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The Economist Book of Obituaries

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This collection of obituaries tells the life stories of two hundred of the world's most captivating people as judged by writers Ann Wroe and Keith Colquhoun and as published in The Economist from 1994 to 2008. Each stylishly written story and accompanying photograph surprises, entertains, and stimulates. The titled, wealthy, and powerful are here, of course, including Diana, Princess of Wales, Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, John Paul II, Norman Mailer, Mstislav Rostropovich, and General William Westmoreland, but so are a cookery teacher and spy, the inventor of instant noodles, a self-proclaimed gypsy king, a musical psychic, an American gangster, a patriotic crook, a philosopher of consumerism, a master of tabloid journalism, a protector of minorities, a veteran of Gallipoli, the greatest of second bananas, and so on. This book is as entertaining as it is edifying; it's a great gift for biography, history, and popular-culture fans, as well as for everyone who turns first to the obituary pages in the daily newspaper. As Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) put "I never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with a lot of pleasure."

409 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2008

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Keith Colquhoun

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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Jennifer.
548 reviews51 followers
April 26, 2009
My Overall Opinion of the Book
This book was fascinating, educational, funny, political, and judgmental. It is almost never sad. A collection of 200 obituaries written between 1994 to 2008 (each one two pages long), The Economist Book of Obituaries is oddly enjoyable and fascinating. It may sound a strange book to read, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Even if you are not a fan of obituaries (and there are many obituary fans out there), I think you could enjoy this book purely from an entertainment and educational perspective.

Why I Read the Book
I became interested in this book after reading Marilyn Johnson's The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. Johnson's book documents her love of obituaries and some of the great writers of the genre. While reading her book, I learned the difference between American and British obituaries (the British are not afraid to "tell it like they see it") and joined Johnson on her visit to some of the leading obituary writers of the world. The Dead Beat was a pretty fun book to read, and I found myself wanting to read the type of obituaries that got Johnson so excited. So when LibraryThing listed The Economist Book of Obituaries in its Early Reviewer books for November, I jumped at the chance to get it. I was thrilled when I was lucky enough to receive a review copy.

The Basic Structure of the Book
This is not a book you need to read straight-through. It is ideal for picking up and putting down at will. Each obituary is two pages long and includes a relevant black and white photo. The obituaries are listed in alphabetical order, and there is a Table of Contents to let you pick which ones you might want to read. (I read the book straight through since I was reviewing it, but I could definitely view this more as a book to peruse at your leisure.) Each obituary starts with a single sentence that tells the name of the deceased, their basic "claim to fame," their date of death and their age at the time of death. Other than these basic structural elements, each obituary is wildly different in style, tone and purpose.

Who Is Covered In the Book
The obituaries in the book include 199 people and one parrot (Alex the African Grey -- billed as "science's best-known parrot"). The famous (Princess Diana, Bob Hope, John Paul II, Julia Child, Norman Mailer) and the not-so-famous (the inventor of the Cup of Noodles, the inventor of frozen non-dairy topping, America's King of the Hobos, Japan's royal tutor, one of the founders of Mensa). The subjects are from a wide variety of countries and from all walks of life -- scientists, musicians, writers, social activists, criminals, royalty. What makes this book great is that it doesn't matter what you know about the subject (half of the people in the book I'd never heard of), you will learn about them, their importance in the world, and their contributions to their chosen field. Each obituary is not so much about the individual person and their life story, but more about what their life meant to the world they lived in.

For example, the obituary of Sue Sumii--a champion of Japan's untouchables -- is clearly meant as a way to highlight this little discussed aspect of Japanese society. The obituary of Yasser Talal al-Zahrani -- a prisoner in Guantanamo who died at the age of 21 -- is meant to be a statement of the wrongness of Guantanamo. This particular obituary ends like this:

"As he had hoped, his death led voices around the world to demand that the camp be closed. One senior American official, immovable, called his suicide 'a good PR move.' She may have been right; Guantanamo, alas, remains, wrong."

Not all the obituaries are of a political nature. Some are sly social commentary--such as the joint obituary of Brooke Astor and Leona Helmsley (both "grandes dames of New York") that compares the two ladies radically different approaches to life by comparing everything from their dogs to their real estate holdings.

Other obituaries are very educational on a particular topic to which the person being written about contributed -- such as cricket, beekeeping, auto racing, container ships, aviation safety, surrogate parenting law, to name just a few.

