I haven't been this fascinated by a nonfiction book that wasn't a textbook in a long time. This is an insightful look into one of our unique curse/blessings as human animals: the awareness of our own inevitable death. In a clear and even sometimes entertaining way, the authors present findings from psychological studies relating to mortality salience and terror management theory a.k.a. how we deal with existential dread. I took a class on death and dying in college and loved it - this book has greatly expanded my knowledge on the subject and left me with lots to ponder. Since it's a subject that literally everyone can relate to, I can't recommend this book enough. I would go so far as to say skip Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death (which the research in this book is largely based on but, in my opinion, is quite outdated) and go right for The Worm at the Core. ( )

Targeting a popular audience, this book discusses the major threads of experimental research designed to test the thesis of Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death: Everyone must deal, in one way or another, with the fear of death, and those death-denying projects are what give rise to religion, nationalism, and almost everything we deem culture and civilization.

Because I was already familiar with Becker, I would have preferred a more academic, or at least philosophical treatment. But I was not the intended audience. If nothing else, reading this book should inspire others to familiarize themselves with The Denial of Death, one of the few life-changing books I've read. ( )