Caitlin Doughty

Nonfiction 2017 | 248 pages

This is a fascinating account of how different cultures have established different approaches to dealing with dead human bodies.   Interestingly, the people from various cultures, rituals, and processes believe other processes show disrespect. For example, cultures that prefer open cremation, where the family watches a body burn, believe that closed creation, which occurs commonly today, traps the soul in the crematorium, and does nothing to help the family come to terms with the death.  Among some other countries/cultures, we also explore cremation on a raised platform in the small town of Crestone, Colorado; and the FOREST project in Cullowhee North Carolina (Forensic Osteology Research Station) which has developed ways to speed up natural decomposition and facilitates the body returning to soil; and Joshua Tree California, where some renegades took disposal into their own hands.

Yes, Doughty writes about the experiences of her research and what she learned, but for such a topic as this, she does a good job of intersecting humor and lightness.  This is one of those great nonfiction books that teaches you about a topic you had known you were interested in!  And it makes you think about your own demise.

December 2023