass away last year and was left with a lot of unanswered questions.

There was also some assurance for me when it comes to my ill health. A patient mentioned in this book had the same illness as me (Cystic Fibrosis) And this was really interesting to me.

Death is always on my mind, due to ill health and especially in the last 12 months after watching my dad pass a ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2019 H.A. Leuschel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a book to take in slowly, chapter per chapter, intimate and tender story per intimate and beautifully written story. I shed tears as much as I felt wonder and awe for the people who accompany the dying. I must underline that this is not a sad book even though I felt sad and did put the book aside regularly to reflect on what I just read. Dying is made special in this book because it is given back its precious highly emotionally charged as well as matter of fact place in life.

Highly, hi ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2020 Melanie Baker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, health, social-culture

Required reading, along with Being Mortal. Not an easy read, by any means, and you will cry. There is a good chance you will read heartbreaking sections and react only with quiet thoughtfulness. And then you will be gut-punched by some random, seemingly innocuous sentence. But you will think, and continue to, which is the good doctor’s first goal, I believe.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Nonfiction

177 users

Death

45 users

Health > Medicine

44 users

Psychology

30 users

Medical

28 users

Science

21 users

Autobiography > Memoir

16 users

Health

16 users

Self Help

11 users

Biography

8 users

See top shelves…

About Kathryn Mannix

Kathryn Mannix

55 followers

Kathryn Mannix has spent her medical career working with people who have incurable, advanced illnesses. Starting in cancer care and changing career to become a pioneer of the new discipline of palliative medicine, she has worked in teams in hospices, hospitals and in patients’ own homes to deliver palliative care, optimising quality of life even as death is approaching. Having qualified as a Cogni ...more

Books by Kathryn Mannix

With the End in Mind, On Grief and Grieving, Being Mortal 3 Books Collection Set

More…

News & Interviews

Goodreads' Staff Recommends Their Favorite Audiobooks

Listen up, because our colleagues here at Goodreads have some excellent audiobook recommendations for you! Of course, the books they've...

Trivia About With the End in M...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from With the End in M...

“There are only two days with fewer than twenty-four hours in each lifetime, sitting like bookmarks astride our lives; one is celebrated every year, yet it is the other that makes us see living as precious.” — 7 likes

“I was discovering that I was not afraid of death; rather, I was in awe of it, and of its impact on our lives. What would happen if we ever ‘found a cure’ for death? Immortality seems in many ways an uninviting option. It is the fact that every day counts us down that makes each one such a gift. There are only two days with fewer than twenty-four hours in each lifetime, sitting like bookends astride our lives: one is celebrated every year, yet it is the other that makes us see living as precious.” — 2 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix

With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Kathryn Mannix

Books by Kathryn Mannix

News & Interviews

Trivia About With the End in M...

Quotes from With the End in M...

See a Problem?

Preview — With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix

With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Kathryn Mannix

Books by Kathryn Mannix

News & Interviews

Trivia About With the End in M...

Quotes from With the End in M...

new topic
Discuss This Book