具体描述
To die, kick the bucket, to meet your Maker, dead as a doornail, get whacked, smoked, bite the dust, sleep with the fishes, go six feet under—whatever death is called, it's going to happen. In 1789 Ben Franklin wrote, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Death remains a certainty. But how do we die? It's the enormous variety of how that enlivens final exits. According to death certificates, in 1700 there were less than 100 causes of death. Today there are 3,000. With each advance of technology, people find new ways to become deceased, often causing trends that peak in the first year. People are now killed by everything, from cell phones, washing machines, lawn mowers and toothpicks, to the boundless catalog of man—made medicines. In Final Exits the causes of death—bizarre or common—are alphabetically arranged and include actual accounts of people, both famous and ordinary, who unfortunately died that way. (Ants, bad words, Bingo, bean bag chairs, flying cows, frozen toilets, hiccups, lipstick, moray eels, road kill, starfish, and toupees are only some of the more unusual causes.)
作者简介
迈克尔•拉尔戈,出生于纽约,后随家人移居迈阿密。作为美国作家协会、美国侦探小说作家协会、美国科幻作家协会的成员。他发表过200多首诗歌、散文和小说,出版过三本小说,曾荣获纽约州艺术协会奖。他一直致力于收集有关美国人死亡方式的统计资料和信息。
目录信息
读后感
研究死亡往往能给作家带来素材和灵感,比如斯蒂芬-金在《绿里奇迹》里的一个关键情节:出于私怨,监狱看守珀西将犯人德拉克罗瓦送上电椅时故意没给电椅头罩里包覆着电极的海绵浸上碱性溶液,这使得犯人在受刑时全身起火烧焦,但直到2分钟后才得以解脱。事实上,在电椅发明之初...
各种莫名其妙的死亡愿意,有些让人瞠目结舌,原来有时候死亡真的会很意外的发生。 睡觉前无聊,可以看看。不会让你放不下而影响睡眠。
我是很少被明目张胆说死这类型的书籍激发哲学思考的人 活着,好好活,越长越好,买别墅,换更大的别墅,游泳池边躺着两个比基尼美女,去加拿大滑雪,到瑞士度蜜月,一个人包下影院看一场电影,租一栋古堡开party。 我想说的意思只是,既然活着还有很多好东西值得我...
這書是并不屬於有趣類型的書,也沒有很緊密的三觀構造。畢竟,這是一本對數據進行陳述的“公告”。 也許是東西方對於死亡這個概念的理解不同,東方人逃避關於死亡的各種討論但也將“死”字經常掛嘴邊;西方人更多的是對生命的客觀看待。 本書中數據跨年代之久和項目類型之多,...
编辑的能力不咋样,内容倒确实千奇百怪,还有很多莫名其妙的统计数据,什么美国每年在看脱口秀时死亡的人数啊、每年死于吃中药的人数、打喷嚏死的……难以想象人类居然会遇到如此多的死亡原因!好吧,看完后的感觉就是,我能活到这么大也挺不容易的,都不知道逃过多少个“致死...