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Book details

How not to die

surprising lessons on living longer, safer, and healthier from America's favorite medical examiner

by Jan Garavaglia

Published 2008ISBN 978-0-3074-0914-0

WHEN THIS DOCTOR TALKS, YOU SHOULD LISTEN.Thousands of people make an early exit each year and arrive on medical examiner Jan Garavaglia's table. What is particularly sad about this is that many of these deaths could easily have been prevented. Although Dr. Garavaglia, or Dr. G, as she's known to many, could not tell these individuals how to avoid their fates, we can benefit from her experience and profound insight into the choices we make each day.In How Not to Die, Dr. G acts as a medical detective to identify the often-unintentional ways we harm our bodies, then shows us how to use that information to live better and smarter. She provides startling tips on how to make wise choices so that we don't have to see her, or someone like her, for a good, long time. - In "Highway to the Morgue," we learn the one commonsense safety tip that can prevent deadly accidents--and the reason you should never drive with the windows half open- "Code Blue" teaches us how to increase our chances of leaving the hospital alive--and how to insist that everyone caring for you practice the easiest hygiene method around- "Everyday Dangers" informs us why neat freaks live longer--and the best ways to stay safe in a car during a lightning stormUsing anecdotes from her cases and a liberal dose of humor, Dr. G gives us her prescription for living a healthier, better, longer life--and unlike many doctors' orders, this one is surprisingly easy to follow.From the Hardcover edition.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.

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Themes to notice

Nonfiction · Fiction

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Content notes

Catalog signals suggest violence, death, or criminal harm. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.

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Reading experience

Warm tone · Steady pace

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This book's DNA

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ToneWarm
LuminousDark

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Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc

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PeakRelative emotional intensity
How not to dieJan Garavaglia
Heightened4/5

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Before you choose

A quick reading snapshot

Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.

Reading lengthLength not listed
Publication eraModernFirst published or edition dated 2008
Primary categoryNonfictionAlso cataloged under Fiction
ISBN-13
978-0-3074-0914-0
Language
English
Edition record
OL16928503M
BookenDeX editorial lens

A more thoughtful way into this book

This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.

Good to know

Preview the edition to decide how it fits your available reading time.

Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.

Try this reading approach

Read for connection, not completion.

Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.

Three questions to carry with you

  1. Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
  2. Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
  3. How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?

Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.