Noted author of the Fifty Classics series, Tom Butler-Bowdon says this on the cover of
It’s a Matter of Life and Death: Growing Up in a Funeral Home and What I Learned Since: "Larry's book combines positive psychology, motivation and memoir to provide a powerful reminder to really live while we are alive, regretting nothing. His lively reminiscences of growing up in a funeral home are not morbid, but lie in the tradition of a Zen Buddhist meditation on death: facing the great uncertainty and inevitability of death, we are reminded of the opportunity to love, and most of all, to be grateful for everything."

It's a Matter of Life and Death is intended to help anyone who is
~ seeking happiness
~ curious about life in a funeral home
~ facing a serious illness or knows someone else who is grieving and working their way back toward recovery
~ a health care provider, counselor, or practitioner in the funeral industry trying to help others cope with illness or loss

Samples from over eighty topics include:

Part I: Seeking Happiness
~ Finding Happiness: It's about finding true gratification, not hedonism or smiley faces.
~ Death Teaches Us to Value Life Even More
~ Take the Long View: Plan to Live to Be One Hundred
~ It's Never Too Late To Make a Difference in Your Life and in Those of Others
~ Get Better Sleep: It Can Make a Big Difference
~ Advice from Courageous Survivors and Physicians For Those Facing a Terminal Illness
~ Your Thinking Probably Needs Some Improvement
~ Mid-Life Crisis is Not a Crisis

Part II - Growing Up in a Funeral Home
~ My Father, the Coroner
~ My Sister, the Embalmer
~ My Parent's Faith
~ The Importance of Humility
~ The Medical Examiner's Office and Autopsies
~ The Critical Importance of Having a Will
~ Do Funeral Directors Charge Too Much?
~ Life in the Funeral Home
~ The Condition of the Body
~ Cosmetic and Presentation Skills

Part III - The Takeaway from Seven Decades
~ Drug Abuse
~ Giving the Ego a Rest
~ Hospice Care - It Should Often Start Sooner
~ Finding What to Say at Viewings and Funerals
~ Eulogies Can Be Excellent Teachers
~ After Things Are Over, It Can Get Awfully Lonely
~ Advice from a Grief Counselor on Handling Grief and Loss and Moving Ahead
~ Thinking We Understand Death
~ People Who Die Before Their Time
~ Honoring Those Who Died, but Honoring Yourself Too
~ Life after the Death of a Partner

Danks says, “No one clamors to read about death and funerals, but people have a curiosity about what happens in funeral homes – even though they don’t necessarily want to live in one. A frequent question I got as a boy was, ‘How can you live there?’ It was easy. My sister and I never knew anything different than living over one. It was a blessing though. It taught us about life and about what truly matters – finding happiness and peace.”