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Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life
A transformative guide to embrace your own mortality and live a more fulfilling life
Talking about death has been deemed morbid, taboo, or even pathological. But in order to fully embrace life, scientists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders all agree—contemplating death is the key to living a life with meaning.
This life-changing book will give you a 12 week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal. Through personal anecdotes, historical examples, meditations, exercises, journal prompts, and reflections, you will learn to both come to terms with what death means and to live alongside it without fear. In doing so, you will see your own life in a new light and discover what makes life worth living. After all, there’s no better motivation to seize the day than a regular reminder that your days are numbered.
Whether you're struggling with anxiety, grieving a loved one, or seeking a greater sense of purpose, Memento Mori is an invaluable guide to living a life of greater meaning and joy.
Talking about death has been deemed morbid, taboo, or even pathological. But in order to fully embrace life, scientists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders all agree—contemplating death is the key to living a life with meaning.
This life-changing book will give you a 12 week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal. Through personal anecdotes, historical examples, meditations, exercises, journal prompts, and reflections, you will learn to both come to terms with what death means and to live alongside it without fear. In doing so, you will see your own life in a new light and discover what makes life worth living. After all, there’s no better motivation to seize the day than a regular reminder that your days are numbered.
Whether you're struggling with anxiety, grieving a loved one, or seeking a greater sense of purpose, Memento Mori is an invaluable guide to living a life of greater meaning and joy.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 21, 2024
I'm not in the right headspace for this now, I thought I was, but meditations and reflections on death are apparently beyond me at the moment. I skimmed the anecdotes but thoroughly read all the suggested exercises, and I'm actually thinking of buying it so I can actually do the exercises as suggested. Just, maybe when it's been a little more time since I experienced a catastrophic loss of my own. 3 "right book, wrong time" stars.
March 31, 2025
The black cover of Memento Mori with its skull and fruits and veg give off dark magic vibes but this little book really focuses on understanding your personal legacy, life goals, and the joy and purpose found in life. Ebenstein has carefully researched end of life, dying, hospice, and death rituals from the ancient past to present time in many cultures. Any trepidation I felt before reading this work, was soothed and erased by the various methods presented of planning end of life services and ceremony but also really celebrating your life now and creating a passage that suits your individual philosophy and beliefs.
February 19, 2025
A contemporary Gothic Bible!?!
This book could fall into that category unwillingly.
Good information on how death is perceived by different cultures over the thousands of years.
This book could fall into that category unwillingly.
Good information on how death is perceived by different cultures over the thousands of years.
September 13, 2024
I love a death positive book, and this gorgeous release from Joanna Ebenstein is an incredibly fascinating, enlightening, all-encompassing guide to embracing your mortality. It’s a perfect blend of personal and factual, and it even has a helpful exercise and planning section in the back. Thanks very much to TarcherPerigee for sending me an early copy!
May 15, 2026
When I read the following description of this book, I knew right away I wanted to read it because it appealed to my life-guiding philosophy of Stoicism:
"Talking about death has been deemed morbid, taboo, or even pathological. But in order to fully embrace life, scientists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders all agree—contemplating death is the key to living a life with meaning.
This life-changing book will give you a 12 week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal. Through personal anecdotes, historical examples, meditations, exercises, journal prompts, and reflections, you will learn to both come to terms with what death means and to live alongside it without fear. In doing so, you will see your own life in a new light and discover what makes life worth living. After all, there’s no better motivation to seize the day than a regular reminder that your days are numbered.
Whether you're struggling with anxiety, grieving a loved one, or seeking a greater sense of purpose, 'Memento Mori' is an invaluable guide to living a life of greater meaning and joy."
Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. Unlike most nonfiction works, which I generally find would be better if they were 20% shorter, this one didn't drag or feel overly repetitive. So, kudos to the author for that.
Having said that, I did find that the exercises she included at the end of every chapter were lengthy and repetitive. So, I wished she had chosen some different exercises to sprinkle throughout the book. Also, Chapter 10: Playing with Death was significantly weaker than the other chapters and probably could have been eliminated without any loss. (In fact, the book may have been stronger without it.)
