Dying to Know: A Guide to Death for Everyone Alive

Pilotlight Australia and Hardie Grant Books are pleased to announce the launch of Dying to Know - bringing death to life in the United Kingdom on the 15th March 2010, in association with Dying Matters Week. The book was spear-headed by Jane Tewson whose 30 years in the charitable sector have been driven by a passion to create positive social change. Greater connection between people and for people when they need it most is behind all her initiatives, like Comic Relief which she co-founded in the 1980s. This time, with her team at Pilotlight Australia, Jane is using a graphic, provocative book, rather than a red nose, to start a conversation! Like so many others, the team at Pilotlight Australia has been challenged by death and what lies beyond it - they believe that renewing a conversation about dying can help build supportive communities and inspire change for the living. Traditionally people have always lived with death - an inseparable part of their lives. But for many people today, death has become a modern taboo. This little book seeks to break the silence around death and dying and stimulate a discussion that genuinely connects people on the most profound level, not as experts, but as people with the same dreams, hopes, fears and concerns. Dying to Know offers a series of thought buds that reflect on bringing death to life - practical information, quirky facts and humble suggestions that lift the lid on death - planning a personalised funeral; telling people you love them while they are alive rather than waiting to write a memorial notice; taking round a meal for a family overcome with loss; donating organs; creating online memorials; writing an emotional will in which you leave things of the heart rather than your material property; things to do before you die and a host of other topics. Each is presented in a double-page spread and each succeeds in empowering, inspiring and, at times, amusing the reader. The book is also designed as a resource that links the reader to a vast range of services and organisations - from support for people with cancer to statutory information about Wills. But Dying to Know is not a book with all the answers. Just ideas, insights, reflections and inspiring illustrations about a subject none of us can escape. Read it and then rush into the daylight to get on with the more challenging matter of living. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. …