Login
No account yet? Register

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

Deadgirl Recommends

Advertisement

Cemetery Snapshot

Catholic_Cemetery_Providence_RI.jpg.jpg

What's New at Arcadia

Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock

Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!

Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca

Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.

Announcements

Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok

An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!

Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.

A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.

Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.

Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers

For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman

Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark

Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Cause Of Death PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Friday, 04 July 2008
Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us by Jack Mingo

Now you can add to your stack of Star Wars tomes a new volume of factoid porn from George Lucas Books called Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us. Why is Lucas publishing this book full of stats about how many people die from bad breath (lots) vs. how many die from hormones (way more)? Apparently the guy just has death on his mind. Could this be a secret hint about certain events to come in the Clone Wars series and August movie?

Sadly, no. In the introduction to the entertainingly morbid volume edited by Jack Mingo, Erin Barrett, and Lucy Autrey Wilson, Lucas says expansively, "Death is all around us." He also mentions that "death is truth," as well as that it is "undeniably fascinating, " strangely troubling," and that it will "come to every single one of us." OK, so old George was dialing it in and probably didn't even read this book to find out that the United States has the highest infant death rate of any so-called developed nation (23 babies out of 100,000 die per year, 6.7 more than in Russia). He also probably has no idea where the "world suicide belt" is. Apparently, most of it is in Lithuania, where 51.6 out of 100,000 people die of suicide every year (Belgium trails the suicide belt zone, with only 24 suicides per 100,000).

Though most of the book is just light "book of lists" kind of stuff, it still manages to be satisfyingly morbid most of the time. A set of blurbs about how your teeth can be related to death or disease is accompanied by a picture of somebody's yanked tooth, though mercifully the section on colon-related death is picture-free. I can see this book being useful for people creating fiction where they need somebody to die, and fast. But realistically! I suggest that the writers for Fringe keep this tome around, and the writers on Infinite Crisis too. If you're going to a lot of killing, do it by the book.

http://io9.com/5020899/where-to-find-the-ingredients-for-your-next-death-scene

 
< Prev   Next >