Reviews

Over the past couple of months I have received several books to review that had to do with death and dying. Because of several serious health challenges and recent deaths in our family, I wasn’t looking forward to reading and reviewing books about death. However, when I picked up Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images, I was pleasantly surprised at its warmth and beauty. . . . The book provides a gentle way for the person who is dying to reflect, reminisce and communicate their thoughts and feelings in their final days. Not only can the person who is dying find comfort and peace, but so can their loved ones as they also meditates on the verses and beautiful pictures.

. . . A book such as Facing Death is a God-send for those who need to hear comforting words or just look at the beautiful pictures to gain a sense of peave and comfort.

. . . If you or a loved one is facing death, I highly recommend Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images as a means of comfort and communication.

Edie Dykeman.
Web author of the "Elder Care Cafe: Caring for the Elderly"

This is a beautiful and moving book. This is not a book to read, but a book to experience. Each page has an incredible picture and then a short poem or sentence below. Linda’s words help to open up the conversation about what it means to be traveling toward the end of one’s life. Whether you are a private person and want to work through your thoughts by yourself, or if you would like to share this book as a way to encourage others to support you on your journey, Facing Death is a healing gift for us all.

Viki Kind, MA.
Bioethicist, hospice volunteer and medical educator
Author of The Caregiver’s Path to Compassionate Decision Making: Making Choices for Those Who Can't

I opened the book and found a beautiful gift. The images quicken my heart and remind me of the beauty I've experienced at the bedside of dying loved ones and clients. Each page invites me to stop, meditate, and appreciate. Exquisite images and words will lighten any heart facing death...and life.

Joan Chadbourne, EdD
Founder of Healing Conversations Now andAuthor of Healing Conversations Toward End-of-Life

Linda Watson has created a brilliant journal filled with awe-inspiring photography whose beauty is only surpassed by the poignancy of the written messages. A simple yet profound work, it offers a way out of suffering and into peace for people who are dying and bereaved.

Rev. Linda M. Amador, MDiv, MPH, CT, CRP
Christian Minister
Certified Thanatologist, Spiritual Director, Grief Facilitator, Hospice/Hospital Chaplain

This book will touch your heart and soul with hope, even in the midst of grief, through inspirational sayings and pictures. This book also provides a unique opportunity for the reader to capture their thoughts as well as sayings that have inspired them during their grief journey. Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images combines the thoughts and inspirations of the writer and the reader.

Jan Borgman, LISW-S, FT
Bereavement Manager, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Author Linda Watson and photographer Maggie Sale have combined their considerable talents to produce a visually stunning book entitled Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images. Drawing upon the teachings of the Abrahamic faiths, Native American wisdom, poets, and sages, they have crafted a volume with words to live by, comfort for those facing the end of life and a balm for those who are grieving. Part inspiration and part diary for collecting your own thoughts, reflections, and pictures, this beautiful book stands as a lovely gift to someone who is struggling with illness or mourning or for yourself as you make meaning of the journey.

Eunice Gorman, RN, BSW, MSW, PhD, RSW
Thanatology
Department of Interdisciplinary Programs King's University College at U.W.O.

This easy to read mini-book is filled with inspirational ideas, thought-provoking sentences and incredibly stunning photographs. Much of the general public can relate to the universal themes illustrated. Anyone interested in self-reflection can read a page at a time to provide 'food for thought'. In addition, the book can be used by health care professionals as a springboard to open dialogue, particularly with clients facing life-limiting illness. We believe this to be a simple yet potentially powerful tool that can provide much comfort to those grieving.

Rose De Angelis, RN, MSc (A), CHPCN (C)
Assistant Executive Director/Nursing Director and
Theresa Dellar, MSW, PSW, CT
Executive Director/Founder
The West Island Palliative Care Residence

Facing Death is a practical, focused, celebrative, and much-needed resource for individuals, families, places of worship, and communities. It encourages and supports what life is all about—living well, aging well, and dying well!
It is a soft, gentle, hope-filled, and Godly companion for all of us who are dealing with death, either today, tomorrow, or in the times ahead. (And that means all of us, in case you haven’t noticed!) . . .
I recommend this resource especially to those who are dealing right now with the imminent death of someone—as a way to reflect feelings and share with special people around them. I would suggest that both caregivers and care receivers can be affirmed and supported through these pages. It says what we may want to say when we think to ourselves, “I don’t know what to say.”
Thanks to the author and photographer for sharing their faith stories with us through words and images. Hopefully, their stories will enable each of us to better deal with how we live well, age well, and die well—as we continue to celebrate life as a gift from God!

Richard Bimler, LHD, LittD,
Ambassador of Health, Hope & and Aging,
Lutheran Life Communities, Bloomingdale, IL
National Interfaith Coalition on Aging
October 29, 2009

Facing Death, a Companion in Words and Images by Linda Watson, Photography by Maggie Sale, is a beautiful compilation of photographs and inspirational passages that can help nourish the soul and heal the most wounded spirit.

Patricia Grace
Senior Care Examiner
examiner.com
September 22, 2009

Featuring a wealth of beautiful, full-color nature photography, Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images is a thoughtful and helpful book intended particularly for the terminally ill or those in the final days or weeks of their lives. Reflective text passages meant to be read aloud or contemplated in private offer comfort and spiritual guidance, and several pages of blank lines for the reader to write down his or her thoughts allow Facing Death to be personalized and passed on as a keepsake. Some of the text passages are religious or spiritual, but Facing Death does not limit itself to any one branch of a faith - there are quotes from Jesus, a Rabbi, the Prophet Mohammed ("I put my trust in God, My Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature, but He hath grasp of its forelock.") and many others. Highly recommended as a gift book for anyone confronting the end of their lives, as well as and those closest to them.

Midwest Book Review
Wisconsin Book Watch
Volume 4, Number 9, September 2009

Linda Watson and Maggie Sale, photographer of Toronto, have been collaborating on a book that is now on the market (July, 2009). It is an unusual book, in that it is for people who are dying and for those closest to them. It is titled: Facing Death: A Companion in Words and Images, and is published by Health Professions Press of Baltimore. Not only is the book unusual, it is actually unique in the publishing world. It is book that is practical and useful for the one who is dying, as it includes stunning nature photographs paired with brief messages -- some just basic practical helps, some that validate feelings, and some that focus on the spiritual and meaning-making dimensions of the end-of-life experience. It also has space for journaling and adding one’s own treasured photographs and mementos. However, it is also designed for those around the person who is dying in the hopes that it might increase both understanding and comfort, plus help open up a conversation about death and dying that is often so difficult to broach. Blessed reading... and sight!

examiner.com
National
July 26, 2009