Welcome back to Behind Greatness. We speak with Lisa who joins us from her new abode in Emerald Isle. Lisa is the author of Words at the Threshold. Her book is a fascinating compendium of 7 years' research on (and collection of) people's last words. We are charmed by Lisa's casual and playful demeanour from the get-go. We learn about her research, her own deeply personal experiences with dying loved ones and the emotional wisdom of a particular fireman who helped save a moment. Lisa shared with us her ideas about the consensuality of language, humour in dying, the openness and curiosity of our former childhoods that help to book-end – and Herb. The conversation reaches new depths, touching upon Lisa's personal experience with a certain kind of evil that we started to cover in the previous episode with Alex … and what Lisa has found with the unravelling of speech.

My modality is broken. Wow.

Episodes mentioned: Dr. Bruce Greysen (ep 69) re NDE research, Rey Hernandez (ep 153, 154) re modalities, Alex Gomez-Marin (ep 224), Emmeline Villar (ep 173).

Lisa,

· Website: https://www.finalwordsproject.org/

· Book: Words at the Threshold: What We Say as We're Nearing Death - https://www.amazon.com/Words-Threshold-What-Nearing-Death/dp/1608684601/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NE8R7WK669EI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SxBuIw0YM55aV-Q6BRZ-wj2FO3qssGQ1A1Yvl6UOatrvjCLHQpYkH7DfMOBs5dPE-84vsFaW-S_NcOirrDCH-FgKwjipxojuqQqCy5nRMHs0IZ4IxCFKPqLkJXA4i_iJwpANASfHo13qLJajDT6rnXGFrEY0ROAkDxQNKpFOFn9AaAi9uIIZpkVesPn7D2qT.H1Js2OEmpHy7WdRBXncQaVY2u5vu9a8nDIagB6C4qWE&dib_tag=se&keywords=lisa+smartt&qid=1765497528&sprefix=lisa+smart%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1

Book mentioned:

· Final Gifts: Understanding and Helping the Dying - Callaghan, Maggie; Kelley, Patricia: https://www.amazon.com/Final-Gifts-Understanding-Special-Awareness-ebook/dp/B005UDIC3E/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3TS5F8EG1IJ7E&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dDmAgW1pouc6U81D-LheBQ.h_lFExdSCcnEuB631eybIfS44fI2ZHc8l8LOzLUwgHU&dib_tag=se&keywords=Final+Gifts%3A+Understanding+and+Helping+the+Dying+-+Callaghan%2C+Maggie%3B+Kelley%2C+Patricia&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1765497462&sprefix=final+gifts+understanding+and+helping+the+dying+-+callaghan%2C+maggie+kelley%2C+patricia%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors

#245 BGG.CON 2025

Game Brain: A Board Game Podcast About Our Gaming Group

First-Timers and Con Experiences

The AI-powered Podcast Player