These are minor flaws, however, which is why I gave it four stars. Overall, it was a thought-provoking work, filled with tremendous insights on and powerful quotations about death. And I think everyone who is interested in overcoming their fears of death would benefit greatly by reading it.
As I usually do with the nonfiction works I review on goodreads, I'll wrap up with a few powerful observations from the book. I typed up 13 pages of single-spaced notes from this work, so it's hard to choose just a few highlights to share. But I'll try.
“In a culture determined to avoid bad or sad thoughts, and when scientific medicine regards death chiefly as a failure of intervention, the unavoidable fact of death becomes a serious issue. Death was once a part of everyday life; dead bodies were seen on a regular basis, and our encounters with death were contained by rituals, traditions, or belief systems that enlivened it with meaning. Today, in a largely secular world, death has simply become the enemy, the antithesis of that we hold dear: light, pleasure, and life. We regard death as a great evil, a problem to be solved, and an idea to be avoided.” [p. 13]
“This distancing from death – and our expectation that we will enjoy a long, healthy, happy, and pain-free life – is, as far as I can tell, an anomaly in all of human history. The luxury of viewing death as remote and ‘other’ seems to be unique to our particular time and place.” [p. 35]
“…in the early twentieth century, a writer for the Ladies’ Home Journal made a case for renaming the home parlor ‘the Living Room.’ The parlor, once a place to mourn and honor the dead, could now become a place for the living to enjoy their lives.” [p. 36]
“Far from morbid, contemplating death in this way is the best method I’ve found for revealing, with clarity, what it is we really value. I have found no better tool for inspiring us with the will and courage to make the changes necessary to live a life that is true to ourselves and in accord with our real values; one that will, or so we can hope, leave us with the fewest deathbed regrets.” [p. 71]
“When we lose something we love – be that a loved one, a home, or a job – we suffer. These losses are an inevitable part of the human experience. To love and to lose is an inescapable part of life. Losing someone you love to death is arguably the greatest of these losses.” [p. 96]
“To love and to lose is to grieve. To love that which is impermanent, that which can be lost, is, by its very nature, to make oneself vulnerable to grief. The more deeply we love, the more vulnerable we are to the commensurate pain of loss.” [pp. 97-98]
“To me, the idea of living forever sounds like its own kind of hell, as does the idea of living without a body! I personally find it comforting to think that one day, at least this incarnation of my life will end. But to many of us, in a culture that prides itself on its ability to control life, to transcend nature, to reduce risk and do everything in its power to ensure a long, healthy life, death is the ultimate insult.” [p. 135]
“Fear of death is often asserted as a universal human characteristic, part of the human condition. But a look at the historical record – and even the world today – makes it clear that this is not the case. How we feel about death has a great deal to do with when and where we were born, and the culture in which we were raised.” [p. 135]
“No matter what you do, no matter what precautions you take, how safe you are, or how much you exercise and eat the ‘right’ foods, there is no way to escape death, or even know we can postpone it. Death will come for us all, and we don’t know when or how. There is no possibility of total security, no way to guarantee our safety and survival.” [p. 143]
“It was only by spending a good amount of time in countries other than the United States that I began to notice how uniquely obsessed my home country is with security, safety, and control. To me, the single-minded pursuit of security seems like a fool’s errand because it is, at its heart, an attempt to avoid death.” [p. 144]
“It seems to me that there is some way in which an overzealous mitigation of risk – motivated by fear of injury or death – cuts us off from something necessary; that only by sitting in death’s proximity can we truly feel the fullness of life.” [p. 147]
“…for those who possess ‘morbid curiosity.’ The morbidly curious are defined as individuals interested in topics such as death, violence, disaster and the macabre. Researchers have found that exploring morbid topics can help individuals regulate their emotions. By controlling fear and anxiety in a controlled manner, people may experience a sense of catharsis or relief. Those with morbid curiosity exhibit other personality traits, including curiosity more generally and openness to experience.” [p. 179]
“An intriguing study led by behavior scientists Cotan Scrivner examined the fact that morbidly curious people and horror fans fared better during the COVID-19 pandemic. This speaks to a phenomenon that I had noted, anecdotally, in the Morbid Anatomy community: that those who are interested in death – the morbidly curious – seemed to fare much better in the strange, uncertain times of the pandemic, and expressed far less of the anxiety and despair I noticed in many of those who do not share this predilection. Scrivner and his colleagues report that morbid curiosity promotes ‘positive resilience,’ which is the possibility of having positive experiences even when encountering a threatening or frightening situation. Because people who are morbidly curious were able to find the pandemic not only scary but also interesting, they were able to experience less psychological distress.’” [pp. 179-180]
“Yes, it is true, we will die. You, I, and everyone we know. And you know what? That’s OK. We can use the gift of our time on earth to affirm having been here, by making our own unique marks, to leave a record of that which we loved, to affirm life in the face of – and in response to – death. We can do so with real joy, having accepted – and perhaps even embraced – the fact that our lives, and the lives of all we love, will, inevitably, end.” [p. 213]
"Talking about death has been deemed morbid, taboo, or even pathological. But in order to fully embrace life, scientists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders all agree—contemplating death is the key to living a life with meaning.
