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A review by ihavealibrarycard
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions about Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty
5.0
This book made me so happy! I love Caitlin Doughty! She's probably my favorite science writer right now and also my go-to reference when conversing about death, something I've spent a lot of time opening up to this year. I've been working to destigmatize and demystify death within myself, challenging why death upsets me so much/why I hate talking about it in any capacity, and I've mostly been turning to books and documentaries to help scoot me along.
This is a really educational and sensitive book that's actually aimed towards kids, which is SO cool! Acknowledging that people of all ages are capable of coming to terms with death, this book addresses questions asked by 'tiny mortals' (AKA, kids). That being said, a lot of these are questions you may have had before, so it doesn't make the book any less palatable to adults and is totally worth the read. Some of the questions include the obvious title, but also:
What happens if you swallow a bag of popcorn before you die and are cremated?
What happens to a dead body in space?
Will I poop when I die?
What happens if you die on a plane?
Doughty references funeral practices, history, personal experience, and vivid(ly gross) descriptions to answer these questions. Her answers are always logical, scientifically-backed, and sprinkled with a good bit of humor so that reality doesn't totally depress you. They're often really gross, too, so maybe don't plan to eat around the time you read this. There's also some super cute, well-done illustrations to accompany each of the questions.
When I started my personal quest for Death Positivity, I inevitably fell upon Doughty's Ask a Mortician YouTube channel and her two other books, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity. She's incredibly smart and skilled at normalizing what is maybe the scariest topic for anyone to talk about. I highly recommend you check out her stuff if you're even a little bit interested in death and its various components and stages - and don't lie, all of us are at least a little morbidly curious
This is a really educational and sensitive book that's actually aimed towards kids, which is SO cool! Acknowledging that people of all ages are capable of coming to terms with death, this book addresses questions asked by 'tiny mortals' (AKA, kids). That being said, a lot of these are questions you may have had before, so it doesn't make the book any less palatable to adults and is totally worth the read. Some of the questions include the obvious title, but also:
What happens if you swallow a bag of popcorn before you die and are cremated?
What happens to a dead body in space?
Will I poop when I die?
What happens if you die on a plane?
Doughty references funeral practices, history, personal experience, and vivid(ly gross) descriptions to answer these questions. Her answers are always logical, scientifically-backed, and sprinkled with a good bit of humor so that reality doesn't totally depress you. They're often really gross, too, so maybe don't plan to eat around the time you read this. There's also some super cute, well-done illustrations to accompany each of the questions.
When I started my personal quest for Death Positivity, I inevitably fell upon Doughty's Ask a Mortician YouTube channel and her two other books, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity. She's incredibly smart and skilled at normalizing what is maybe the scariest topic for anyone to talk about. I highly recommend you check out her stuff if you're even a little bit interested in death and its various components and stages - and don't lie, all of us are at least a little morbidly curious