From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5.0 stars - A look at the way different cultures handle the death process and dispose of the remains. In some cultures, they are honored, visited frequently or even kept in the homes as corpses (Mexico) or skulls (Bolivia). There are celebrations, such as the Day of the Dead or the Fiesta de las Natitas. Often, there is the ability for families to actually sit with the bodies, such as in Spain or Japan. In Japan, there is a very special columbarian where the remains are represented by individual buddhas and families have smart cards so that their buddha lights up when they visit.
Here is the United States, death has become an industry, with laws to protect it. In some places, though, people are rebelling and trying to reclaim death as a natural process. Two such places are Crestone, Colorado and Cullowhee, North Carolina. In Colorado, cremation is out in the open, with family and friends gathered to celebrate the life. In North Carolina, experiments are being done with natural decomposition or recomposition as it is called. Both emphasis honoring the deceased.
This was an interesting book, just long enough to be enticing, and sprinkled with beautiful black and white illustrations that added so much to the enjoyment.
AtY #28: A book that might cause someone to react “You read what?!?"


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