Perhaps the most creatively written obituary is the joint obituary of Robert Brooks (one of the founders of Hooters) and Mickey Spillane (creator of Mike Hammer), which is written as a short story that has Mike Hammer going to Hooters. That this obituary manages to tie two such disparate people together as "suppliers of fantasies to American males" and be written in a story format while still managing to pay homage to both subjects is just pure genius.

The Style of the Book
What makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read is the style in which they are written. The authors are not afraid to be irreverent, and they do not shy away from taking a detour away from the main story to make an important point. In short, the obituaries are very well-written, which is why it didn't always matter to me who they were writing about. I marked some of the my particular favorites to give you a sense of what makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read.

From the obituary of Jeanne Calment (the world's oldest person): "Perhaps it does not matter. For most people, the interest in Mrs. Calment was her durability."

From the obituary of Barbara Cartland: "She was worried about her prospects for immortality, as indeed she had reason to be."

From the obituary of Estee Lauder: "Time, however, also trailed her, with his ghastly wrinkled face and his sallow hue that coordinated with no bathrooms."

From the obituary of Stanley Marcus (founder of Neiman-Marcus): "There comes a time in the life of the average billionaire when money ceases to be important. Suddenly it no longer seems to make the world go round; it has become quite boring. Stanley Marcus was sympathetic to the problem and sought to rekindle interest in possessions among those who wanted for nothing."

From the obituary of Dr Spock: "It was, on the face of it, an odd book to have become one of the bestsellers of the century. The one endeavour the human race was used to, and indeed had become quite good at, was having babies and bringing them to adulthood."

Wrap-Up
I hope this review has conveyed what a unique and fascinating book this is. It certainly made me understand why Marilyn Johnson and so many others enjoy reading obituaries on a regular basis. I suspect that this book contains the creme de la creme of obituary writing, and I hope to see another edition in the future!

One final note: The book itself has a very rich feel to it. The paper has a nice sheen to it, and the book feels very weighty and solid. I appreciated that feeling and find it appropriate for a book that contains the story of 199 human lives and 1 parrot.
Profile Image for Julio Reyes.
137 reviews21 followers
January 24, 2020
Al partir la lectura de un obituario, ya sabemos que el personaje ha muerto. El paso siguiente es conocer qué hizo el fiambre para ganar centímetros de papel impreso. Estos textos sorprenden, homenajean y no dejan de dar ciertos cachamales post mortem, todo ello con el desapego y el humor elegante que es la marca de fábrica del Economist.
Profile Image for Diego Lovegood.
386 reviews108 followers
March 16, 2021
Ay, cuando muera quiero que The Economist me escriba un obituario.
Profile Image for Brenda Clough.
Author 74 books114 followers
October 13, 2011
This review originally appeared in the International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Magazine www.iccfa.com

Modern American obituaries, viewable in your daily newspaper, are straightforward accounts about people of note or of local fame. Over at today’s New York Times, to take a typical sample, there is an obit of a Belgian-born songwriter who made it to Broadway, and the US admiral who planned the invasion of Grenada. These are written to a standard form and cover ground we all can recite in our sleep: “The deceased is survived by …”

The British invented the post-modern obituary, which is still relatively rare in the United States. These articles are about people that will make for an interesting read, famous or not. In other words the obit is carried beyond a plain social notice into the wilder and more flowery fields of a literary form. The advent of the Internet allows us to surf over to the websites of the Guardian or the London Times and explore these strange waters, but the noted British magazine The Economist has conveniently collected all its most amusing obituaries in a fat and charming volume.

The deceptively tasteful illustration on the cover is, as it were, a dead giveaway. Yes, Monty Python fans, it’s the bird that has joined the choir invisible, the famous parrot that has gone to meet its Maker. If this type of humor bothers you, pass this book by. The Economist runs obituaries that delineate absurd lives with absolute seriousness. Consider for example the obituary of Rosemary Brown, a British psychic who claimed to channel the spirits of classical musicians. Mundanities about her place of birth or date of death are skipped over so that we may hear about her channeling Rachmaninov and Chopin, with assessments from professional musicians and a mention of her appearance on the Johnny Carson show.

