About the Author

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician and the New York Times best-selling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, From Here to Eternity, and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? She is the creator of the web series Ask a Mortician, and the founder of The Order of the Good Death. She lives in Los Angeles, California, where she owns a funeral home. Landis Blair illustrated the prize-winning graphic novel The Hunting Accident and the New York Times bestseller From Here to Eternity, and has published illustrations in the New York Times, Chicago magazine, and Medium. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Reviews

"Doughty is a relentlessly curious and chipper tour guide to the underworld, and the weirder things get, the happier she seems. … [H]er dispatches from the dark side [are] doing us all a kindness—offering a picture of what we’re in for, even if we’d rather not know."
*Libby Copeland - New York Times Book Review*

"Doughty chronicles [death] practices with tenderheartedness, a technician’s fascination, and an unsentimental respect for grief."
*Jill Lepore - The New Yorker*

"Doughty writes bluntly about open-air cremations, natural burials and body composting, bringing a little more clarity and a little less mystery to the question: 'What happens to us after we die?'"
*NPR (Our Guide to 2017's Great Reads)*

"[T]he macabre travelogue is a thoughtful reflection and a smart critique of the American funeral industry, with plenty of gallows humor thrown in."
*Smithsonian (The Ten Best Travel Books of 2017)*

"Doughty finds the humanity in others cultures' relationship with death that seems to be lacking in ours."
*Justin Caffier - Vice*

"This slim volume, full of captivating, enlightening, and humorous tidbits, is a—dare I say—uplifting exploration of what people the world over do to withstand loss and the bite of impermanence. This is death as viewed by a mortician: profound, unavoidable, natural, and a bit funny."
*KQED*

"This humane book gently provokes you to wonder: what exactly is your ideal funeral?"
*The Times*

"From Here To Eternity is fascinating, thought-provoking and – who would have guessed? – sometimes funny. Put it on your bucket list."
*The Mail*

"Caitlin Doughty is razor sharp, and writes about death with exceptional clarity and style. From Here to Eternity manages to be both an extremely funny travelogue and a deeply moving book about what death means to us all."
*Dylan Thuras, co-founder of Atlas Obscura*

"[Doughty’s] fascinating tour of rituals contains liturgies that readers will surely observe as rare, macabre, unbelievable, ancient, and precious—sometimes simultaneously."
*Kirkus*

"She is the ideal guide on this journey, curious and respectful...Recommended for fans of the author and those with an interest in anthropology and ritual."
*Library Journal*

"A thought-provoking book about the complicated, fascinating world of funerary practices. Unless you and your friends are immortal, this book pertains to you."
*A. J. Jacobs*

"In her jocular but reverential tone… Doughty doesn’t offer a simple morbid travelogue; instead, she digs into diverse death experiences with deep veneration and examines ties to socioeconomic, status, female identity, and religion."
*Booklist*