From Here to Eternity
[United States] : Recorded Books, Inc., 2017.
Format: Eaudiobook
Edition: Unabridged.
Description: 1 online resource (1 audio file (5hr., 37 min.)) : digital.
Fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for their dead. In rural Indonesia, she observes a man clean and dressed, his grandfather's mummified body. Grandpa's mummy has lived in the family home for two years, where the family has maintained a warm and respectful relationship. She meets Bolivian Natitas, who are cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls, and introduces us to a Japanese Kotsuage, in which relatives use chopsticks to pluck their loved- ones' bones from cremation ashes. With curiosity and morbid humor, Doughty encounters vividly decomposed bodies and participates in compelling, powerful death practices almost entirely unknown in America. Featuring Gorey-esque illustrations by artist Landis Blair, From Here to Eternity introduces death-care innovators researching green burial and body composting, explores new spaces for mourning, including a glowing Buddha columbarium in Japan and America's only open-air pyre, and reveals unexpected new possibilities for our own death rituals.
ISBN:
9781501973932
Instant title available through hoopla.
Read by Caitlin Doughty.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Read by Caitlin Doughty.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.