Customer Reviews

Choices for Living: Coping with Fear of Dying (Path in Psychology)

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Langner takes a wide view of the problem of man and the constructive and destructive ways he has of dealing with it. We all know, consciously or unconsciously that we are going to die. We have no direct evidence of an afterlife. In various events throughout life we experience our limitedness and to a great or lesser extent, sense our own mortality. We may or may not grasp the concept of the permanent state of non-existence that is death, but for most of us we know on some level it is an end.
Langner makes an exhaustive list, leaving no stone unturned, of the ways the human has of coping with his own finitude and temporariness and explores them all, drawing on the great works of the anthropologist Becker and the sociologist Durkheim, not to mention the comical works of Woody Allen. It is a well rounded work on the problem of our consciousness of death and dying and a good read for any arm-chair philosopher, and as well, I must assume, any therapist.
My only criticism is the brevity of the chapter on Procreation, which by the authors own admission is a sensitive subject for him (he has 6 children!).

From the title and the write up I was expecting something closer to the title. This is nothing more than a college text book, not what I was looking for. Thank you.
Jack Greenberg

In browsing through the various books on "fear of death," each one in its own right boasts a front cover, that frankly does nothing to set a tone of alleviation. The cover of this book makes me down right anxious. I'm not being funny here. For someone who is looking for help with such a debilitating anxiety, throw us a bone and don't make the front cover a depiction of our worst nightmare. I have not read this book just to be clear. And the cover assures that I will not.