With the End in Mind

Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

By: Kathryn Mannix

Narrated by: Elizabeth Carling, Kathryn Mannix

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

What colour is cancer? Why do some people appear to have made miraculous recoveries? How can you tell when someone is in the final hours of their life? How can we ensure our most vulnerable are treated with the dignity they deserve?

In this unprecedented memoir, a palliative medicine pioneer explores the biggest taboo in our society and the only certainty we all share: death. Kathryn Mannix immortalises the thousands of men and women she has seen off. These unforgettable stories send an urgent message to the living, answering all our questions about the end-of-life process with touching honesty and humanity.

Drawing on four decades of experience studying and practicing palliative care, Mannix shows us what happens when people are approaching the end of their lives: how they cope, how they live, what matters most, how dying evolves, what a deathbed is like and how families react.

Kathryn Mannix's stories, although drawn from her clinical practice, are those of our friends, our family, our partners. We learn about the body language of death through a young mother who raves the night away before falling into a forever slumber. The psychology of death, too, is illuminated, as with the endearing story of Sanjeev, an elderly man admitted to the hospital who is convinced he is on a night train to Delhi where he will meet his parents in the morning. A husband asks the doctor not to tell his wife of the fatality of her condition - the wife later confesses to having kept her husband in the dark about the finality of her illness to preserve him. These meditations tells us everything about the dying and their loved ones.

With the End in Mind is a book for all of us: the grieving and bereaved, ill and healthy. It is also an insight into palliation as a mixture of teamwork with clinical detective work to find the origins of patients' symptoms in order offer the best possible living conditions towards the end. Mannix argues that with planning, honesty and information, death doesn't have to be either painful or terrifying. With at-times funny, poignant and always wise storytelling about how people die, Mannix has written a book of immense power and importance.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.

©2017 Kathryn Mannix (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Oh my !

I would give book a 10! Touching, informative , a necessary subject to be discussed.

Such a great book!

I really thought this book was great all the way around! The only thing that I wish is that it included some story about someone who wanted to end their medical suffering but isn't allowed to do so in the State that we live in. How do you handle that person? otherwise...the book is very well written and nariated. Five stars!

One of the best books ever

Loved this book. The reader was fabulous and the story so real. Very helpful for living. Helpful to plan dying and so real.

Very enjoyable and poignant

No use running away from the inevitable, and this book is invaluable in learning more.

Honesty, Humanity and Compassion

This is an extraordinary book. As a semi-retired Neurologist I can tell you that Dr Mannix's book could only be written by someone with a rare combination of clinical skill, humility, honesty, humanity and compassion. I was by turns amused, amazed, inspired and brought to tears as I listened to the stories of ordinary (and some extraordinary) people confronting their imminent death. I learned much as a clinician from listening to this book, but I think I learned even more as a human being concerning ways of reflecting on, and valuing the certain knowledge that we will all die at some (currently unknown) future time. I believe Dr Mannix will convince any open-minded person of the value of that reflection and learning. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and have already begun giving copies to those I care about.