This life-changing book will give you a 12 week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal. Through personal anecdotes, historical examples, meditations, exercises, journal prompts, and reflections, you will learn to both come to terms with what death means and to live alongside it without fear. In doing so, you will see your own life in a new light and discover what makes life worth living. After all, there’s no better motivation to seize the day than a regular reminder that your days are numbered.
Whether you're struggling with anxiety, grieving a loved one, or seeking a greater sense of purpose, 'Memento Mori' is an invaluable guide to living a life of greater meaning and joy."
Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. Unlike most nonfiction works, which I generally find would be better if they were 20% shorter, this one didn't drag or feel overly repetitive. So, kudos to the author for that.
Having said that, I did find that the exercises she included at the end of every chapter were lengthy and repetitive. So, I wished she had chosen some different exercises to sprinkle throughout the book. Also, Chapter 10: Playing with Death was significantly weaker than the other chapters and probably could have been eliminated without any loss. (In fact, the book may have been stronger without it.)
These are minor flaws, however, which is why I gave it four stars. Overall, it was a thought-provoking work, filled with tremendous insights on and powerful quotations about death. And I think everyone who is interested in overcoming their fears of death would benefit greatly by reading it.
As I usually do with the nonfiction works I review on goodreads, I'll wrap up with a few powerful observations from the book. I typed up 13 pages of single-spaced notes from this work, so it's hard to choose just a few highlights to share. But I'll try.
“In a culture determined to avoid bad or sad thoughts, and when scientific medicine regards death chiefly as a failure of intervention, the unavoidable fact of death becomes a serious issue. Death was once a part of everyday life; dead bodies were seen on a regular basis, and our encounters with death were contained by rituals, traditions, or belief systems that enlivened it with meaning. Today, in a largely secular world, death has simply become the enemy, the antithesis of that we hold dear: light, pleasure, and life. We regard death as a great evil, a problem to be solved, and an idea to be avoided.” [p. 13]
“This distancing from death – and our expectation that we will enjoy a long, healthy, happy, and pain-free life – is, as far as I can tell, an anomaly in all of human history. The luxury of viewing death as remote and ‘other’ seems to be unique to our particular time and place.” [p. 35]
“…in the early twentieth century, a writer for the Ladies’ Home Journal made a case for renaming the home parlor ‘the Living Room.’ The parlor, once a place to mourn and honor the dead, could now become a place for the living to enjoy their lives.” [p. 36]
“Far from morbid, contemplating death in this way is the best method I’ve found for revealing, with clarity, what it is we really value. I have found no better tool for inspiring us with the will and courage to make the changes necessary to live a life that is true to ourselves and in accord with our real values; one that will, or so we can hope, leave us with the fewest deathbed regrets.” [p. 71]
“When we lose something we love – be that a loved one, a home, or a job – we suffer. These losses are an inevitable part of the human experience. To love and to lose is an inescapable part of life. Losing someone you love to death is arguably the greatest of these losses.” [p. 96]
“To love and to lose is to grieve. To love that which is impermanent, that which can be lost, is, by its very nature, to make oneself vulnerable to grief. The more deeply we love, the more vulnerable we are to the commensurate pain of loss.” [pp. 97-98]
“To me, the idea of living forever sounds like its own kind of hell, as does the idea of living without a body! I personally find it comforting to think that one day, at least this incarnation of my life will end. But to many of us, in a culture that prides itself on its ability to control life, to transcend nature, to reduce risk and do everything in its power to ensure a long, healthy life, death is the ultimate insult.” [p. 135]
“Fear of death is often asserted as a universal human characteristic, part of the human condition. But a look at the historical record – and even the world today – makes it clear that this is not the case. How we feel about death has a great deal to do with when and where we were born, and the culture in which we were raised.” [p. 135]
