On Death and Dying
by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The 1969 book that introduced the five stages, drawn from interviews with dying patients at a time when doctors did not tell them the truth. It changed how medicine treats the dying and launched hospice. The stages have been overgeneralized since; the interviews remain moving and the call to listen to the dying is undiminished.
Read it if…
you work with or love someone who is dying and want to understand their experience.
Skip it if…
you are grieving; the later book addresses that.
Three things you will actually use
- The dying want honesty and presence.
- Denial has a purpose; do not strip it.
- Listen more than you speak.
Do this first
Read the patient interviews; they teach listening.
Our verdict
Historic and humane.
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