BLACK MIRROR: Looking At Life Through Death

From the perspective of one's own future corpse, the world now vacated can be seen most clearly in all its richness and complexity. Blending lyrical reflection, humour and the occasional philosophical argument, the physician-philosopher explores his own post-mortem recollections. Tallis considers the biological processes and the senses that opened up his late world. His inert, dispossessed body highlights his ceaseless activity in life, the mind-boggling inventory of his possessions, and the togetherness and apartness that characterised his relationships in the material and social worlds. It is a beautifully written personal meditation on life and living reflecting on the fundamental fact of existence - that life is finite. Tallis is also a poet and has published some 200 research articles on the neurology of old age and neurological rehabilitation from his days as a professor of geriatric medicine. He is one of the "hidden treasures of British intellectual life" and is frequently cited as one of our foremost thinkers. 344pp. 2015 first edition Yale University Press.