Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us [Paperback]

Jack Mingo (Author), Erin Barrett (Author), Lucy Autrey Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2008

FACE IT. WE CAN GO ANYTIME.

BUT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!

Death becomes you, and it's just another fact of life explored in Cause of Death, a revealing abundance of startling data, false perceptions, bizarre fallacies, and some totally unexpected statistics about how, why, when, and where we all bite the dust, check out, buy the farm, kick the bucket, and all those other euphemisms for perishing after falling out of bed (roughly 1,800 fitful sleepers a year). It also answers questions most people never even consider (but should):

Do crocodiles kill more people than alligators?

Are we more prone to commit suicide or murder?

How many still die from leprosy?

Does salmonella have anything to do with salmon?

Can the condition of your toenails predict your mortality?

What's the connection between kitty litter and brain damage?

Has irony ever killed anyone?*

Disease, accidents, occupational hazards, poisons, plagues, infections, murder, fauna and fungi, insect bites, war, and even bison. What's the most popular killer of the decade? The rarest? How many deaths per year by age? Gender? Location? Time of day? Stupidity? All this and more in a book you really shouldn't be living without.

* Yes! While experimenting with the safe preservation of food in snow, Sir Francis Bacon caught a cold and died.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack Mingo is the author of fifteen books including How the Cadillac Got Its Fins, The Whole Pop Catalog, and The Couch Potato Handbook. He has written for countless publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Phoenix, Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Together with Erin Barrett, they are the cofounders of the popular Ask Jeeves series and authors of the series' first book, Just Curious, Jeeves.

Erin Barrett is the author of a kids' trivia book from Klutz Press; she has written for magazines and newspapers, such as Icon and the San Jose Mercury News, and has contributed to several anthologies, including the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. She and Jack Mingo have also designed numerous electronic and online games. They live in Alameda, California, with their family.

Lucy Autrey Wilson began her career with Lucasfilm in 1974, typing the script to the first Star Wars movie on an IBM Selectric typewriter. Over the years, she developed her accounting skills in areas as diverse as construction, gas and oil exploration, special effects, film, and licensing. In the late 1980s, she established a completely new Star Wars publishing program and worked on more than 1,500 titles, including sixty-three New York Times bestsellers, before moving on to new challenges in nonfiction publishing. With a BA in English Literature and an MBA in Finance, she has recently been able to combine her love of words and numbers doing the editorial and research required to translate George Lucas's intellectual curiosity into books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Original edition (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416554793
• ISBN-13: 978-1416554790
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for discussion about LIFE!, May 27, 2008

By 

M. Franta (Walnut, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us (Paperback)

This book is facinating enough, in deriving it's facts from the top sources that track data on death world wide, like the World Health Organization, (WHO) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC). Other US National organizations are referenced as well, for accuracy - and the years in discussion are 2001 and 2002, unless otherwise stated.
That being said, there are many topics being dissected in detail about what can kill a human being in the planet today. What lies between the lines, however - is how to survive these risks.
What one can do to prevent oneself from becoming just another statistic is what this little book is really all about.
The authors renamed the systems of the body that cause death through pathology for example;
The circulatory system is renamed, "Broken Heart."
The respiratory system is renamed, "Bad Breath," and so on and so forth - in clever fashion that helps us all rethink our body systems which are essentially, our systems of health and vigor.

What I feel is the core value behind purchasing this book is how it may add to lectures if you are in the business of teaching nursing or medicine. The authors have a nice way of taking scientific and technical subject matter and turning it into easily understadable statements that help to explain body systems in a basic way.
I think it's an excellent little volume that should be included to all nursing and medical libraries.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fascinating, June 28, 2008

By 

Charles Decker (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us (Paperback)

Call me morbid if you like [I loved Mary Roach's book 'Stiff' as well] but it's not only me. I have this book sitting on my coffee table and not one person who has picked it up has been able to put it down. It's hard to say what it is, really, but I would suggest anyone who has an interest in science, forensics, medicine, nursing, or living in general should order it and just flip through it. There is something on literally every page that will cause you to say, 'Wow! I had no idea.' Some of the data is going to date, so I hope the publishers set up some sort of website so new statistics can be added as they become available. That's a small quibble for a totally unique book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death Becomes Us, May 20, 2008

By 

Christopher Cerasi - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us (Paperback)

This fascinating and indispensable volume is an absorbing look at how we die, why we die, and the odd ways we can - and do - die. While it sounds an appropriately morbid tome, Cause of Death is actually a very accessible and pragmatic look at a subject most of us like to avoid whenever we can. Impressively and exhaustively researched, Cause of Death is utterly engrossing and almost impossible to put down. I defy you not to regale your friends and co-workers with details of the various phobias and obscure types of demise out there, as well as learn more than a few preventative tips yourself. This handy little reference should occupy a place of lethal honor among your volumes of Proust, Poe, and Sartre. Just don't keep it in a precarious spot, or you may find yourself among the new death statistics in the sure-to-follow revised edition...