Luminaries covered that you may have heard of include Brooke Astor, Thor Heyerdahl and Gen. William Westmoreland. Everyone is memorialized with respect but an unswerving focus on what’s interesting. It is like attending a funeral and sitting next to the gossipy aunt who knows all the juiciest stories about the deceased. Of Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, famous for preaching transcendental meditation to the Beatles, the obituary notes that the guru was generally benign, indulging in neither drugs, drink, nor molesting choirboys. He merely wanted to end poverty, teach people how to achieve personal fulfillment, and help them to discover heaven on earth in their generation.

You will never find an obit like that in an American newspaper. On the other hand, it is impossible to imagine a collection of American obituaries that is so much fun to dip into. And who is to say, that these less formal and more indirect summaries are not truer to the deceased than our rigid, snoozy obituaries?

A perfect gift for anyone in the death industry, this book will keep obituary fans entertained for days.
Profile Image for Nilendu Misra.
353 reviews18 followers
April 25, 2015
Perhaps THE best book about and around death to celebrate lives. Lives of a talking parrot who died before 'he grasped the meaning of seven' to proponent of 'Catastrophe theory' who believed women are less fragile than men because they are 'more spherical, and sphere is the strongest shape in the universe'!
145 reviews
April 13, 2024
A collection of 200 obituaries taken from the pages of The Economist offers an interesting set of snapshots of the personalities featured in a column that began its run in 1995. The men and woman (and parrot) included in the collection are inventors, politicians, gardeners, entertainers, crooks, despots … and one parrot. Not all are equally interesting, but that’s as much a function of the reader as the subject. A good browse!
Profile Image for Ruth.
4,713 reviews
March 24, 2024
19. All very elegant and short biographies of famous and not so famous people. I had to read this book in stages. Probably, because it was a continual reminder that these people are dead and mostly forgotten now. Depending on which generation you are.
Profile Image for Juan.
Author 4 books5 followers
November 9, 2021
Muy bien escritos, una colección interesante de vidas.
Profile Image for Celia.
43 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2022
很早之前在读大学的时候,就看过美国大报、英国大报有个很好玩的传统,就是提前写好名人的讣告,以备哪天真的用上。不过将讣告收集成册的做法,真的是相当好玩了。《经济学人》写讣告的标准也很有意思,他们将世界上任何有趣的一草一物、一人一花都看作讣告的撰写对象。读完之后你会觉得,其实名流们的故事不一定就比普通人的更加精彩。
Profile Image for Liên.
114 reviews1 follower
Read
August 14, 2023
Heaven knows I adore Ann Wroe's obituaries. Years ago L introduced me to her pieces on Momofuku Ando and Baba Amte, and I've been enthralled ever since. Here are entire lives condensed into 1000 words - stories from here and elsewhere, so beautifully written, and often with stunning twists.
This collection, however, is a tepid meh... There isn’t much organizing, so it’s a slog to get through more than a few at a time. Also I tend to enjoy the pieces written after 2003, when Ms Wroe started editing the column, noticeably more.

P.S. Obituaries hit different, now that I'm no longer one-and-twenty.

年轻人经常说不怕死,为什么呢?他就像一个大富豪一样,说钱没有用,钱太多了嘛。到了老的时候,就像一个人穷得只剩下一把硬币了,就那么一把,每掏出去一个的时候心里就会抖一抖,“又是一年啊”。
骆玉明古诗词课:读客三个圈经典文库
Profile Image for Gavin.
Author 3 books620 followers
December 30, 2023
I get very sentimental about recently dead people; so too, in a British way, does the Economist. Interestingly, about half of the people covered did terrible things. But one can get sentimental about evil too.

Heavy bias towards UK, US, and Commonwealth politicians, activists and artists. (I was delighted that they included Harsanyi and Herbert Simon, two of the most general and brilliant of all economists.) The end of the first generation of postcolonial leaders, usually brutal men. Steady successes against racism is another theme.

---

"Mr President,” she told him afterwards in her lilting basso profundo, “you have big balls!” She had just invited him to invade Grenada, and he had done so secretly, at once


---

They are quite willing to speak ill of the dead, thrillingly.

an open-minded reader might suspect Mr Derrida of charlatanism. That would be going too far, however. He was a sincere and learned man, if a confused one

Gerald Ford: Some might say that he had never had enough imagination to be scared.


