When I Die: Lessons from the Death Zone - Hardcover

It is odd to call a book written by someone who knows they are dying uplifting and exhilarating. But such a book is Philip Gould's When I Die . . . What makes this book exciting, challenging and rewarding is his deeply personal account of how courage overcame fear; how he found in the incoming of mortality a fresh and invigorating purpose in life . . . Philip was always a great writer . . . This is a book that will give you pleasure and peace (Tony Blair New Statesman)

The book's power comes from the urgency and simplicity of the message . . . At a time when few of us know how to face the inevitability of our own extinction, Gould has provided an admirable model (Jenni Russell Sunday Times)

This was a brave man . . . In the old days, they used to say the dead always send a gift back as they leave us, so we should watch out for it. That is what happened here (Richard Holloway The Times, Book of the Week)

I read it in one sitting, and conclude that it should really be prescribed on the NHS. Even though it's a short and harrowing account of one man's dying, it also is the most life-enhancing book I've ever read (Rachel Johnson The Lady)

In politics, as in life, purpose is all. Nobody understood that better than the late Labour strategist Philip Gould . . . An extraordinarily moving book . . . inspiring in its discussion of mortality; it is also a manual for those undertaking any task, political or otherwise, and trying to make sense of it to themselves and to others (Matthew D’Ancona Daily Telegraph)