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Natural causes : an epidemic of wellness, the certainty of dying, and killing ourselves to live longer / Barbara Ehrenreich.

by Ehrenreich, Barbara.

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Death -- Sociological aspects.

9781455535910 (hc.)

xv, 234 pages ; 22 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-234).

Introduction -- Midlife revolt -- Rituals of humiliation -- The veneer of science -- Crushing the body -- The madness of mindfulness -- Death in social context -- The war between conflict and harmony -- Cellular treason -- Tiny minds -- "Successful aging" -- The invention of the self -- Killing the self, rejoicing in a living world.

Natural Causes describes how we over-prepare and worry way too much about what is inevitable. One by one, Ehrenreich topples the shibboleths that guide our attempts to live a long, healthy life, from the importance of preventive medical screenings to the concepts of wellness and mindfulness, from dietary fads to fitness culture. The author goes deeper, into the fundamental unreliability of our bodies. Starting with the mysterious and seldom-acknowledged tendency of our own immune cells to promote deadly cancers, Ehrenreich looks into the cellular basis of aging, and shows how little control we actually have over it. We tend to believe we have agency over our bodies, our minds, and even over the manner of our deaths. But science shows that the microscopic subunits of our bodies make their own "decisions," and not always in our favor. We may buy expensive anti-aging products or cosmetic surgery, get preventive screenings and eat more kale, or throw ourselves into meditation and spirituality. But all these things offer only the illusion of control. How to live well, even joyously, while accepting our mortality - that is the important philosophical challenge of this book. Drawing on varied sources, from personal experience and sociological trends to pop culture and scientific literature, this book examines the ways in which we obsess over death, our bodies, and our health. Investigative journalist Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of 21 books, including Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America (2001). She has a PhD in cellular immunology from Rockefeller University.

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