A very interesting and eye-opening study of how different cultures care for their dead, as studied by mortician and author Caitlin Doughty; from families in Indonesia housing a loved one’s body (for years!), to Tibetan sky burials where, once someone dies, he or she is laid out to be eaten by vultures (Doughty’s selected choice for her posthumous remains). Practices in the United States are featured as well, such as the only open-air pyre in practice, and experiments with composting human bodies in North Carolina. Doughty addresses corporatization of death, as exhibited by many funeral parlors, cremation as a means to help reduce the carbon footprint, and the growing popularity of natural burials. What she’s often found is that rituals meaningful in one culture may be viewed with distaste (or fascination) by another. And she’s also found, in the U.S. especially, there’s a tendency to disassociate with a body once it expires. Though living with grandma’s body for years may seem extreme, so too does a hospital and/or funeral home strictly enforcing a time limit of an hour (or less) to sit with the body and grieve. Accompanying the text are great illustrations by Landis Blair. – Sara Z.