Love Awake at the Bedside? Readers share 100 books like Awake at the Bedside...

By Koshin Paley Ellison, Matt Weingast,

Here are 100 books that Awake at the Bedside fans have personally recommended if you like Awake at the Bedside. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death

Susannah Fox Author Of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

From my list on defend yourself U.S. health care system.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m not a clinician, but friends often ask for my advice when they get sick or need help caring for a loved one. Iā€™ve spent nearly 25 years mapping the terrain created by innovative patients, survivors, and caregivers, the rebels of medical care. Iā€™m also a caregiver to elders. Along the way, Iā€™ve collected books to loan when someone facing a health challenge asks me, ā€œWhat do I do now?ā€ Each of these five books was written for when you find yourself in the healthcare maze and need to borrow courage, sharpen your senses, and navigate as best you can.

Susannah's book list on defend yourself U.S. health care system

Susannah Fox Why did Susannah love this book?

My mom and I are competing to see who can give away more copies of this book; we love it that much. Both of us have been bedside caregivers for dying relatives and have seen firsthand how beautiful that process can be if people are prepared.

I love how the book is designed with nice, large print, lovely illustrations, and little snacks of insight sprinkled throughout in boxes and ā€œfast facts.ā€ This book is the essential What to Expect When Youā€™re Expectingā€“but for death.

By Bj Miller, Shoshana Berger,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Beginner's Guide to the End as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ā€œA gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all shareā€ (The Washington Post): the first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life.

ā€œThere is nothing wrong with you for dying,ā€ hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginnerā€™s Guide to the End. ā€œOur ultimate purpose here isnā€™t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.ā€

Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of anā€¦


Book cover of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Rande Brown

From my list on karma and reincarnation.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have spent the last 50 years exploring the intersection of Eastern and Western thought and spirituality. Along the way, I experientially learned the details of three of my former lifetimes: as a rabbi in 3rd-century Alexandria, as a tantric yogini and follower of Achi Chokyi Nyima in China, and as the legendary courtesan Lady Mori, who became the disciple and lover of the Zen master Ikkyu in 15th-century Japan. Studying the ways my previous incarnations are interconnected has taught me much about how the principles of karma and reincarnation function in real-time in the actual world, and I treasure the opportunity to share these insights with you.

Rande's book list on karma and reincarnation

Rande Brown Why did Rande love this book?

When it was published in 1992, Rinpocheā€™s superior translation replaced the first English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead from 1927. This has been a go-to for anyone preparing for their own death or that of a loved one, when the Western way of dying falls short. This book is an indispensable guide to the process of life and death. 

By Sogyal Rinpoche,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Explains the Tibetan understanding of what happens when a person dies, and how this can help in a person's daily life, in caring for the terminally ill and the bereaved, and to deepen one's understanding of life.


Book cover of Dying Well

Kirsten DeLeo Author Of Present Through the End: A Caring Companion's Guide for Accompanying the Dying

From my list on how to support a dying person.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have accompanied dying people for more than twenty-five yearsā€”as a counsellor, volunteer chaplain, and companion. I feel passionate about changing the perception of dying and death, the way we care for people during their most vulnerable moments, and how we support families through this painful time. Since my twenties I have been immersed in Buddhist practise which inspires and informs my life and work. Together with other clinicians and mindfulness practitioners, we created one of the first contemplative-based training in end-of-life care for caregivers called ā€œAuthentic Presenceā€. Daring to be present might be the hardest thing you may have done in your life, and, you may come to discover, one of the most intimate, beautiful, and rewarding.

Kirsten's book list on how to support a dying person

Kirsten DeLeo Why did Kirsten love this book?

Dr. Ira Byock is a well-known authority in palliative care and hospice and a wonderful storyteller. In his stories, he talks about the physical realities of the dying process, the emotional despair we may witness, or how to handle family dynamics. He doesn't shy away from reflecting on his personal growth doing this work, which makes this book deeply human and relatable. Dying Well was published several years ago. It is still an informative and insightful read, especially if you are a family caregiver and care for a loved one. Please also check out his other books, Four Things That Matter Most and The Best Care Possible.

By Ira Byock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dying Well as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Ira Byock, prominent palliative care physician and expert in end of life decisions, a lesson in Dying Well.

Nobody should have to die in pain. Nobody should have to die alone.

