About the book

Mesmerized and somewhat unnerved by his 97-year-old father's vitality and optimism, David Shields undertakes an original investigation of our flesh-and-blood existence, our mortal being. Weaving together personal anecdote, biological fact, philosophical doubt, cultural criticism, and the wisdom of an eclectic range of writers and thinkers--from Lucretius to Woody Allen--Shields expertly renders both a hilarious family portrait and a truly resonant meditation on mortality. The Thing About Life provokes us to contemplate the brevity and radiance of our own sojourn on earth and challenges us to rearrange our thinking in crucial and unexpected ways.

Praise

“Many writers aim to capture the human condition in all its variety, audacity, and contradiction, but few can claim to get as close to their target as Shields. . . . [a] truly original vision brought to fruition.” —Josh Rosenblatt, The Austin Chronicle

“Mix equal parts anatomy and autobiography, science and self-disclosure, physiology and family history; shake, stir. [S]immer over a low-grade fever of mortality. . . a terrible beauty of a book is born.” —Thomas Lynch, The Boston Globe