“No matter what you do, no matter what precautions you take, how safe you are, or how much you exercise and eat the ‘right’ foods, there is no way to escape death, or even know we can postpone it. Death will come for us all, and we don’t know when or how. There is no possibility of total security, no way to guarantee our safety and survival.” [p. 143]
“It was only by spending a good amount of time in countries other than the United States that I began to notice how uniquely obsessed my home country is with security, safety, and control. To me, the single-minded pursuit of security seems like a fool’s errand because it is, at its heart, an attempt to avoid death.” [p. 144]
“It seems to me that there is some way in which an overzealous mitigation of risk – motivated by fear of injury or death – cuts us off from something necessary; that only by sitting in death’s proximity can we truly feel the fullness of life.” [p. 147]
“…for those who possess ‘morbid curiosity.’ The morbidly curious are defined as individuals interested in topics such as death, violence, disaster and the macabre. Researchers have found that exploring morbid topics can help individuals regulate their emotions. By controlling fear and anxiety in a controlled manner, people may experience a sense of catharsis or relief. Those with morbid curiosity exhibit other personality traits, including curiosity more generally and openness to experience.” [p. 179]
“An intriguing study led by behavior scientists Cotan Scrivner examined the fact that morbidly curious people and horror fans fared better during the COVID-19 pandemic. This speaks to a phenomenon that I had noted, anecdotally, in the Morbid Anatomy community: that those who are interested in death – the morbidly curious – seemed to fare much better in the strange, uncertain times of the pandemic, and expressed far less of the anxiety and despair I noticed in many of those who do not share this predilection. Scrivner and his colleagues report that morbid curiosity promotes ‘positive resilience,’ which is the possibility of having positive experiences even when encountering a threatening or frightening situation. Because people who are morbidly curious were able to find the pandemic not only scary but also interesting, they were able to experience less psychological distress.’” [pp. 179-180]
“Yes, it is true, we will die. You, I, and everyone we know. And you know what? That’s OK. We can use the gift of our time on earth to affirm having been here, by making our own unique marks, to leave a record of that which we loved, to affirm life in the face of – and in response to – death. We can do so with real joy, having accepted – and perhaps even embraced – the fact that our lives, and the lives of all we love, will, inevitably, end.” [p. 213]
October 20, 2025
Reading this during active grief made for interesting introspection. Think about the ways we think about death in America and our ancestral cultures. What are the differences and what resonates with you? This is all about removing the fear from the morbid topic. I enjoyed this book, but I felt there could have been more sociological perspectives of how others grieve and perceive death to be fully rounded. I also would like to see a distinction between cultures with closed practices and not.
This is a very Caitlin Doughty style of discussing death and I appreciate the narrative for that. There are journal and writing prompts offered after each chapter to challenge our expectations about death. I will be working on these prompts to expand on my own writing and thoughts on death. Like I mentioned, reading this through active grief is interesting and definitely shapes how you absorb the material.
For more recommendations, reviews, and impressions – visit my blog at http://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com
This is a very Caitlin Doughty style of discussing death and I appreciate the narrative for that. There are journal and writing prompts offered after each chapter to challenge our expectations about death. I will be working on these prompts to expand on my own writing and thoughts on death. Like I mentioned, reading this through active grief is interesting and definitely shapes how you absorb the material.
For more recommendations, reviews, and impressions – visit my blog at http://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com
December 29, 2024
Memento mori is an old saying that has us remember our mortality, and as I get older, I think about death quite a bit. I’m a former drug addict who worked in a rehab for a few years, so I’ve experienced a lot of death. I’m only 39 years old, but it’s regularly on my mind. Fortunately, it’s not in a bad way. Thinking about death really makes me grateful for how far I’ve come, the people I have in my life, and everything else life has to offer. This book really highlights all of that in a great way, and I think it can help a lot of people who struggle with the thought of death.
