Every Third Thought

'There can be no better guide than a wise, humane and battered-about writer like McCrum . . . I found myself encouraged and fortified' Andrew Marr'Thoughtful, subtle, elegantly clever and oddly joyous' Kate MosseIn 1995, at the age of forty-two, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke. Since that life-changing event, McCrum has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, in his sixties, he is noticing a change: his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought.And so, with the words of McCrum's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey towards death itself. This is a deeply personal book of reflection and conversation - with brain surgeons, psychologists, hospice workers and patients, writers and poets, and it confronts an existential question: in a world where we have learnt to live well at all costs, can we make peace with dying?'Engaging and honest . . . it is like wandering around with a wise peer, eavesdropping on his conversations' Daily Mail