Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life
By Caleb Wilde
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director—what Time magazine called a "must read"—reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air.
We are a people who deeply fear death. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and—when it can be avoided no longer—letting the professionals take over.
Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were . . . dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference—in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed:
- The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial
- The act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family
- The nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away
- The funeral that united a conflicted community
Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying
Editor's Note
Death positive…
Whether you’re a fan of funeral director Caleb Wilde’s popular blog or not, you definitely need to read his “death positive” book. It will give you a deeper, more spiritual perspective on death that will dispel your fears and help you live your best life.
Caleb Wilde
Caleb Wilde is a partner at his family’s business, Wilde Funeral Home, in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. He writes the popular blog Confessions of a Funeral Director and recently completed postgraduate work at Winchester University, England, in the program, “Death, Religion and Culture.” He has been featured in top media outlets, including The Huntington Post, The Atlantic, and TIME magazine, and on NPR, NBC, and ABC’s 20/20.
Related to Confessions of a Funeral Director
Related ebooks
DAD, CAN I BORROW THE HEARSE?: GROWING UP IN A DETROIT FUNERAL HOME Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath: An Exploration: Learning to Embrace Life's Most Feared Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoes This Mean You'll See Me Naked?: Field Notes from a Funeral Director Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Mourning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Education of a Coroner: Lessons in Investigating Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortuary Confidential: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Over Your Dead Body: The History And Future Of How We Deal With The Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic's Wild Ride to the Edge and Back Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autopsy: More than you ever wanted to know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over Our Dead Bodies:: Undertakers Lift the Lid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman Who Swallowed a Toothbrush: And Other Bizarre Medical Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortician Diaries: The Dead-Honest Truth from a Life Spent with Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Removers: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of an L.A. Funeral Director Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outbreak!: 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Further Confessions of a GP Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Confessions of a Funeral Director
47 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing Read and understanding of Death, Grieving, Beauty and much more. Caleb speaks of every aspect of death we are often afraid to speak of. His experience told in the book will be an eye opener for the reader. This is a must read!!!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pensavo fosse più incentrato sul business e sulle procedure tecniche, ma è molto religioso. In alcuni capitoli Dio viene nominato ogni 2/3 parole. I capitoli sono ripetitivi.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such compassion and insight. A real look at life and death.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/58 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 great insights