David Shields has accomplished something here so pure and wide in its implications that I almost think of it as a secular unsentimental Kahlil Gibran a textbook for the acceptance of our fate on earth Jonathan LethemMesmerizedat times unnervedby his ninety-seven-year-old fathers nearly superhuman vitality and optimism David Shields undertakes an investigation of the human physical condition The result is this exhilarating book both a personal meditation on mortality and an exploration of flesh-and-blood existence from crib to oblivionan exploration that paradoxically prompts a renewed and profound appreciation of lifeShields begins with the facts of birth and childhood expertly weaving in anecdotal information about himself and his father As the book proceeds through adolescence middle age old age he juxtaposes biological details with bits of philosophical speculation cultural history and criticism and quotations from a wide range of writers and thinkersfrom Lucretius to Woody Allenyielding a magical whole the universal story of our bodily being a tender and often hilarious portrait of one familyA book of extraordinary depth and resonance The Thing About Life Is That One Day Youll Be Dead will move readers to contemplate the brevity and radiance of their own sojourn on earth and challenge them to rearrange their thinking in unexpected and crucial ways.