This is Ira Byock's dream, and he is dedicating his life to making it come true. Dying Well brings us to the homes and bedsides of families with whom Dr. Byock has worked, telling stories of love and reconciliation in the face of tragedy, pain, medical drama, and conflict. Through the true stories of patients, he shows us that a lot of important emotional work can be accomplishedā€¦


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

Book cover of Intimate Death: How the Dying Teach Us How to Live

Kirsten DeLeo Author Of Present Through the End: A Caring Companion's Guide for Accompanying the Dying

From my list on how to support a dying person.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have accompanied dying people for more than twenty-five yearsā€”as a counsellor, volunteer chaplain, and companion. I feel passionate about changing the perception of dying and death, the way we care for people during their most vulnerable moments, and how we support families through this painful time. Since my twenties I have been immersed in Buddhist practise which inspires and informs my life and work. Together with other clinicians and mindfulness practitioners, we created one of the first contemplative-based training in end-of-life care for caregivers called ā€œAuthentic Presenceā€. Daring to be present might be the hardest thing you may have done in your life, and, you may come to discover, one of the most intimate, beautiful, and rewarding.

Kirsten's book list on how to support a dying person

Kirsten DeLeo Why did Kirsten love this book?

Intimate Death stands out through its spare and poetic language, its astute observation of the experiences of illness and dying, and matters of human dignity. Marie de Hennezel is a French psychologist. With great compassion and sensitivity, she shares her conversations with patients. She tells of life's unfinished business and how she learned to attend to it. Her writing is beautiful and transformative. It will touch your heart and change how you will view death.

Another book I would like to mention is Henri Nouwenā€™s Our Greatest Gifts: A Meditation on Dying and Caring. Nouwen is a Catholic priest and spiritual writer. Like de Hennezel, he touches the reader through his poetic and direct style.

By Marie De Hennezel, Carol Brown Janeway (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Intimate Death as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Marie de Hennezel is a psychologist who works as part of a team of doctors and nurses in a hospital for the terminally ill in Paris. The men and women who come there do not always know that they are dying. It is Marie de Hennezel's aim to bring them - and their loved ones - to this knowledge, and then to encourage them to live each day that remains as fully and serenely as possible. This work seeks to show how precious the final days of a person's life can be, and how deeply moving it is to shareā€¦


Book cover of Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death

Anne-Marie Keppel Author Of Death Nesting: Ancient & Modern Death Doula Techniques, Mindfulness Practices and Herbal Care

From my list on love through deathcare.

Why am I passionate about this?

To care for the dying is not only strenuous physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but it is a challenge in self-care and a constant call to remain non-judgmental. As someone who struggled financially as a single mother for many years, I discovered that compassion and empathy were needed not only for my children but also myselfā€”indeed self-love was at the core of all. Working with the elderly in residential care, in hospice, and with individuals and families I now teach community deathcare with an edge of social activism to help the vulnerable feel safe while living and while dying.

Anne-Marie's book list on love through deathcare

Anne-Marie Keppel Why did Anne-Marie love this book?

This book rattled and awakened me in a place that seemed taboo to tickle. Studying death and dying can be driven by ego (what are you going to wear at your funeral? Do you have your music picked out?) Not to say there is not some good in the ego-driven work-- contemplating that can be done no matter what angle you study. However, Being With Dying cuts to the chase. If you feel ready to dismantle your illusion of living forever (or, if think that youā€™ll only die on your own terms, but only when youā€™re ready) this book is for you. 

By Joan Halifax,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Being with Dying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Buddhist teacher draws from her years of experience in caring for the dying to provide inspiring lessons on how to face death with courage and compassion
 
The Buddhist approach to death can be of great benefit to people of all backgroundsā€”as has been demonstrated by Joan Halifaxā€™s decades of work with the dying and their caregivers. A Zen priest and a world-renowned pioneer in care of the dying, Halifax has helped countless people face death with courage and trained caregivers in compassioante end-of-life care.

