Books

Forthcoming Books

Humor, A Skill for Life: Why It Is Vital for Learning and Teaching (for Rowman & Littlefield)

PUBLISHED BOOKS

Achieving a Good Death: A Practical Guide to the End of Life

(Coming October 1, 2024)

Death is inevitable, dying badly is not. A good death is achievable, and this book explains how.

There is an art to dying well that can be taught and learned. While death is inevitable, dying badly is not. This practical guide to achieving a good death will reduce the fear that often cloaks discussions about death and dying and give readers the knowledge and skills to achieve a peaceful and gentle death.

This thoughtful and gentle guide, exploring one of the most difficult human topics, equips every reader with the information they need to overcome the anxiety and confusion that so often overwhelms end-of-life planning so they may intentionally plan for “a good death” that will provide comfort for all during one’s final act.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Achieving a Good Death

Chris Palmer has written an important and incredibly useful book designed to give the reader the skills and knowledge to live fully to the end of life and to have a good death. Everyone should read this book and imbibe its wisdom.

--Steven Petrow, contributing columnist, The Washington Post, and author of Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old

As a physician for many years, I wish I had had Chris Palmer’s book Achieving a Good Death as a resource for my patients and families. He tackles head-on, in a no-nonsense way, the practical issues we all face but generally shy away from dealing with. Each of us deserves a dignified and meaningful end of life, and this book is a sure-fire guide to achieving that noble goal.

--Kurt Newman MD, President Emeritus, Children's National Hospital, and author of Healing Children: A Surgeon's Stories from the Frontiers of Pediatric Medicine

In 1994, Dr. Sherwin Nuland wrote How We Die, broke a taboo on books about death, and opened the floodgates. Today, the category is so vast that finding inspiration and answers is daunting. Fortunately, Chris Palmer, an astute and sensitive researcher, has done it all for you, culling, sorting, and presenting the best from many evidence-based sources. Palmer also gives voice to unspoken fears like degradation, pity, and shame, and adds valuable and original suggestions for ethical wills, legacy letters, memoirs, and eulogies from his expertise as a writer and storyteller. Bravo for this eminently helpful and deeply meaningful book.

--Barbara Coombs Lee, author of Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life’s End, and President Emerita/Senior Advisor, Compassion & Choices

Chris Palmer's new book presents a compelling exploration into the often avoided yet universally inevitable topic of death and dying. With insightful prose and personal anecdotes, Palmer challenges the sanitized portrayal of death prevalent in media and confronts the taboo surrounding discussions about mortality. As the narrative unfolds, readers are encouraged to embrace the reality of death as a natural part of life, empowering them to approach the end with dignity, agency, and peace. A thought-provoking must-read that invites readers to contemplate the profound meaning of life and the importance of living fully until the very end.

--Mikhail Kogan MD, Medical Director, GW Center for Integrative Medicine, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Associate Director of Geriatric Fellowship at George Washington University; author of Integrative Geriatric Medicine.

Further reviews and endorsements can be found here.

Finding Meaning and Success:
Living a Fulfilled and Productive Life

"Full of wisdom and evidence-based advice, this wonderful book addresses how we can each lead productive and fulfilling lives. Palmer calls on readers to define success on their own terms and to prioritize relationships and meaning over fame and wealth. An edifying and inspiring read."
-- Emily Esfahani Smith, best-selling author of The Power of Meaning

"This book contains the keys to living a life of significance. Chris Palmer explores the latest advice and research on relationships, meaning, commitments, and many other topics, to summarize the best guidance to help you transform your life."
-- Nir Eyal, best-selling author of Hooked and Indistractable

"Each of us has the opportunity to live a startup life. In Finding Meaning and Success, Chris Palmer shares the wisdom and tools we need to launch and live out a happy and meaningful venture."
-- Arthur C. Brooks, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and New York Times bestselling author

OPEN HEART: WHEN Open-Heart Surgery Becomes Your Best Option

By Chris Palmer and Christina Palmer, MD

Author and filmmaker Chris Palmer takes readers on an intimate and enlightening journey into what it's really like to have open-heart surgery. His daughter, Christina Palmer, MD, shares her own medical insight into the family experience. Together, they have written a first-person guide that will help anyone going through a similar situation, including how to avoid their mistakes.