Joanna Ebenstein covers just about every angle of death. From dealing with our own mortality to the grieving process, making plans for our family once we pass and so much more. She also gives readers a lot of information about how various cultures around the world deal with death, and it’s super interesting because there are some great lessons we can take from others.
My only criticism of the book is a personal one that I don’t think many others will mind. I think the book on its own is pretty perfect, but at the end of each chapter, it’s very mainstream self-helpy in the fact that it gives you little activities to do to reflect on the lessons from the chapter. For me, it kind of messed up the flow of the book a little bit. Other than that, I absolutely loved it and hope a lot of people read it.
Joanna Ebenstein covers just about every angle of death. From dealing with our own mortality to the grieving process, making plans for our family once we pass and so much more. She also gives readers a lot of information about how various cultures around the world deal with death, and it’s super interesting because there are some great lessons we can take from others.
My only criticism of the book is a personal one that I don’t think many others will mind. I think the book on its own is pretty perfect, but at the end of each chapter, it’s very mainstream self-helpy in the fact that it gives you little activities to do to reflect on the lessons from the chapter. For me, it kind of messed up the flow of the book a little bit. Other than that, I absolutely loved it and hope a lot of people read it.
January 18, 2025
I wanted to love this book. The good - well researched and solidly written, with early and finishing chapters full of useful contemplations, info, and questions. The meh - author seems (IMHO) more fascinated with death than by how knowing we’ll die can profoundly impact how we live. That’s the essential point or goal of the book but there’s so much meandering in the middle about what I viewed as fetishization of death. The fault could be all mine here as without my stoicism practice, where I was first introduced to the practice of Memento Mori, and without the Oliver Burkeman (LOVE HIS STUFF) endorsement, I probably wouldn’t have read this book.
April 9, 2026
Three stars because, while the writing itself is good, on a more personal level this was closer to a two-star read for me.
I think my main issue lies in how the book is described. The synopsis begins by calling it "a transformative guide to embrace your own mortality and live a more fulfilling life." I would not describe the contents of this book as transformative in any meaningful sense.
Occasionally, there is a line or observation that offers an interesting perspective on death, but for the most part this book reads as a historical and anecdotal overview of how death is viewed and treated across different cultures. In practice, the author seems to focus on only a handful of them, which is fine, though she only keeps coming back to those few. Much of the book feels like a collection of connected tidbits and facts. Unfortunately, very little of it felt new or especially insightful.
The material on death practices and cultural attitudes toward mortality struck me as extremely basic and almost like common knowledge. I found myself struggling to imagine many readers coming to this book without already being familiar with much of what is discussed. Perhaps that is not entirely the author's fault; maybe I have simply already spent enough time with these topics that the information felt familiar. Still, based on the description, this was not at all what I was expecting.
I was hoping for something more profound, like deeper commentary on the end-of-life experience, or a more original and meaningful way of coming to terms with death (or at least provide a vehicle to what that could mean to you). Instead, what I found was largely superficial—if occasionally practical—advice about your view on life while you are alive and becoming more "comfortable" with death by thinking about it more often. The exercises and suggestions, such as watching films about death or responding to journal prompts, felt very surface-level to me, and the prompts themselves rarely moved beyond superficiality.
I also had a difficult time identifying who exactly this book is for. Perhaps it would be most useful to a younger reader or to someone who has had very little prior exposure to discussions of death and mortality. For anyone already familiar with the subject, however, I do not think this book offers much beyond a broad, introductory survey.
Ultimately, Memento Mori feels more like a surface-level look at death across time and cultures than the introspective, emotionally resonant exploration the description led me to expect. I gave it three stars because I cannot fault the writing style itself; Joanna Ebenstein writes clearly and well. However, the book was ultimately disappointing because it never truly delivers on what it seems to promise.
I think my main issue lies in how the book is described. The synopsis begins by calling it "a transformative guide to embrace your own mortality and live a more fulfilling life." I would not describe the contents of this book as transformative in any meaningful sense.
