The Natural Death Handbook

Description

Completely revised and expanded and now in its fourth edition, an essential manual for dealing with death- either one's own or that of friends and family More and more people today want to organise at least part of a funeral for themselves, without depending on funeral directors. The Natural Death Handbook shows you how to do everything from ordering a coffin to hiring a horse-drawn hearse to finding a woodland burial ground (where a tree is planted for each grave instead of having a headstone). It also explains how to arrange a burial on private land and how to set up a woodland burial ground as a business or charity. For those who prefer a funeral to be organised for them, the book's Good Funeral Guide details 'best buys' throughout the UK, and how to bring the price down to less than a third of the usual average price.'Gives excellent advice' Cosmopolitan'If you want to die with dignity and a modicum of grace, invest in a copy of the reassuring and practical Natural Death Handbook' Spectator'From the spiritual and mystical to the practical and administrative, vital information is included on how to organise a funeral, how to care for someone dying at home and how to come to terms with bereavement.' Top Sante Magazine

Stephanie Wienrich (Edited by) The Natural Death Centre is an educational charity based in London which has three psychotherapists as its directors. Launched in 1991, it aims to support those dying at home and their carers and to help them arrange funerals. It has a more general aim of helping to improve 'the quality of dying' and, to this end, it arranges workshops on the subject for laypeople, seminars for nurses and doctors training in palliative care, and publishes information in written form and on the internet. It also organises the National Day of the Dead (Sunday April 13 2003 and Sunday April 18 2004) to remember those who have died and focus on our own mortality. See their website at www.naturaldeath.org.uk

This fascinating and useful book provides a wealth of information to people who wish to be involved in supporting those dying...This book wil help those who wish to reclaim the dying process from the professionals and make the final stages of life as natuarl as possible. As a reference book, I will consult it on a regular basis - but I would be hesitant about loaning it to others, for fear of losing it and experiencing unnecessary grief and bereavement. * Baptist Times * Gives excellent advice * Cosmopolitan * Very useful * Daily Telegraph * Demonstrates to people dissatisfied with conveyor-belt funerals that there are kinder alternatives * The Times * Full of amazing advice and information * Independent on Sunday *