In this book, Halifax offers lessons from dying people and caregivers, as well as guidedā€¦


Book cover of The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha's Teachings of Nibbana

Kevin Griffin Author Of Living Kindness: Buddhist Teachings for a Troubled World

From my list on Theravada Buddhism.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a Buddhist teacher and author of six books. I started practicing Buddhist meditation in 1980 and then got sober in 1985. The fact that I needed the 12 Steps when I was already a serious meditator gives you a clue about what a mess I was. Besides addiction, Iā€™ve struggled with depression as well. All of this makes me feel like something of an outsider in the ā€œhappy, happyā€ world of mindfulness and meditation. Much of my work comes from that outsiderā€™s perspective. While five of my books focus on connecting Buddhism and recovery, the sixth comes out of my study of the suttas of the Pali Canon, the earliest preserved Buddhist teachings.

Kevin's book list on Theravada Buddhism

Kevin Griffin Why did Kevin love this book?

These two students of Ajahn Chah, one Canadian, the other English, felt that there wasnā€™t enough focus in Western Buddhism on enlightenment. They set about compiling and doing commentary on a wide range of suttas from the Pali Canon. The result is perhaps the most extensive and detailed explanation of the why, what, and how of awakening through the lens of the Theravada tradition. Their encouragement for students to strive to at least attain the first stage of enlightenment (of four), will have you rethinking your meditation and spiritual practice.

By Ajahn Passano, Ajahn Amaro,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Anthology of the Buddha's Teachings of Nibbana


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Book cover of Facing Death: Spirituality, Science, and Surrender at the End of Life

Facing Death by Brad Stuart,

Winner of the Global Book Award.

The end of life is still a forbidden topic. Today, Baby Boomers, the largest population group in American history, are facing death. And nobody wants to talk about it!

Join Brad Stuart, M.D. as he shows how he learned the truth about dying overā€¦

Book cover of Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah

Kevin Griffin Author Of Living Kindness: Buddhist Teachings for a Troubled World

From my list on Theravada Buddhism.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a Buddhist teacher and author of six books. I started practicing Buddhist meditation in 1980 and then got sober in 1985. The fact that I needed the 12 Steps when I was already a serious meditator gives you a clue about what a mess I was. Besides addiction, Iā€™ve struggled with depression as well. All of this makes me feel like something of an outsider in the ā€œhappy, happyā€ world of mindfulness and meditation. Much of my work comes from that outsiderā€™s perspective. While five of my books focus on connecting Buddhism and recovery, the sixth comes out of my study of the suttas of the Pali Canon, the earliest preserved Buddhist teachings.

Kevin's book list on Theravada Buddhism

Kevin Griffin Why did Kevin love this book?

Ajahn Chah was a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Tradition who taught and influenced a generation of Western Buddhist teachers, from Jack Kornfield to Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Amaro, and Ajahn Passano. Combining the commitment of an ascetic monk with the clarity of a Zen Master, Ajahn Chahā€™s teachings here are rich and alive. Far from the drier suttas of the Pali Canon, here we see Buddhism coming alive in practical and inspiring ways. Everything from how to meditate to how to be mindful in daily life is covered in stories and pithy teachings. Easy to pick up and read short passages.

By Ajahn Chah,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Food for the Heart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Renowned for the beauty and simplicity of his teachings, Ajahn Chah was Thailand's best-known meditation teacher. His charisma and wisdom influenced many American and European seekers, and helped shape the American Vipassana community. This collection brings together for the first time Ajahn Chah's most powerful teachings, including those on meditation, liberation from suffering, calming the mind, enlightenment and the 'living dhamma'. Most of these talks have previously only been available in limited, private editions and the publication of Food for the Heart therefore represents a momentous occasion: the hugely increased accessibility of his words and wisdom. Western teachers such asā€¦


Book cover of Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation

Laurence Cox Author Of The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk Who Faced Down the British Empire

From my list on Buddhism and the West.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve been a street musician, set up kindergartens, worked in special needs education, and run wood-fired showers in a field for meditation retreats. Iā€™m also associate professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. I became a Buddhist partly out of interest in a very different culture and started wondering how Buddhism got from Asia to the West. I think about this through my own experience of teaching meditation, being an activist for 35 years, living in five countries, and learning ten languages: what do you have to do to make an idea come alive in a different culture? 

Laurence's book list on Buddhism and the West

Laurence Cox Why did Laurence love this book?

