Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying [Paperback]

Stephen Levine (Author), Ondrea Levine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 1989

This is the first book to show the reader how to open to the immensity of living with death, to participate fully in life as the perfect preparation for whatever may come next. Levine provides calm compassion rather than the frightening melodrama of death.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This is the first book to show the reader how to open to the immensity of living with death, to participate fully in life as the perfect preparation for whatever may come next. Levine provides calm compassion rather than the frightening melodrama of death.

From the Inside Flap

This is the first book to show the reader how to open to the immensity of living with death, to participate fully in life as the perfect preparation for whatever may come next. Levine provides calm compassion rather than the frightening melodrama of death.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (January 18, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385262213
• ISBN-13: 978-0385262217
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Psychology
  • #50 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Death & Grief > Grief & Bereavement

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace through acceptance and knowledge., December 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying (Paperback)

Who Dies? can be a difficult book. It delves into how we live our lives, what creates joy and what creates suffering and how to accept both. Taking responsiblity for ourselves and accepting the truth of pain in life is the first step towards happiness. Levine urges us to be present and thoughtful in our actions. Through painful self evaluation, one can find acceptance. As with most spiritual writing, the reader must be ready for the teaching to appreciate it. Read what rings true to you, what draws you in and you will have a better understanding of how to be close to your soul. Keep the book around, and you may find an openess to other chapters, as you make your way on the path of growth. Every time I read it, there is a new teaching that I am ready to hear. This book, though philosophical, is not dry. It contains Levine's profound personal stories which illustrate his points.

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read Chapter 4 if you read nothing else, September 29, 2000

By 

Michael J Schiesser - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying (Paperback)

This is a one of my all time favorite and life changing books. I happened upon it rather accidentally on my mother's shelf when I was trying to remind myself of elizibeth Kubler's Ross's stages of greif model for coming to terms with a loss. I was not experiencing a death of a person per se, more of a loss of my own identity. I was in my medical residency and feeling the weight of responsibility, I was losing some outmoded self within. The text would consistently have a profound impact on my thinking and subsequently my mood, as it would allow me to pay better attention to my thought process in any given moment, and pay attention to how automatic my thoughts are and in some ways following very predictable patterns which I later learned were not fixed but rather changeable.

I read chapter 4 probably 2-3 dozen times, because each sentence, each paragraph carried great power which I could feel as the words lined up next to my own thoughts like training wheels next to a bike. There was a way that my entire thinking process became illuminated while reading the book, and it might last for a day or so and then I'd need to go back and do it all over again.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life changing book, November 15, 2003

By 

cyclista (the Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying (Paperback)

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. I love Stephen Levine's poetic writing style. It is simple and clear as well as calming. This book changed my ideas about what it means to live life to the fullest. The pain meditations in this book changed the way that I experience pain. I recommend Who Dies? to anyone interested in their inner life but especially to those who are in pain (physical or emotional), or whose lives are changing in challenging ways.