We're all going to die - it's in the contract - but how will it happen? Today, although we live longer, people are killed by everything - bad words, bloodletting, flying cows, frozen toilets, hiccups, laughing, and spontaneous combustion are some of the unexpected causes. According to death certificates, in 1700 there were less than one hundred causes of death. Now there are more than three thousand. In the eye-opening and addictive "Final Exits," causes of death - bizarre or common - are alphaetically arranged and include actual accounts of people, both famous and ordinary, who died in their own particular way.

Thoroughly researched, with uncanny historical detail covering burial customs, famous last words, and more than four hundred medical and historical illustrations from throughout the ages, "Final Exits" is more than just a trivia book. It is a portrait in words and numbers of human fate.