Last year, William Wan (Gen Sec of the Singapore Kindness Movement) came to my Church to preach and he mentioned his books. I bought a copy after the sermon and kind of left it to the side. The thought of ageing and death isn’t very pleasant, after all. But since I reread Being Mortal recently, I thought it was a good time to read Through the Valley.
As the author describes it, Through the Valley is a book on “living and leaving well.” The book is divided into three sections:
- Living and Ageing Well – Singapore is greying and we need to know what to do about it. There are chapters here on finding your purpose before retirement, the pros and cons of a nostalgia trip, bucket lists, and why you should be kind.
- Leaving Well – You can run, but you can’t hide from death. Here, William Wan makes the case for why we should be thinking about our deaths before they come.
- Be Prepared – This is where the book goes into detail about preparing for death, from death cleaning to Advanced Medical Directives and preparing your will.
- Post-script – This section covers grief and how we can cope with the loss of a loved one.
While William Wan is a pastor and he refers frequently to Christianity (or as he puts it, his “faith tradition”), this is not actually a Christian book. Through the Valley is written for anyone and in fact, when talking about death, William Wan spends the same amount of time talking about death in Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism as well. He also frequently mentions that you don’t have to be Christian like him to prepare for death or active ageing, although since he uses a lot of personal examples, things like Church and preaching are sure to come up.
What I liked about this book was that it draws on a lot of different resources. This isn’t like Being Mortal, which was a lot more focused on death and the role that medicine plays. Through the Valley covers death, covers life, and the part in between as well. It has William Wan’s thoughts on books that he read, conversations that he had, as well as people that he admires. It’s basically a condensation of all his research into how to live well and how to prepare for death, written in a friendly and engaging manner.
When I first started reading this, I didn’t think that I would be the target audience for this book. But since this book is more than just active ageing, and covers death and its aftermath, I think this would be suitable for anyone who wants to consider their life and start having conversations about what happens when you reach the end of your journey.
great review! i really resonate with your last paragraph- i feel like i often pick up books not expecting to be able to connect with them, but i almost always end up having some sort of takeaway in the end.
Thank you! Yeah, I think that’s the beauty of books (but I still get surprised by them)
Wow. Talk about a book that demonstrates all the best virtues of a Singaporean. He must be an amazing man.
It’s a tangent, but this reminds me of books about hoarding. When we don’t or can’t keep our house in physical order, the heavy and sometimes impossible task of going through it all, will fall to our loved ones.
He is! It’s amazing how he managed to do so much!
The part of death cleaning talks about this! William Wan mentions that for us to go through our things beforehand relieves a huge burden on our loved ones (and stops them from having to decide: “would So-and-So want us to keep or throw this?)
This sounds like it would be a good companion to read along with Being Mortal–offering more of a balance in preparing for death. Thank you for bringing this book to my attention!
Yes, the two would make a good pair to read together!
This sounds really interesting! Great that it’s good for all ages.
It was! I didn’t think I’d like it (I bought the book to support the speaker) but I enjoyed it (and it made me think)