Bestselling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers children's real questions about death, dead bodies, and decomposition. This New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for Science & Technology is a New York Times bestseller.
Every day, funeral home owner Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from children. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it were ejected from a spaceship? Do people poop after death? Can you give grandma a Viking burial?
In this book, Doughty combines her expertise with intriguing stories that underlie common misconceptions about corpses. The result is detailed, funny, and candid answers to 35 vivid questions posed by children. In her inimitable style, the author details what happens to and inside our bodies after death. Why do corpses groan? Why do bodies change color during decomposition? And why does hair and nails appear longer after death? You'll learn what kind of soil is best for mummifying a body, whether it's possible to preserve someone's skull as a keepsake, and what happens when someone dies on a plane.
Illustrated by Dianna Roose, this book shows us that death is both a science and an art, and only by asking questions can we begin to accept it.
Who this book is for:
For those who don't shy away from talking about difficult and taboo topics.
For those who would like to learn more about the natural processes associated with dying and funeral customs and practices.
For anyone who is terribly curious.
From the author:
What is this book?
It's quite simple. I've collected the most vivid and delightful questions I've been asked about death and answered them. It's not rocket science, my friends! (Note: This will actually be about rockets, too. See the chapter 'What Would Happen to an Astronaut's Body in Space?')
Why do people even ask you questions about death?
I'm a mortician, and I'm up for the odd question. I've worked in a crematorium, gone to embalming school, traveled the world studying funeral traditions, and opened my own funeral home. I'm also obsessed with corpses. No, don't get me wrong—not in some weird way (nervous laughter).
I've also lectured all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on the wonders of death. My favorite part of those events is the questions and answers. It's at moments like these that I realize how fascinated people are with decomposition, head injuries, bones, embalming, funeral pyres—in short, all that jazz.
Any questions about death are good, but the most straightforward and provocative ones come from children (parents take note). Even when I was just thinking about having conversations about death in this format, I imagined children's questions would be angelically innocent and sweet. Ha! Not so.
Young people are bolder and often more perceptive than adults. And they don't shy away from asking about blood and guts. They're curious about their parrot's immortal soul, sure, but they're more concerned with how quickly it will decompose in a shoebox under a maple tree.
So all the questions in this book come from 100% ethically bred, natural, free-range children.
Isn't it all a bit creepy?
Here's the thing: It's normal to be curious about death. But as people get older, they internalize the idea that it's 'bad' or 'weird.' They grow up fearing it, and they judge others for being interested in it in order to protect themselves from having to deal with it.
Here's the problem. Most people in our culture are illiterate about death, and that makes them even more afraid of it. If you know what's in a bottle of embalming fluid, or what a medical examiner does, or what the word 'catacomb' means, then you're better educated than many of your fellow mortals.
Honestly, death is hard! We love someone, and then they die. It seems unfair. Death can be violent, sudden, and unbearably bitter. But that