The Meaning of Death

By: Michael Caleb Lester

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Compiled from a year of recent columns on the Substack platform, this ambitious book is at the forefront of the death-awareness movement in the Western world's death-phobic culture. With amusement and wonder, it opens the door to a topic most people want to walk away from. Veteran journalist Lester interviews a Buddhist, rabbi, Catholic ethicist, funeral director, palliative care doctor, therapy dog handler and others who have seen death up close and have distinct opinions about its meaning. Included are the last words of celebrities, U.S. presidents and comedians. The 50-plus chapters also explore near-death experiences, unusual cemeteries, suicide, deathbed visitations, necrophilia, Covid, DMT, how we die, when we die, and documents needed to make one's death easier for loved ones. The Meaning of Death is an off-beat excursion into a taboo topic, with observations by the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen Colbert, George Carlin and Emily Dickinson.