A Brief History of Death

A short book of immense scope. The author weaves a vast tapestry of threads round the theme of death, beginning with comparative visions of the 'journey beyond'. The main themes are then death as parting, ways of removing the dead, ways of death, connections with art, literature and music, places of memory, fear of death and the contrasts between purposeful and useless death. Davies raises all sorts of issues and questions for the reader to ponder, both in relation to self and others. And although spiritualism and NDEs are covered, there is a gap in the analysis with no mention of more rigorous survival research. David Fontana's recent book 'Is there an Afterlife?' should be added to the bibliography of the next