Opinion: Great book written by mortician Caitlin Doughty exploring death culture around the world. This is the first book I read after discovering @themorbidlycuriousbookclub (the start of my descent into morbid books), I’m glad I chose it as my first book, and I would recommend it to anyone remotely interested in death and funeral practices. Doughty is an engaging writer who explains the subject material with respect and compassion, I never felt shocked or uncomfortable reading the details of death in this book. I will say though, there are cartoonish illustrations of death scattered throughout that may be a little jarring. 

Synopsis: Doughty visits eight locations, three of which are in the United States, exploring the different views on death, including how the dead are cared for and funeral rituals. Doughty often speaks on modern funeral practices here in the US, where our dead are hastily carried away and special care is taken to hide the realness of death from loved ones, ultimately leading to this anxiousness and fear of death in our society. Doughty’s aim is to inform the reader of different death practices, often more personal, so that we might feel more comfortable with inevitability of death.