Winters is a freelance writer and editor. In the following essay, she discusses themes in, and critical responses to, Timothy Leary's Design for Dying.

"When I learned that I was dying, I was thrilled," Timothy Leary writes in Design for Dying. When Leary discovered that he had prostate cancer, and that it was terminal, he saw it as a chance to put into practice his own theories about conscious dying, a topic he'd written and thought about for many years. In addition, he decided to use the occasion to publicize his theories on dying by making his death a public event. Through his website, www.leary.com, he shared the progress of his illness with fans and other curious people. For a while, he said, he considered committing suicide and broadcasting the act live over the Internet. He also considered cryogenic preservation, a process in which his...