"The Feminine Mystique” was rambling and badly written, but it identified precisely why women were miserable

Mrs Vining said in a book of her experiences, Windows for the Crown Prince, that it was the emperor’s own idea that an American teacher should be brought into the closed circle of the imperial court. Presumably she believed that. She believed most things she was told.


---

They fall for some things - despite the unusual depth (it's clear that Wroe did some original archival research for some of these) it is just journalism. Jeanne Calment was probably 99 at death, not 122.

Ignore Goodreads' attribution to Colquhoun; Wroe is the main voice here.
Profile Image for Barbara.
6 reviews
August 12, 2023
Hello to the book most likely to be mysteriously missing from my bookshelf.

I come back to this book often: to recommend it, to reread, to flip through when I’m not finding a book that grasps me yet. In short, this book is a collection of obituaries from The Economist that are wonderfully witty and not altogether flattering.

The writing is superb and quick. Distilling these big personalities into a short obit is no easy tasks yet the writers always manage to evoke the essence of who these people (or, in one case, animal) are and their impact. Some I cried laughing, some I learned a lot, and some left me broken hearted.

Love this book - cannot recommend it enough.
Profile Image for Vicky.
689 reviews9 followers
January 24, 2013
Another find at the senior center bookstore! I have always been a fan of the New York Times obituaries-- it is a real skill to convey a life in 1000 or so words. Obituaries did not make it into The Economist for 150 years so they have a shorter track record, but they have a distinctive style and are full of lesser known aspects of the deceased's life. Some of my favorites in this collection are Bip (Marcel Marceau), Lady Bird Johnson, Walter Lini and Thor Heyerdahl. Many of the people I was not familiar with so learned quite a bit. This is a book you can dip into for a few minutes or hours and be entertained and enlightened.
Profile Image for K.
220 reviews4 followers
July 1, 2016
Serviceable for micro-biographies. Lots of variety, and a very culturally-broadening selection of people for me. But this did not convert me into an obituary junkie. A lot of the obits had weird pacing... long gazing and ruminating over a minor point, then a sudden end. Some of them felt like they were cut off in the middle of a thought (especially egregious for this was the one on the Challenger astronauts). I understand needing to be pithy and impactful, but... a cliff face is as good as a ramble, sez my old man?
Profile Image for Tobias.
30 reviews20 followers
April 11, 2014
Although to some I'm sure this book seems like I have a morbid interest in death, quite far from it! I can honestly say this was one if the most interesting reads I've ever explored. From gangsters, musicians, geishas & politicians, this book explores some incredible lives that I for one found captivating & inspiring. If you are a fan of chicken soup for the soul series, this book could be of interest.
Profile Image for Dana.
3 reviews6 followers
April 3, 2009
The title is deceiving. This book is more about the living contributuions of some pretty interesting people than it is about chronicling death. One of those books that you can just pick up and read a chapter/subject out of order, whenever you have about 10 minutes! Inspiring.
30 reviews
January 3, 2010
This was a great read- the obituaries are from a large and diverse group of people. It was poignant in places, funny in others but really it was never depressing or sad. I really enjoyed getting to 'know' some people I otherwise never would have 'met.'

Profile Image for Blythe Beecroft.
151 reviews19 followers
January 7, 2015
I enjoyed this collection of obituaries immensely, especially the variety in the selection of people. Each one was unique and never predictable. This collection captures all that makes the Economist great -- wit, brevity, and powerful writing.
Profile Image for JMM.
923 reviews
September 10, 2015
Confined to the couch with a sprained ankle, I spent my time reading The Economist’s Book of Obituaries. Morbid? No! The brief life stories of hundreds of people (and one parrot) are perfect gems, and left me fascinated by the paths we take and choices we make in a lifetime.
Profile Image for Heather.
13 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2009
The obituaries in The Economist are wonderfully written and cover a diversity of people, and always capture not only why the subject was important but a glimpse into the life they led.
Profile Image for Julie Davis.
Author 5 books320 followers
June 16, 2009
Obituaries of the famous and obscure as only the British can write them: dryly witty and with an eye to the seeming contradictions within each person that make us all interesting.
4 reviews3 followers
January 7, 2011
I enjoy reading this at night . . . a fun book to browse. The Economist takes the obituary to a whole new level.
259 reviews1 follower
March 16, 2011
One of my all-time faves. Big ups to Elie Rosen for sending me a truly wonderful book.
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