All the Wrong Men and One Perfect Boy: A Memoir

Yount (syndicated religion columnist and author of three previous spirituality books) addresses death as a topic that interests everyone because we all face its inevitability. While many people avoid thinking and talking about death and attempt to deny its reality, Yount prefers to look at it directly and discover grounds for hope. He firmly believes in an afterlife. His sources include the Bible and recorded near-death experiences, and he stresses human beings' almost universal belief in eternal life. Yount touches on such topics as the story of the Garden of Eden, the concept of purgatory, whether hell exists (and who might go there if it does) and, of course, what we can hope for and expect after we die. The ""ten thoughts"" include such injunctions as ""be prepared for surprises"" and ""enter eternity laughing."" Yount writes as a Christian speaking out of his own tradition in a way that neither excludes non-Christians from his ideas nor disregards the particular teachings that bring comfort to Christians. The book suggests that a proper perspective on death will assuage some of our fears (Aug.)