Die Wise Audiobook By Stephen Jenkinson cover art

Die Wise

A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul

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Die Wise

By: Stephen Jenkinson
Narrated by: Stephen Jenkinson
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Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the discussion and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail to live forever.

Dying well, Jenkinson writes, is a right and responsibility of everyone. It is not a lifestyle option. It is a moral, political, and spiritual obligation all people owe their ancestors and their heirs. Die Wise dreams such a dream and plots such an uprising. How we die, how we care for dying people, and how we carry our dead: This work makes our capacity for a village-mindedness - or breaks it.

©2015 Stephen Jenkinson (P)2016 Stephen Jenkinson Grief & Loss Personal Development Relationships Social Sciences Sociology Witty Funny

Critic reviews

"Stephen Jenkinson's elegant and sorrow-freighted book brings prophetic insight rather than pastoral affirmations. A true story-man, Jenkinson paints image after image on the cave wall of his parchment. Die Wise is a formidable body of work, road-tested in ways most of us hope never to know about." (Dr. Martin Shaw, author of Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language)

Featured Article: A Future Corpse's Guide to Death Acceptance


Confronting death does not necessitate a spiral into despondency. Instead we may come a realization that, in acknowledging and accepting this fate, we paradoxically lead fuller and more emotionally present lives. In this list, scholars, physicians, journalists, philosophers, and death professionals share their stories, perspectives, and advice, offering a glimpse into how we can prepare for the end with grace, heart, and humor.

Featured Article A Future Corpse's Guide to Death Acceptance
Profound Wisdom • Powerful Storytelling • Beautiful Voice • Transformative Perspective • Eloquent Narration
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This book is quiet and momentous, challenging and nurturing. It is for everyone who seeks to see our culture more clearly, and who seeks another way of being within that culture.
The book deserves to be listened to meditatively, in the same manner in which it was written. There are no quick or easy lessons within, but if patience is applied, there are rich benefits of perspective and wisdom and solemnity. Don't fail to listen thoroughly, all the way to the end.
I am thankful to have listened to "Die Wise" on audio book. While I am certain that reading it on paper would have been worthwhile, Stephen Jenkinson's reading of his own words feels like a privilege.
This truly is a deep, necessary, and uncommon gift.

A deep and necessary experience.

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Clearly, I don’t know what I don’t know. I feel like I just got the gist on this first listen despite making notes on many saved clips. There’s some visceral change happening that I can’t put my finger on. I’m still reframing grief.

This week, two different people told me about their best friend who died or is in hospice dying. I showed up differently for them than I would have before reading this book, and I can’t quite name it. But a certain fear or aversion has dissolved or is dissolving. I felt more present and open … accepting that death is a mystery.
I’m learning and questioning practices that have been the norm. I’ll keep working on what it means to Die Wise.

So rich, I need to listen again

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I listened to the author read this book on Audible. Soon after starting, I realized that I needed the print version to highlight and reflect. After I finished the audio version, I looked at my highlights and took notes on what stood out to me. I plan to repeat the entire process again. I don't usually feel that strongly about the value of the content. This book is thought provoking and potentially paradigm shifting on many aspects of dying and death. I need a second read to go deeper yet.
If you are interested in the topic of dying well, read this book. And maybe re-read it again.

Thought provoking and paradigm shifting

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The editing is a little rough, though I love hearing it from the author himself. The content is fantastic.

Amazing book, mediocre editing on audio

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Most will never hear of this important book. Of those who do, most won't pick it up. Of those, fewer still will consume it whole. They are the fortunate, and the burdened. May we bear the burden and share the blessing with grace.

So Needed

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I have enjoyed Stephen's readings of his books. if you're looking for some wisdom from the other end of life, may I highly recommend this.

Fantastic and soulful

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This should be required reading in all schools. It is beautiful, heart-wrenching, eye-opening… it brings you home. A must read for the living.

Most important book I’ve ever read

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if you are lucky enough to come across this audiobook, or have had it recommended to you and you are reading the comments to ascertain if you should put the 20h of your life in to listen... here's a neon sign flashing at you to listen. will you be happier, wiser, or more "enlightened" after? not sure... but maybe, you'll be more equipped to partake in the wonder to come, in whatever comes next in your life, after you listen. yes that sounds wooey and cheesy when I say it but it'll sound eloquent and immensely sincere when Stephen Jenkinson says it.

taking in the beauty

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This was the most profound and re-orienting books I’ve ever read. It really changed the way I always viewed life and death.

Vital human education

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Jenkinson takes the reader on a deep dive into the physical, emotional, and spiritual mysteries of dying and death. It’s hard work to consider his words, but profitable. It’s not necessary for the reader to accept all Jenkinson’s assumptions to benefit from the depth of this treatise.

Well worth reading

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