Book SummaryGone from My Sight, by Barbara Karnes

Death remains life’s greatest mystery, since no one who’s experienced it can tell us what it’s like. But across the centuries, scientists, philosophers, theologians, and artists have offered their best guesses as to what happens when we die. In this article, we’ll compare seven Great Thinkers’ ideas about dying.

In Being Mortal, surgeon Atul Gawande considers our experience of aging and dying in the 21st century. In his view, the modern approach to these stages of life undermines our ability to live well up to the end—to do better, we need to accept death as a natural part of the human experience and prioritize the well-being of the dying.

Critics praised Being Mortal and considered it one of the best books of 2014. It’s since been adapted into a TV documentary and a feature film.

We’ve divided our guide into two main sections to explore Gawande’s theme. The first section examines some of the ways we approach aging and death in our modern era, and the second explores Gawande’s ideas about how we might improve our experience of these profoundly important aspects of life.

In our commentary, we’ve contextualized Gawande’s ideas by citing relevant statistics about end-of-life care in the modern healthcare system and by exploring psychological insights on how we experience our mortality.

In Come As You Are, author Emily Nagoski uses scientific research and her years of experience as a sex educator to change the negative way that women talk, think, and feel about their sexuality due to years of misinformation and harmful cultural messaging surrounding sex. Arguing that a scientific perspective on sexuality can free women from unrealistic standards and help them to appreciate their individual experiences, Nagoski considers sexuality from every biological angle while dispelling cultural misconceptions along the way.

In this guide, we’ll follow Nagoski’s exploration of topics ranging from basic anatomy and the mechanics of sexual response to individual experiences of arousal, desire, and orgasm. As we discuss each of these concepts, we’ll compare Nagoski’s arguments to those of other experts in her field, discuss additional research on human sexuality, and add historical and cultural context to her ideas.