Design for Dying

by Timothy Leary

As the fringe guru himself put it, "Mademoiselle Cancer moved in to share [his] body." But in the days before he died, Leary -- never one to miss an opportunity for a party -- used his approaching death to create an exuberant new vision of what dying can be. Optimism, courage, joy and spirituality were central to Leary's final days and his death. Design for Dying -- Leary's last book -- shows us how we too can make dying the high point of life. Irreverent, thought-provoking and hilarious, Leary's parting shot pioneers new ways to die and new ways for the living to think about death. Urging us to take control of our deaths (and even to determine when and how we will die), Leary relates his own plan for "directed dying," a death we plan and orchestrate to reflect our own lives and values. And the psychedelic prophet flings open a whole new range of beyond-death possibilites for the wired generation. From downloading consciousness onto the Net -- so that our souls can outlive our bodies -- to the way technology can enhance the final days of the dying to the far-out promises of cryogenics, Leary provides fascinating insights into how technology may eventually help us improve, and even sidestep, death. A thorough guide to death and dying resources and to online tools and further reading lists completes this surprising, funny and totally original look at the new frontiers of death. Speaking to everyone who has ever wondered if there's more to death - -if there's life beyond the final frontier, if death really means the end, if dirges and hearses and funeral flowers are really how we want to be remembered -- Leary's flamboyant final statement rteveals revolutionary ways to die and redefines, with Leary's trademark creativity and joy, how the living can think about death.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Death, Drugs, Spirituality, Counter Culture

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 9, 1997

About the author

Timothy Francis Leary was an American writer, psychologist, futurist, modern pioneer and advocate of psychedelic drug research and use, and one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD. He coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."

Reviews

[Vaggelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Timothy Leary είναι ο πατέρας τής ψυχεδέλειας.

Έζησε μία εκπληκτική ζωή, καί η προσέγγιση του στον επικείμενο θάνατο τού αποτελεί έμπνευση.

Το βιβλίο έχει χιούμορ και αμφισβητεί ανοιχτά κοινωνικές δομές καί θεσμούς πού κάνουν την ιδέα τού θανάτου ταμπού ή εμπορεύσιμο προϊόν.

Το πνεύμα πολλών ανθρώπων από τα 60' s λείπει από την εποχή μας.
Ήταν ένα πνεύμα αναζήτησης καί πειραματισμού.

Όλα ήταν πιο ανοιχτά,και τό "λάθος" ήταν κομμάτι μιας ολοκληρωμένης εμπειρίας.

Ο F.Zappa είχε πει ότι τα 60"s δεν ήταν τόσο σπουδαία όπως ακουγόταν, αλλά σίγουρα υπήρχε περισσότερος χώρος για έκφραση και δημιουργία.

Ο Leary το αποδεικνύει αυτό παντού σέ αυτό το βιβλίο.
4/5

[Kmsprag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brave, poetic, crazy, inconsistent - just like the man himself. He wrote it as he was dying, discussing what death means today in the face of modern science. He speaks frankly about how he chose to die - not the choices everyone would make of course, but compelling. This is a great little book taking on a vital and challenging topic that usually either gets ignored or railroaded down conventional religious/moral tracks. More books should be written like. And better books have, but I haven't read those. This is the one that helped me form my own ideas when I read it ten years ago. I had just faced a grandfather's slow death from Alzheimer's and my mother's bout with serious illness(thankfully we won that one). The book's effect was profound. A little dated now, if you can find a copy you get the added bonus of waltzing down a memory lane filled with early 90s pop and celebrity culture.

[Zac Ballin · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird dude

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

far out 👾 can't wait ;P

[Lindsey Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This changed the way I view death and dying. I bought this because my father in law was making some choices about his own death. Total eye opener. We are taught to "fight death" until our dying breath, maybe in a hospital which is sheer denial. When faced with the inevitable, why not celebrate it, orchestrate it and manage it. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall at your own funeral, this shows you how by throwing your own going away party. I had cancer and this booke stayed with me. I'll still remember this to my dying day - literally.

[Jonnythrombosis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will help you to see life & death from different perspectives.

[Gareth]

Leary will always be remembered as the high-priest of LSD - but he was so much more than that. A high-ranking academic Harvard psychologist, his first acquaintance with the drug was through legitimate, government funded psychological experiments, and it was only later that he broke ranks to join the growing counter-culture, famously advising people to "Tune in, turn on, drop out" of the authoritarian, capitalist death machine that he had up until that point been in service of. His autobiography - brilliantly entitled "Flashbacks"! - is well worth a read, and underlines just how much more interesting Leary the person was than Leary the myth.

Design for Dying is his last book, written as he was dying of cancer, and published posthumously. It is a wild ride, ranging through a critique of conventional Western attitudes to death, how we are trapped linguistically and ideologically in a restricted sense of self, and the various alternatives, both philosophical and technological. The latter alternatives come under the transhumanist umbrella: cryonic preservation of the corpse until science can resurrect us; the use of nanotechnology to rebuild dead cells; the digitisation of consciousness and upload to a computer; and so on. At the end, however, while he seemed to have planned to have his head cryogenically frozen, he ultimately backed out. His last words were apparently "Why not?", an utterance as enigmatic as the man himself.

Gareth Southwell is a philosopher, writer and illustrator.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's a shaman a man way before his tune. We should all be so crazy

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Design for Dying features a holographic cover and cutting-edge 90s cyberpunk graphic design. Timothy Leary attempts to turn his own death into a groovy psychedelic circus.

After reading his friends' accounts in the second half of the book, I'm left with the impression that Leary was mainly a showman and that he wasn't honest about his true feelings and experiences around dying

So, while he had some innovative and provocative ideas, the book felt hollow to me.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about this interesting man's life by getting this glimpse at his process for death. He was conscious and exuberant about his life, and maintained that attitude for his own death. His final acts sought to make it okay to talk about the choices and make them for yourself, rather than let death just happen to you.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fun read. I enjoyed the historical people and places that made appearances in it. I enjoy Agatha Christie novels in part because they give you a glimpse into another time and place and This book also had that feel of getting a glimpse into the past. Fun, light hearted reading!