“With the End in Mind”

This is one to keep with a pen & notebook, you’ll want to write it ALL down. “With the End in Mind: Dying, Death & Wisdom in an Age of Denial” by Dr. Kathryn Mannix is an extraordinary offering by a wise and eloquent leader in the death care industry. With personal anecdotes, conversational style, and a gift for remembering her patients with enough clarity to bring them back to life on the page, Dr. Mannix draws us into her unforgettable treatise on dying in our modern culture.

Dr. Kathryn Mannix has been a palliative care doctor for more than 30 years and in this book, she elegantly blends her collection of bedside stories with the wisdom she has extracted from her decades of patient care. Dr. Mannix cultivates a philosophy that finds the dignity and the holiness that infuses the dying and is creative in her blend of CBT with traditional palliative care.

What makes this book unique is the way it is arranged: each chapter has helpful headings and tidbits, plus chapter summaries labeled “Pause for Thought” to chew on at the end. It’s more of a handbook than a quick read to be done in a few sittings.

If you loved Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal” and Paul Kalanithi’s “When Breath Becomes Air”, add this read to your list.