Occasionally, there is a line or observation that offers an interesting perspective on death, but for the most part this book reads as a historical and anecdotal overview of how death is viewed and treated across different cultures. In practice, the author seems to focus on only a handful of them, which is fine, though she only keeps coming back to those few. Much of the book feels like a collection of connected tidbits and facts. Unfortunately, very little of it felt new or especially insightful.
The material on death practices and cultural attitudes toward mortality struck me as extremely basic and almost like common knowledge. I found myself struggling to imagine many readers coming to this book without already being familiar with much of what is discussed. Perhaps that is not entirely the author's fault; maybe I have simply already spent enough time with these topics that the information felt familiar. Still, based on the description, this was not at all what I was expecting.
I was hoping for something more profound, like deeper commentary on the end-of-life experience, or a more original and meaningful way of coming to terms with death (or at least provide a vehicle to what that could mean to you). Instead, what I found was largely superficial—if occasionally practical—advice about your view on life while you are alive and becoming more "comfortable" with death by thinking about it more often. The exercises and suggestions, such as watching films about death or responding to journal prompts, felt very surface-level to me, and the prompts themselves rarely moved beyond superficiality.
I also had a difficult time identifying who exactly this book is for. Perhaps it would be most useful to a younger reader or to someone who has had very little prior exposure to discussions of death and mortality. For anyone already familiar with the subject, however, I do not think this book offers much beyond a broad, introductory survey.
Ultimately, Memento Mori feels more like a surface-level look at death across time and cultures than the introspective, emotionally resonant exploration the description led me to expect. I gave it three stars because I cannot fault the writing style itself; Joanna Ebenstein writes clearly and well. However, the book was ultimately disappointing because it never truly delivers on what it seems to promise.
August 29, 2024
What an honor to get a chance to read this a little early.
This encompasses everything I personally needed: an exploration of religion and death, and some ways to journal my way through the thought process. Ebenstein truly gives you every tool and recourse you might need, and includes the ones you didn't even think of. Despite running a book club with the fulcrum being death, I'm petrified of it. This helped tremendously.
I will be revisiting this in the future to truly experience the 12 week program. I will be recommending this and possibly shouting about it from rooftops; to be decided.
Thanks Joanna and team!
This encompasses everything I personally needed: an exploration of religion and death, and some ways to journal my way through the thought process. Ebenstein truly gives you every tool and recourse you might need, and includes the ones you didn't even think of. Despite running a book club with the fulcrum being death, I'm petrified of it. This helped tremendously.
I will be revisiting this in the future to truly experience the 12 week program. I will be recommending this and possibly shouting about it from rooftops; to be decided.
Thanks Joanna and team!
April 18, 2025
This is a nice and interesting book, but I feel I'm not its target. I think it's better suited for people who have no knowledge of the subject as it's perfect for a first approach. It's quite interactive, which was odd for me as I'm lazy af and have spent too many decades thinking and writing about death already thus wasn´t too motivated to answer the questions (Really tried the first chapters) or do the creative exercises. So around chapter three I just went on reading and started skipping the interactive part at the end of each chapter.
It's still a lovely book, really well written and researched, perfect as an invitation to start thinking about death to live well.
It's still a lovely book, really well written and researched, perfect as an invitation to start thinking about death to live well.
September 12, 2025
My rating is not about the purpose of the book or its relevance but my personal reaction. This is a self-help book on coping with the idea of death written for those who are obviously interested but not ready for it. I don’t share that attitude, so the approach here, of journal prompts and seminar-y chapters, dulled my interest from the get-go. A lot of people will no doubt get a lot from this book, but I have no interest in a 12-week course on this subject when my interest was more in reading a more thoughtful book than instructional. If you are of like mind, I highly recommend Caitlin Doughty.
February 6, 2026
It was interesting, but she presents opinions and ideas too often as facts, or as something she expects you to adopt as facts. She send pretty obsessed with death, not in a good way. As a Christian, I didn't feel very validated, like I was being told I should change my beliefs of I want to think about death the "right" way. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the idea of memento mori, amor fati, carpe diem, and other such philosophies. I gained a lot from the book, but I was also annoyed in many ways. it would be nice to read a book about the memento mori philosophy that isn't trying to be a persuasive argument.
