Every Third Thought: On Life, Death and the End Game - Softcover

McCrum, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1509815295 ISBN 13: 9781509815296

Publisher: Picador, 2018

Synopsis

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke, the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, McCrum has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change: his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries’ every third thought. The question is no longer "Who am I?" but "How long have I got?" and "What happens next?" This book takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends’ aging, McCrum confronts an existential question: in a world where we have learnt to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying?" Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom, and this book is populated by the voices of brain surgeons, psychologists, cancer patients, hospice workers, writers and poets. Witty, lucid and provocative, this book is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the "end game," and begin to recognize, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal. Deeply personal and yet always universal, this is a book for anyone who finds themselves preoccupied by matters of life and death. It is both guide and companion.

About this title

About the Author

Robert McCrum was Faber & Faber's editor-in-chief for nearly 20 years. He is associate editor of the Observer, author of Wodehouse: A Life, and co-author of The Story of English.

Review

"Thoughtful, subtle, elegantly clever and oddly joyous, Every Third Thought is beautiful." —Kate Mosse, author, Labyrinth

"Every Third Thought is an important book, and one that brings death into the light, uncovering both the losses we have to endure, as well as the gifts we can receive if we are open to it. Profoundly moving and fascinating. It is a gem." —Julia Samuel, author, Grief Works

"We have to think about death, and talk about it, perhaps rather more than we do. And if that’s so, there can be no better guide than a wise, humane and battered-about writer like McCrum. He has thought deeply, talked widely, read voraciously and experienced much . . . by the time I had finished this book, I had a silly grin on my face. That was partly because it ends with a happy surprise, but more importantly because you cannot confront the meaning of death without a refreshed and more vivid understanding of the glory of being alive . . . As I closed it, having stared pretty steadily at extinction, I found myself encouraged and fortified. So, really, thank you, Robert." —Andrew Marr, Mail on Sunday

"Simply stunning: a brilliant, wise, compassionate and consoling account of death and dying in a secular age. McCrum moves seamlessly from personal testimonies to medical case studies to recent developments in neuroscience. He asks profound philosophical questions about mortality, finitude and the unknown. A uniquely beautiful and significant book." —Joanna Kavenna, author, The Ice Museum

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1509815295
• ISBN 13: 9781509815296
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256