Dying to Know

I read this book because I am afraid of death and cancer, and I believe in hospice services and the value they provide. In that regard, there was nothing new-acceptance, society's death phobia, the importance of having a living will, death comes when it feels like it but never at the right time, dying sucks but you might get lucky and hallucinate at the end, religious jackasses want to keep you from your right to die or that is, your right to not be in horrific pain in your final days. None of that was new and has perhaps been more eloquently expressed elsewhere.
Rather, what I really loved about this book was the author's personal story and connection to her work, and her frank leveling with the non-dying about our inevitable end. Her ordinary life is laid plain, she believes in herself, she is bold and honest. Many bios and memoirs are about extraordinary people, famous politicians or scientists, trailblazers, artists, or people who were murderous monsters or were murdered by murderous monsters. This was about a nurse with perhaps more spunk than most people, but other than that, she is just a normal person, living as much as she can, clearly flawed, average American. She is perhaps unusually determined, reflective and good at self-promotion. I was absolutely inspired by her self confidence and conviction. She also appeared to actively work on her empathy, which I thought was good food for thought. Her profession is truly heroic, and that is a fact.
She remarks at her discomfort when people call her an angel given her past, (which is in my view was not that wicked at all) but this angel of death, for some reason, made me feel better about my own ordinary life, even proud of it, and she succeeded in giving me some peace about death. She gave me hope that ordinary people can do extraordinary things like write books, maximize themselves, keep chickens and attend to the dying, and that however unlikely, maybe but probably not, there is an afterlife. I hope she finds time for a few more cases.