While open-heart surgery is scary, preparation can help you and your family members cope with the pain, anxiety, and frustration involved. With that goal in mind, the authors share valuable insight into how to be as ready as you can be for the day of surgery as well as the recovery. They also address the myth that a healthy diet and exercise can eliminate the need for cardiac surgery. In Palmer's case, that was not the case: Despite years of healthy living, he still had to go through this invasive operation.

Full of hope and inspiration, Open Heart gives readers the guidance they need to feel as prepared as possible. Peppered with the author's own cartoons and photos, it also provides much-needed comic relief for an inevitably stressful situation.

College Teaching at its Best:
Inspiring Students to be Enthusiastic, Lifelong Learners

Rowman & Littlefield published this book in May 2019.

All proceeds go to fund scholarships for students at American University.

Chris Palmer’s College Teaching at its Best is a wonderful new book. Wisdom pours of out it like a river. Its brisk and lively chapters urge teachers to keep working to improve themselves in the classroom as they demonstrate concern for their students and demand steadiness and hard work in return. As Palmer says, you’re not teaching if the students aren’t learning. Teachers have to accept responsibility when classes aren’t performing up to their expectations; they have to model the vitality and conscientiousness they expect from their charges. He also dares to take on the question of reforming tenure, a system that in too many cases has become a shelter for classroom mediocrity. I can’t recommend this book too highly and I hope it will catch on widely among faculty members everywhere.

---Patrick Allitt, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, Emory University

Chris Palmer's book is one of the most unexpected, intelligent and compassionate guides I have ever read, and that includes guides I have read to just about anything--cooking, golfing, gardening, you name it. One of our nation's greatest and least acknowledged problems is the lousy teaching that goes on in even our best universities. Palmer became a professor late in life, which may be why his book is so good. He had no long-term career ambitions to distract him. He just wanted to help students. He started asking students and other professors how to do that best. The result is a joy to read.

---Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist

"In this accessible and personal book you will find insight and utility in equal measure. Chris Palmer writes from varied and well-mined experience about the relational basis to teaching and the importance of connecting to all students with passion and caring. Wise and practical, this is a helpful resource to professors at any stage of their teaching career."

-- Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor and John Ireland Endowed Chair, University of St. Thomas, (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Love, Dad:
Letters from a Father to His Daughters

In November 2018, Bethesda Communications Group published Love, Dad, a book of my letters to my daughters.

Raise Your Kids to Succeed: What Every Parent Should Know

Read some parenting stories from the book, and SUBMIT YOUR OWN!

All the proceeds from the book go to fund scholarships for students at American University.

"Raise Your Kids to Succeed is a grand book, not because it will turn your children into successful doctors, lawyers or businessmen, but because it will help them develop good values and a good character; help them love learning and books and teach them moderation, self-discipline and life skills too. This is the stuffing they need to have successful careers, no matter what they do."

- Marguerite Kelly, co-author of The Mother's Almanac and author of The Mother’s Almanac Goes to School, wrote the Family Almanac column in the Washington Post and other papers for 35 years

"There was a time, not long ago, when most of the suggestions made in Chris Palmer’s book Raise Your Kids to Succeed would have been simple common sense. Unfortunately, many Americans now find themselves immersed in a culture which teaches that kids’ relations with their same-age peers are more important than kids’ relations with their parents. One result is too many boys staying up past midnight playing video games, and too many girls staying up past midnight Photoshopping their selfies for Instagram. Chris Palmer's book offers a useful dose of sanity."

- Leonard Sax MD PhD, author of four books for parents including the New York Times bestseller The Collapse of Parenting

"Chris Palmer has the rare ability to give us the big picture of the challenges of raising kids today but also offers very practical and do-able solutions that will deepen your understanding and connection with your children. This book is unflinching, but kind and will very likely leave you feeling, "I can do this.""

- Kim John Payne M.ED. author of Simplicity Parenting, The Soul of Discipline, and Being At Your Best When Your Kids Are At Their Worst