This book brings together the relevant interdisciplinary and method elements needed to form a conceptual framework that is both pragmatic and rigorous. By using the best and often the latest, work in thanatology, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, physics, philosophy and ethics, it develops a framework for understanding both what death is ¿ which requires a great deal of time spent developing definitions of the various types of identity-in-the- moment and identity-over-time ¿ and the values involved in death. This pragmatic framework answers questions about why death is a form of loss; why we experience the emotional reactions, feelings and desires that we do; which of these reactions,