Unusual Ways To Die

Did you hear about... The Tennessee student who jumped into a laundry chute that was actually a trash compactor? The Swiss statesman butchered by an axe-wielding bear? The ancient Greek playwright struck by a tortoise falling from the sky? Over the ages, death has come in some very unpredictable forms. This irreverent little book gathers together some of the most peculiar and outrageous ways that people across the globe have met their untimely ends. Whether shocking or silly, these true stories are proof at least that the grim reaper has a strange sense of humour.

Death comes for us all in the end. But it does not always come in a way you might expect. Throughout history there have been people who have suffered extraordinary, unusual, and downright weird demises. In Strange Ways to Die in History you will find out about the true stories behind unlikely stories of bizarre accidents, assassinations, and misadventures. Did a playwright really die from a tortoise being dropped on his head by an eagle? Why did an English vicar end up being eaten by lions? And what are the chances of fatality from falling into a toilet? Looking at the lives that came before the deaths reveals some of histories most fascinating individuals. Some of those examined are well known. Some are remembered only for the odd way they departed this life. Some have been forgotten entirely. Sometimes how a person dies, and how history has recorded the event, can tell us a lot about society and how we remember. This book uncovers eye-witnesses to the deaths described and contemporary reports from those who were left behind.

Tales of weird deaths that will make you shake your head and reconsider the next “I dare you.” Death comes in many forms—sometimes peaceful, sometimes tragic, sometimes dramatic . . . and at other times just plain weird. In History’s Weirdest Deaths, you’ll read the true stories of more than a hundred people who met their end in a bizarre fashion. Each cautionary tale is unique. Meet the victims of stunts that went horribly wrong, ordinary people who made boneheaded blunders, and famous figures who realized too late that celebrity isn’t a cure for stupidity.

When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."

Estimation of the Time Since Death remains the foremost authoritative book on scientifically calculating the estimated time of death postmortem. Building on the success of previous editions which covered the early postmortem period, this new edition also covers the later postmortem period including putrefactive changes, entomology, and postmortem r

MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.

By living a normal, boring life like most people do, one has an excellent chance of becoming yet another statistic on the proverbial list of the leading causes of death. Of course, the process can be accelerated a bit by eating lots of fat, giving up exercise, smoking, drinking heavily (not water), and worrying. Buck Tilton prefers to ponder the alternatives. In How to Die in the Outdoors, he presents us with 110 far more interesting and unique ways to perish: snake bite, elephant foot, walrus tusk, rhino horn, and many, many more. In a straightforward style laced with his trademark wit, and presented in easy to understand terms, Tilton describes not only the details of how one can die, some intriguingly gory and all based—more or less—on facts, but also the ways to avoid death should life-threatening situations arise in which one is not ready to check out of this world and into whatever afterlife there may be.