The Consolations of Mortality

Book cover of The Consolations of Mortality: Making Sense of Death

Book description

A penetrating and provocative exploration of human mortality, from Epicurus to Joan Didion

For those who don't believe in an afterlife, the wisdom of the ages offers four great consolations for mortality: that death is benign and good; that mortal life provides its own kind of immortality; that true immortality…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Consolations of Mortality as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Keith McWalter

Author

The title itself is a consolation to me, and it turns out there really are several strong arguments for why we should be glad we don’t live forever, no matter how appealing that may seem. I found Stark’s whimsical tone throughout the book to be a pleasant departure from the leaden prose of most academic philosophers.

This book didn’t completely convince me that worrying about death is a waste of time, but it did get me part of the way there, and that was and is an enormous comfort to me.

From Keith's list on challenge how you think about death.