This subject is particularly interesting to me because I expect to die in the not too distant future. For background, I have stage four renal cell carcinoma. One kidney was removed five years ago. Kidney cancer cells were discovered in both lungs two years ago. There is no treatment that "cures" metastasized kidney cancer. Some drugs may postpone death by several months. I decided to stop chemo treatment several months ago when the side effects, primarily intense exhaustion and nausea, got to be more than I was prepared to handle. I'm currently on an expensive and experimental drug called Avastin. To my surprise, the cancer cells in my lungs have not grown for about ten months. However, my bone marrow is now producing pre-cancerous cells which can quickly turn into bone cancer. ------I've been an atheist for as long as I can remember, so I am untroubled by concepts of sin, hell or heaven. We make our own, and that's fine with me. Death has always seemed as normal and unscary an event as birth. We are all animals and we all, no matter what we do – pray, tithe, cry, do good work, do terrible things – die. I am much more concerned with the quality of my life than the number of months or years I might have or what my death date might be. Of course, when the dying starts I might find myself joining every church I can think of accompanied by hefty donations. ------The main reason for my contentment is my two kids. I love them unconditionally and I believe they feel the same about me. ------The second major reason has to do with this book. Drifter51's review is disturbing and truthful – yet the answer to the book's issues is found in two needed actions. Learn to talk about your death with your religious counselor if you have one, your doctor, your lawyer and, most importantly, your heirs (and that means write a will.) Interview a few hospice organizations and decide which one you want. Medicare pays for hospice counseling and for hospice care. ------The second action is to write down one simple thing. Do you want resuscitation or do you want simply to be kept as free of pain as possible and to make your breathing as easy as possible while you let go of life. ------No, it isn't as simple as this, although I found it to be. But the choice is yours. You stand a good chance of not having your wishes followed by your relatives, and especially by your doctor, if you've only expressed your wishes verbally. ------Unfortunately, many, many people avoid talking about their deaths. Unless you find the idea of being in a hospital with an air tube down your throat, disgusting liquid food pumped into your stomach, your bodily wastes cleaned up with a minimum of privacy and dignity, bed sores, the likelihood of not receiving enough pain medication as you're dying, and all this possibly for weeks and months, you must make your decisions known and in writing. ------All this may seem daunting. It isn't. I wanted to make sure my wishes would be carried out and that my wishes would be enforced by my kids. I've saved them a lot of anguish by doing most of this myself. Talking to them about my cancer, my death, introducing them to my doctors, my lawyer and discussing my financial affairs and my will should make their lives easier when my life stops. ------But it still is up to you begin these discussions. And the time to start is now, not when you're ill and worried and tired. Good luck, and may you have kids as supportive and loving as mine are. ------Dying, after all, is no scarier than being run over by a wheat reaper, falling out of an airplane, being impaled by a rhinoceros or having cancer. Thank you, Drifter, for finding this book to discuss.