In the Face of Death - Softcover

Noll, Peter

3.75

20 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140081658 ISBN 13: 9780140081657

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1990

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The story of a 55-year-old legal surveyor with literary aspirations who chooses not to be operated on when he learns he has cancer of the kidney. In this account he explores the process of his own decline.

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Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From Library Journal:

When Swiss jurist and law professor Noll was diagnosed as having cancer, he made a quick and, some would say, radical decision. He did not consent to treatment, which would entail the loss of autonomy at the hands of the impersonal corporate-medical system. Instead, he chose to die on his own terms, with his will and freedom mostly intact. He found this decision liberating; after all, "aside from birth, death is life's most important event." And so he wrote down his thoughts, noting, almost as an aside, the progress of the disease and reflecting more on the ironies and pleasures of life. The theme of justice looms large. Law becomes his "critique of power," and questions about the Judaeo-Christian faith are inescapable. This is a moving example of "what ought to change in our lives if we think of death." Would that his rage at the destructive policies of our time might help the living to think more clearly and act more wisely. A courageous work, very much recommended.
- Carol J. Lichtenberg, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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