LitPick Review
The Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More by Deborah Noyes, deals mainly with different funeral customs around the world. It also deals with the science, theology, and folklore of death. This book alphabetically covers everything from an amulet of good luck for the dead to wreaths for funerals. The book contains pictures and sub-notes. You will find out about the origins of modern Goth culture, where the tradition of the hearse at funerals started, what necromancy is, how a body decays, and more in The Encyclopedia of The End by Deborah Noyes.
Opinion:
I give the Encyclopedia of The End: Mysterious Death in Fact, Fancy, Folklore, and More by Deborah Noyes a ten. It is a great introduction to the topic of death. This is a topic that is not discussed in today's world as much as it was in the past. This Encyclopedia brings death, an essential part of life, to light in a gentle way. If the reader has basic questions about the culture or science of death, this book will answer these questions. Even if a reader is scared of death, nothing in this book will scare them. I enjoyed the part on holidays about death, such as Bon, Day of the Dead, and Halloween. I found the Japanese holiday of Bon especially interesting. Bon is a holiday where the dead family members come back to earth. The Encyclopedia of the End by Deborah Noyes will make you find out more about death, whether by interviewing a funeral home director, reading the works of Edgar Allen Poe, or visiting Nagasaki, Japan during Bon.