March 31, 2026
In reality, I would give this book 3.5 stars. It does an excellent job delivering introspective dialogue, though at times I felt it relied heavily on repetition and lacks truly novel ideas. That said, this may not have been the author’s intention, but rather their goal was to compile existing ideas into a cohesive exploration of the self.
I would recommend this book to anyone willing to delve into their unconscious and confront deeper insecurities surrounding life and death. Ebenstein will make you realize the vast amount of uncomfortable truths in the world, but engaging with them can ultimately lead to living a more fulfilling life!
I would recommend this book to anyone willing to delve into their unconscious and confront deeper insecurities surrounding life and death. Ebenstein will make you realize the vast amount of uncomfortable truths in the world, but engaging with them can ultimately lead to living a more fulfilling life!
Read
October 19, 2025Skimmed. I didnt read this book as self-help. I enjoyed the cataloguing of beliefs and practices about and around death in different cultures and religions, and i enjoyed my own research triggered by it even more. Though the facts are accurate (often only the bare bones of those things), the frames and logic around it, and the conclusions drawn from it, are sometimes inaccurate and distorted by a modern post colonialism perspective. A bit ironic as this book strives to break out of the usual western narrative.
May 30, 2025
This book, I'm sure, is loved by a lot of people. That being said it wasn't for me. Not because it didn't go deep, but because it didn't go deep enough for me. I appreciate and follow Stoic Philosophy (Where the concept of Memento Mori originated.) If this is your first foray into the concept, then this may be the book for you.
April 16, 2026
This book was surprisingly motivational. I went into it thinking it would be morbid but it really highlighted a new perspective around death for me that provoked my thought. I took some pretty extensive notes on this book too that i know I'll be referring back to in looking for inspiration to better my life.
January 6, 2025
I would give this book 10 stars! This will be a book I will return to many times in the future! Beautifully written, eye opening lessons, and the exercises/prompts at the end of each chapter, plus the appendices are a wonderful bonus. I wish everyone in the world could read this.
February 23, 2025
This is the kind of book that lingers with you—it changes the way you see your time, your relationships, and even your daily choices. It’s not about morbidity; it’s about appreciating life in a more profound way. Enjoyed it 👍
January 24, 2025
3.5 stars
March 9, 2025
Perfect gift for anyone who is going to die. So, anyone.
March 28, 2025
This book is amazing. I got it from the library and then ordered my own copy so I can read it properly as designed.
I HIGHLY recommend this book.
I HIGHLY recommend this book.
April 1, 2025
Interesting but definitely not a good book for me at this moment
Want to Read
June 19, 2025DMPL EXAMINED 250619 12 CHAPTERS, 1 FOR EACH WEEK WITH EXERCISES AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER PROBABLY NOT
August 19, 2025
Take the author's advice and read each chapter once a week. I feel like I got more out of this book doing that than I would have if I tried to digest everything all at once.
January 2, 2026
“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning”
May 8, 2025
Joanna Ebenstein writes about death the way some people write about skincare routines. Methinks she's obsessed with Death--not in a humble, philosophical "memento mori" way, but in a show-me-your-bone-collection kinda way. Honestly, respect.
February 26, 2025
I loved the idea of contemplating death to live a better life. The book does an excellent job putting it into practice.
I don't agree with every idea explored in the book and the author itself suggests readers to keep an open mind. I liked that.
On the negatives - book feels a bit "home-worky" with lots of activities at the end, may help a lot of people but not my thing. Style could be more engaging, sometimes is not the book you are eager to turn to the next page. Maybe I read it too quickly and the theme is heavy - author suggests one chapter a week and doing the activities, but again that looked a bit too "self-help" style for me
I don't agree with every idea explored in the book and the author itself suggests readers to keep an open mind. I liked that.
On the negatives - book feels a bit "home-worky" with lots of activities at the end, may help a lot of people but not my thing. Style could be more engaging, sometimes is not the book you are eager to turn to the next page. Maybe I read it too quickly and the theme is heavy - author suggests one chapter a week and doing the activities, but again that looked a bit too "self-help" style for me
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