A Community of Mortals

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Medical, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book A Community of Mortals by Alexandra Zelman-Doring, Random House
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alexandra Zelman-Doring ISBN: 9781473511583
Publisher: Random House Publication: January 30, 2014
Imprint: Vintage Digital Language: English
Author: Alexandra Zelman-Doring
ISBN: 9781473511583
Publisher: Random House
Publication: January 30, 2014
Imprint: Vintage Digital
Language: English

What is it like to have someone die in your arms? Can we return from the dead? And why has nobody heard of therapeutic hypothermia?

Forced to come to terms with doctors pronouncing her husband ‘clinically dead’, Alexandra Zelman-Doring embarks on an exploration of what death means to us and how we might face it. Initally she is overwhelmed by the difficulty of accepting the loss of a loved one, and the anger, sadness and sense of isolation that it brings. But her suffering pushes her towards a life-store of reading, and here she finds words with which to contemplate death; from Turgenev on death as an ‘unanswerable reproach’ to Norbert Elias on the extraordinary collective will to endure it.

Equally inspiring are the true stories of unlikely survivors: from a species of frog whose organs stop, frozen, throughout the winter, only to stir back to life in the spring, to Anna Bagenholm whose iced brain and body held out against all odds after a fatal accident. These incidents inform a development in medical science where cardiac arrest is treated with ‘therapeutic hypothermia’, in some cases allowing the body to last without oxygen just long enough for doctors to return the near-dead to life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

What is it like to have someone die in your arms? Can we return from the dead? And why has nobody heard of therapeutic hypothermia?

Forced to come to terms with doctors pronouncing her husband ‘clinically dead’, Alexandra Zelman-Doring embarks on an exploration of what death means to us and how we might face it. Initally she is overwhelmed by the difficulty of accepting the loss of a loved one, and the anger, sadness and sense of isolation that it brings. But her suffering pushes her towards a life-store of reading, and here she finds words with which to contemplate death; from Turgenev on death as an ‘unanswerable reproach’ to Norbert Elias on the extraordinary collective will to endure it.

Equally inspiring are the true stories of unlikely survivors: from a species of frog whose organs stop, frozen, throughout the winter, only to stir back to life in the spring, to Anna Bagenholm whose iced brain and body held out against all odds after a fatal accident. These incidents inform a development in medical science where cardiac arrest is treated with ‘therapeutic hypothermia’, in some cases allowing the body to last without oxygen just long enough for doctors to return the near-dead to life.

More books from Random House

Cover of the book Macular Degeneration by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book No Fat Chicks by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book El hijo de Sobek (e-original) by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book The South African Illustrated Cookbook by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book How Long Will They Mourn Me? by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book The $1000 Project by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Galapagos by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book 12.21 by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Loose Leashes by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Os enamoramentos by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Macho viejo by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book Honor y pasión by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book ZZZ... El libro del sueño by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
Cover of the book CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by Alexandra Zelman-Doring
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy