The consolations of mortality

In this book, Andrew Stark delves into four philosophical affirmations meant to console us about death: that death is benign and good, that mortal life provides its own kind of immortality, that true immortality would be awful, and that we experience the kinds of losses in life that we will eventually face in death.

Stark draws from a wide range of literary, philosophical, and cultural traditions, including the works of Epicurus, Heidegger, Montaigne, and others.

Despite the book's title, Stark's analysis often challenges and disproves these consolations, concluding that while immortality might be worse, mortality itself remains a difficult reality to accept.