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3.72k reviews for:
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
Caitlin Doughty
4.32 AVERAGE
3.72k reviews for:
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
Caitlin Doughty
4.32 AVERAGE
Audible Audiobook/Paperback
There are so many ways to pay tribute to the dead and Caitlyn explores many of them. From light-up buddhas to ñatitas of Bolivia, several ways of burial, cremation, etc. are detailed here. There’s also a pyre in Colorado and mummification due to the natural elements.
What’s good for one culture is horrific to another. If our Judeo-Christian overlords would get over themselves, maybe we could be offered more than 3 options in the state I live in. Natural burial is something that can help our planet through fewer cremations, no more metal boxes in the earth & letting nature take over. As you can see, I have an agenda.
There are so many ways to pay tribute to the dead and Caitlyn explores many of them. From light-up buddhas to ñatitas of Bolivia, several ways of burial, cremation, etc. are detailed here. There’s also a pyre in Colorado and mummification due to the natural elements.
What’s good for one culture is horrific to another. If our Judeo-Christian overlords would get over themselves, maybe we could be offered more than 3 options in the state I live in. Natural burial is something that can help our planet through fewer cremations, no more metal boxes in the earth & letting nature take over. As you can see, I have an agenda.
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
This books was really great, and a surprisingly “light” read. I found it really interesting to learn about different ways of facing and interacting with death and the dead around the world, and really appreciate the authors curiosity and enthusiasm. I bought a hard copy to give as a gift - hope it goes over well!
informative
fast-paced
A very interesting and eye-opening study of how different cultures care for their dead, as studied by mortician and author Caitlin Doughty; from families in Indonesia housing a loved one’s body (for years!), to Tibetan sky burials where, once someone dies, he or she is laid out to be eaten by vultures (Doughty’s selected choice for her posthumous remains). Practices in the United States are featured as well, such as the only open-air pyre in practice, and experiments with composting human bodies in North Carolina. Doughty addresses corporatization of death, as exhibited by many funeral parlors, cremation as a means to help reduce the carbon footprint, and the growing popularity of natural burials. What she’s often found is that rituals meaningful in one culture may be viewed with distaste (or fascination) by another. And she’s also found, in the U.S. especially, there’s a tendency to disassociate with a body once it expires. Though living with grandma’s body for years may seem extreme, so too does a hospital and/or funeral home strictly enforcing a time limit of an hour (or less) to sit with the body and grieve. Accompanying the text are great illustrations by Landis Blair. – Sara Z.
As a death positive anthropologist, I was looking forward to reading this book, as it would be a great insight on death culture around the world. I enjoy Caitlin Doughty's personality and profession on both her YouTube channel and in her books, and while she very good at describing the cultural things she has seen and learned, she does so from a more personal viewpoint, than an academic one.
I don't blame her for this, she's a mortician, not a cultural anthropologist after all. That expectation was on me, my bad...
She's very respectful towards the living and the dead in her book, but as a non-American reader, there was one cringe-worthy comment she kept making throughout the book, which is a commentary made by many people whom have English as a first/only language; the constant surprise of the near perfect English spoken by those, who have English as a second, third or fourteenth language.
There is a charm and social identity to be had, when it comes to accents and dialects, and most humans will giggle at foreigners mispronouncing words which we ourselves consider simple, that's just a fact of social interaction.
So my one critique, which is not at Doughty herself, but the culture she lives in, is that commenting on nearly perfect English is like commenting on nearly perfect handwriting, nearly perfect math or nearly perfect cooking...
Please stop being impressed at other peoples ability to go to school...
I don't blame her for this, she's a mortician, not a cultural anthropologist after all. That expectation was on me, my bad...
She's very respectful towards the living and the dead in her book, but as a non-American reader, there was one cringe-worthy comment she kept making throughout the book, which is a commentary made by many people whom have English as a first/only language; the constant surprise of the near perfect English spoken by those, who have English as a second, third or fourteenth language.
There is a charm and social identity to be had, when it comes to accents and dialects, and most humans will giggle at foreigners mispronouncing words which we ourselves consider simple, that's just a fact of social interaction.
So my one critique, which is not at Doughty herself, but the culture she lives in, is that commenting on nearly perfect English is like commenting on nearly perfect handwriting, nearly perfect math or nearly perfect cooking...
Please stop being impressed at other peoples ability to go to school...
My special interest is death, customs and rituals surrounding death, as well as how others grief. Being able to read Caitlin's experiences of traveling the world was awe inspiring, and something I would love to do if I could. Something I really enjoyed was her perspective and self-reflection when approaching a cultural ritual she wasn't familiar with.
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I loved this book. I learned a lot and it made me rethink cremation.