E748 - What We Say When We're Nearing Death

My guest this week is Lisa Smartt. We are talking about her book 'Words at the Threshold: What We Say When We're Nearing Death.'

The book is based on data collected through The Final Words Project, an ongoing study devoted to gathering and interpreting the mysterious language at end of life.

A person’s last words can often be enigmatic, confusing or powerfully meaningful; they can also offer tantalizing clues about the ultimate fate of the human soul. Until now, no author has systematically studied end-of-life communication by collecting and analyzing the final utterances of...