One of the first places I heard about Buddhism was through Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder. The joy of reading Kerouac has worn off a bit, but Snyder and Ginsberg have become lifetime companions and real sources of inspiration for me, not least in their engagement with Buddhism. This collection of poems, essays, letters, and other writings brings them together with a much wider range of writers ā€“ Diane di Prima and Philip Whalen, Anne Waldman and Kenneth Rexroth, William Burroughs and Lawrence Ferlinghetti ā€“ showing how the best minds of two generations heard, felt and responded to Buddhism in their many different ways. Itā€™s a real treasure-house of words.

By Carole Tonkinson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Big Sky Mind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Essays, poems, photographs, and letters explore the link between Buddhism and the Beats--with previously unpublished material from several beat writers, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and Diane diPrima.


Book cover of All Is Change: The Two-Thousand-Year Journey of Buddhism to the West

Laurence Cox Author Of The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk Who Faced Down the British Empire

From my list on Buddhism and the West.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve been a street musician, set up kindergartens, worked in special needs education, and run wood-fired showers in a field for meditation retreats. Iā€™m also associate professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. I became a Buddhist partly out of interest in a very different culture and started wondering how Buddhism got from Asia to the West. I think about this through my own experience of teaching meditation, being an activist for 35 years, living in five countries, and learning ten languages: what do you have to do to make an idea come alive in a different culture? 

Laurence's book list on Buddhism and the West

Laurence Cox Why did Laurence love this book?

I read this book just before I started writing my own book on Buddhism and Ireland. Itā€™s almost an adventure story: thereā€™s Alexander the Great and Aesopā€™s Fables, Marco Polo and Theosophist fantasies, Christian missionaries to Asia and Buddhist missionaries to the West, Asian immigrants in America, and British spies in Tibet, the Dalai Lama, and todayā€™s western Buddhists. Sutin tells this whole complicated, rambling yarn in an easy-going and enjoyable way, making the book a real pleasure to read.

By Lawrence Sutin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked All Is Change as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The modern-day creation of a distinctly Western Buddhism is arguably the most significant spiritual development of our time. Few realize, however, that the complicated dance between Western and Eastern religions has gone on for more than two millennia. ALL IS CHANGE is the definitive account of the two-thousand year transmission of Buddhism to the West. From the early exchanges between the Classical Greeks and the Buddhists of India to the encounters between Buddhist and Christian traders and missionaries in China to the influence of Buddhism on Western philosophers and the current fascination with the Dalai Lama, this is a rivetingā€¦


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Book cover of This Animal Body

This Animal Body by Meredith Walters,

Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherā€”sheā€™s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseā€¦

Book cover of Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue

Alvin Raja Hornstein Author Of Working With the Dying: Compassion, Shame, and the Illusion of Loss

From my list on how psychotherapy and meditation work together.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been a meditator for fifty years, learning from many teachers. I've been a psychotherapist for twenty years. The connections between meditation and psychotherapy are subtle and powerful. When I started my psychology studies, I went to my Zen teacher and asked for his guidance. I knew I couldn't survive the academic path without more depth in my meditation practice. There were two professors who captured my attention: one, the most psychoanalytic teacher at my school, and one, a student of the same Zen master who taught Leonard Cohen. They guided my research. If you're a psychotherapist, are in psychotherapy yourself, or are a meditator, you will love these books.

Alvin's book list on how psychotherapy and meditation work together

Alvin Raja Hornstein Why did Alvin love this book?

When I needed a book to recommend to a group I joined on Buddhism and psychoanalysis, this was the one I chose. It's a collection of essays by some of the most important thinkers on this topic. It begins with Jack Engler's seminal essay about how you have to be somebody before you can be nobody. Reading this was like coming home for me, discovering that in my struggle to understood how Zen had a place in psychoanalytic thinking. It's more than simply combining mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy. Jeremy Safran, the editor, was beloved by students and colleagues, and his murder in a burglary was a tragic loss.

By Jeremy D. Safran,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Psychoanalysis and Buddhism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"What a wonderful book! Jeremy Safran has assembled an absolutely stellar group of writers and has himself contributed an illuminating introduction. The essays are riveting and the book is the rare edited collection with real thematic unity. If you think you might have an interest in the intersection of psychoanalysis and Buddhism, this is the place to start. If you already know you're interested, once you look at the table of contents you'll find (at least I did) that you want to let Psychoanalysis and Buddhism displace whatever you were going to read next."--Donnel B. Stern, PhD, author of Unformulatedā€¦


Book cover of A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
Book cover of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Book cover of Dying Well

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