When we die : the science, culture, and rituals of death

An unusually comprehensive study of death as both a social and scientific phenomenon, __When We Die__ is as frank as it is informed. This far-reaching discussion considers mortality from the personal and the universal perspective, generously citing past and present poets and physicians from a diverse and telling range of traditions. Mims, who for two decades served as Professor of Microbiology at London's Guys Hospital, brings a humane, inquisitive, and learned sensibility to his topic. "This book is a light-hearted but wide-ranging survey of death, the causes of death, and the disposal of corpses," writes Mims. "It tells why we die and how we die, and what happens to the dead body and its bits and pieces. It describes the ways corpses are dealt with in different religions and in different parts of the world; the methods for preserving bodies; and the ways—fascinating in their diversity—in which corpses or parts of corpses are used and abused." The volume also explores such crucial death-based notions as the afterlife, the soul, and the prospect of immortality. By way of the book's main focus, Mims continues: "We should take a more matter-of-fact view of death [and] accept it and talk about it more than we do—as we have done with the once taboo subject of sex." This is a work that any student of social anthropology will find equally enlightening and essential.

An unusually comprehensive study of death as both a social and scientific phenomenon, When We Die is as frank as it is informed. This far-reaching discussion considers mortality from the personal and the universal perspective, generously citing past and present poets and physicians from a diverse and telling range of traditions. Mims, who for two decades served as Professor of Microbiology at London's Guys Hospital, brings a humane, inquisitive, and learned sensibility to his topic. "This book is a light-hearted but wide-ranging survey of death, the causes of death, and the disposal of corpses," writes Mims. "It tells why we die and how we die, and what happens to the dead body and its bits and pieces. It describes the ways corpses are dealt with in different religions and in different parts of the world; the methods for preserving bodies; and the ways—fascinating in their diversity—in which corpses or parts of corpses are used and abused."

The volume also explores such crucial death-based notions as the afterlife, the soul, and the prospect of immortality. By way of the book's main focus, Mims continues: "We should take a more matter-of-fact view of death (and) accept it and talk about it more than we do—as we have done with the once taboo subject of sex." This is a work that any student of social anthropology will find equally enlightening and essential.

Cedric Mims Has Written An Informative, Compelling, Sometimes Shocking, Yet Often Humorous Account Of What Happens To Our Mortal Remains When We Die. Death And Its Causes -- What Is Death? -- The Main Causes Of Death -- Suicide, Euthanasia, Homicide -- Ageing And Burial -- What Happens To Corpses? -- The Body After Death -- Burial -- Exposure And Cremation -- Unusual Methods Of Disposal -- Embalming And Mummification -- Freezing And Other Methods Of Preservation -- The Use And Abuse Of Corpses -- The Body And The Laboratory: Dissection -- Using Parts Of The Body: Transplantation -- The Abuse Of Corpses -- Identifying Bodies And Parts Of Bodies -- Death And Afterlife -- Death And The Corpse: The Emotional Impact -- The Afterlife And The Future Of Corpse Disposal. Cedric Mims. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A look at the significance, meaning, and beliefs about death in contemporary society examines the essential facts of death, including its common causes, the transplanting of organs, and new forensic techniques, along with religious and social attitudes toward it