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NEVRAUMONT BOOK  \nJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.  \nWHAT IS DEATH?  \nWHAT IS DEATH?  \nA Scientist Looks at the Cycle of Life  \nTyler Volk  \nA PETER N. NEVRAUMONT BOOK  \nJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.  \nCopyright © 2002 by Tyler Volk. All rights reserved  \nPublished by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York Published simultaneously in Canada  \nNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,(978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4744. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012,(212) 850-6011, fax (212) 850-6008, email:  \nPERMREQ@WILEY.COM.  \nThis publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:  \nVolk, Tyler.  \nWhat is death? : a scientist looks at the cycle of life / Tyler Volk.  \n[p. cm](p. cm).  \nIncludes bibliographical references and index.  \nISBN 0-471-37544-6 (cloth)  \n1. Death. I. Title.  \nQP87.V65 2000  \n571.9'39—dc21  \n00-059431  \nCreated and Produced by  \nNEVRAUMONT PUBLISHING COMPANY New York, New York  \nAnn J. Perrini, President Book design: Frances White  \nPrinted in the United States of America  \n10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  \nC O N T E N T S  \nChapter 1 Introduction: Death, Thus Life 9  \nPart 1: Brain  \nChapter 2 The Three-Pound Miracle 27  \nChapter 3 We Live in Two Different Worlds 41  \nChapter 4 The Grateful Self 57  \nPart 2: Culture  \nChapter 5 Nobody Just Dies 77  \nChapter 6 Managing Terror 101  \nChapter 7 Death with Interconnected Dignity 127  \nPart 3: Biosphere  \nChapter 8 Sex and Catastrophic Senescence 151  \nChapter 9 Lifestyle and Life Span 165  \nChapter 10 Little Deaths, Big Lives 181  \nChapter 11 Life and Death at the Smallest Scale 201  \nChapter 12 Conclusion: Eternity’s Sunrise 223  \nNotes 231  \nBibliography 242  \nAcknowledgments 249  \nIndex 251  \nI N T R O D U C T I O N : D E AT H ,  \nT H U S L I F E  \nWe age, and most of us come to accept the persistent specter of  \ndeath as an inevitable part of being alive. It’s the price we disburse at the end, a price for the gift of life.  \nWe don’t normally revel in this state of affairs, of course. I, for one, wouldn’t mind cheating the game. But it’s futile to think about playing without paying. Though the advances of medical science often do lengthen our term of ephemerality, they cannot promise us eternity. In short, we are faced with a simple fact: “life, thus death.”  \nThis simple phrase—life, thus death—summarizes my core theme: the bond between life and death. But I am primarily intrigued with how this bond can be expressed (and perhaps far better expressed) by reversing the phrase. Let’s flip the logic around and say “death, thus life.”  \nHow can death precede life? Are there cases in which death is paid for not at the end but at the beginning of life?  \n10 | INTRODUCTION  \nNear the end of the movie Saving Private Ryan, the dying captain, played by Tom Hanks, looks up into the face of Ryan, played by Matt Damon, and gasps one final order: “Earn this.” For many men had just given their lives trying to find Ryan and send him home to safety, unlike his three brothers who had already died. Consider, also, the animal world. Th","cbCairr5E5STb8DS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairr5E5STb8DS","pdf",1688285,244,"English","# Contents\n## Chapter 1 Introduction: Death, Thus Life\n## Chapter 2 The Three-Pound Miracle\n## Chapter 3 We Live in Two Different Worlds\n## Chapter 4 The Grateful Self\n## Chapter 5 Nobody Just Dies\n## Chapter 6 Managing Terror\n## Chapter 7 Death with Interconnected Dignity\n## Chapter 8 Sex and Catastrophic Senescence\n## Chapter 9 Lifestyle and Life Span\n## Chapter 10 Little Deaths, Big Lives\n## Chapter 11 Life and Death at the Smallest Scale\n## Chapter 12 Conclusion: Eternity’s Sunrise\n## Notes\n## Bibliography\n## Acknowledgments\n## Index","[{\"question\":\"What is the book’s central theme about death and life?\",\"answer\":\"The book’s core theme links life and death, expressing it first as “life, thus death” and then exploring the reversal “death, thus life.”\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author argue that death can lead to life?\",\"answer\":\"By expanding scale and perspective, the author presents examples where death precedes or enables life, showing death as integral to life rather than merely an ending.\"},{\"question\":\"What kind of author perspective is presented in the introduction?\",\"answer\":\"The author positions himself as a scientist focused on Earth biology and uses computer models to study how essential elements move through land, air, and sea.\"}]","WHAT IS DEATH? - A Scientist Looks at the Cycle of Life | PDF",1789975270,615]