Robert Kastenbaum

In Between Life and Death , famed Israeli writer Yoram Kaniuk describes the four months during which he lay unconscious in a Tel Aviv hospital, hovering between the world of the living and that of the dead. Told in an arresting, dreamlike style that blends playfulness with fearless honesty, Kaniuk attempts to penetrate his own lost consciousness and understand what led him to fight for his life with such tenacity.

"A classic, fascinating readers for nearly 30 years. New to the Third Edition are chapters on how we construct death, death in adolescence and adulthood including discussion on suicide, physician-assisted death, and Regret Theory and Denial, new approaches to the role of death anxiety, Terror Management Theory, and Edge Theory, and much more."--BOOK JACKET.

"This volume explores the moral, spiritual, and cultural terrain of aging through interdisciplinary scholarship and clinically based research." "Aging has long been of interest to scholars and practitioners in a vast array of academic fields and professions. Thomas R. Cole, Ruth E. Ray, and Robert Kastenbaum have brought together leaders from a variety of academic realms to explore how aging is depicted in the modern era and the effect of these portrayals on individuals and society." "The first section views aging and old age through the lenses of four disciplines: history, literature, religion, and philosophy. It probes the idea and effect of age in different places and times in history; discusses the concept as put forth in novels, memoirs, and literary studies and criticism; and raises important existential and spiritual questions about the meaning of growing old." "The chapters in the second section demonstrate how interdisciplinary humanities can be applied to the study of aging through such thoughtful queries as: How do creativity and health relate in old age? What does "old" mean in an era of high-tech medicine, and what is our moral obligation to care for elderly persons? Why are friendships of special importance to older people?" "Section three uses semiotics, cultural analysis, and ideological critiques to identify key social issues related to aging, including the concept of "home," ageism and discrimination, and our understanding of aging in the era of globalization. The text closes with Robert Kastenbaum's poignant reflection on his own considerations of meaning and mortality as he journeyed back to health following heart surgery." "This comprehensive guide works at the nexus of the humanities and the health professions to provide the intellectual rationale, the history, and a substantive overview of humanistic gerontology as it has emerged in the United States and Europe."--Jacket.

The author conducts a sustained debate with himself on the evidence for and against survival. The reader plays jury as the author adopts, alternately, the stance of ardent critic and ardent advocate. A range of experiments, happenings, research and a variety of beliefs are unfolded for examination in scientific, psychological, philosophical, social and even political terms. Central to the debate is the question: What is admissible evidence for survival? Near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, poltergeist phenomena, phantom sightings -- all are possible candidates, but the author carefully selects those cases that are most fully documented and have occurred within reach of cameras, recording machines and critical bystanders. In the last chapter he transcends the adversary approach to suggest that the more we understand the universe and ourselves, the more obvious it becomes that what we call " death" is not the end of life.

A collection of historically important tests, largely otherwise unobtainable, on the theme of death and thanatology ; part of a large series of reprints of key works in the death literture.