The Bright Side of Death – kindle ebook by Dario D’Angelo

Death, a topic that always caused us to beat around the bush in conversation. It is a topic that is rarely broached by common media. Even if we do talk about it, we force ourselves to perform a positive-spin on what it is and on and on.

Kudos to my dear friend Dario, who braved himself to write his first book on the topic base on his recent past experience. I really enjoyed how he expressed himself, his feelings, and thought process realistically from what he has gone through, yet without indulging in gloominess or dreadfulness — with his Italian, dryer sense of humor that had made my girlfriend and I laughed reading it.

Beyond talks of experience, he also explored the topic of death from other uncommon angles which is refreshing. Here it is, cheers to my friend Dario.

Here’s link to the book

Have you ever tried to pilot an airplane on fire while texting a summary of Tolstoy’s War and Peace during the finals of a chess tournament? I surely hope so. These are experiences that make a life worth living or at least worthy of a Guinness World Record (if you make the landing, that is).

But more importantly than any record, this is how I felt when I was writing this book. Analyzing the many facets of a very real, painful subject while using my laughable sense of humor, has been harder than anything I ever tried. And take my word when I say that I have tried a lot of difficult things. English being my second language did not help either — not just me, but also the poor editor who had to fix a few hundred typos and relate to concepts as familiar as the dark side of Mercury.

While my passion for science and philosophy can justifiably scare most reality show viewers, it is also the premise for a meaningful analysis of the fundamental questions of human experience. What is the purpose of life? How does it relate to the meaning of death? What happens to the world when you die? Can you prevail over the fear of dying by jumping out of fully functional airplanes? Is living forever a good idea? While the answers to these questions may be as good as spaghetti with ketchup (don’t try at home please — it is just an analogy), they are at least an opportunity to disagree with me, ponder unusual aspects of life, and become aware of the way we relate with certain realities.

ps. I am very honored that he entrusted me to do the cover for the book. I think the cover turned out quite well :)