Episode #16 - Knocking on Heaven's Door

Guest: Kim Ukura, bookish blogger & podcaster
Book: Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Katy Butler
Boozes: Gin & Tonic
Main topics: End of life care, physician assisted suicide, reading, reviewing “bad books”, podcasting, blogging, being a “dork”, and more.

Find more Kim & John:
Follow on Twitter: @kimthedork & @booksandbooze_
And check out our websites:
https://bookriot.com/author/kimukura/
https://newsletters.riotnewmedia.com/category/true-story/
https://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/for-real/id1353587430?mt=2
https://booksandboozepodcast.com/
https://www.johnleven.com/

Books mentioned/recommended in this Episode

Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atwul Gawande

Show Notes:
0:00:00 - Introduction and making the perfect Gin & Tonic
0:05:42 - Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Katy Butler and why it’s important
Article mentioned: What Broke My Father’s Heart: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20pacemaker-t.html
0:11:16 - The medical industry and its incentives
0:17:22 - The squishiness of measuring “quality of life”
0:20:43 - Other possible obstacles to improving end of life care including: medical malpractice, religious traditions, and family guilt.
0:26:20 - A generational shift in end-of-life care preferences?
0:32:17 - “Medical innovation costs money”
0:35:04 - Physician-assisted suicide vs euthanasia and three very different cases:
104 year old David Goodall from Australia to Switzerland
https://www.vox.com/2018/5/21/17360978/right-to-die-assisted-dying-suicide-david-goodall

29 year old Brittany Maynard - “I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms.”
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/

29 year old Aurelia Brouwers from the Netherlands
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/17/assisted-dying-euthanasia-netherlands

0:48:39 - Do Not Resuscitate orders and other personal takeaways from the book
0:54:41 - Kim’s bookish background and how it led to her blog and podcast
0:58:38 - How has Kim’s approach to content generation evolved over the past decade?
1:03:08 - How do you define and handle reviewing “Bad Books?”
1:09:39 - How do you find time to read so much? What about diminishing returns to reading?
1:13:47 - Being a “dork” and embracing a “nerdy” identity
1:16:58 - Kim’s lowbrow taste in TV and music
1:19:05 - Kim & John’s experiences serving on Library Boards and John’s new library “Quality Hours” metric