Curious Coffins and Riveting Rituals: Death Practices Around the World

Discover the world’s most fascinating death and funeral traditions in this illustrated modern-day memento mori.

Embark on a whirlwind tour of burial, preservation, and memorial practices and landmarks from across the globe and throughout history, ranging from the customs of our ancestors to contemporary practices. In these vibrantly illustrated pages, you can explore how humans from time immemorial have honored and remembered the dead, including:

Mummification in ancient Egypt
Post-mortem photography in Victorian England
Open-pyre cremations in India
Ghana’s fantasy coffins
The Japanese ritual of kotsuage (“the gathering of the bones”)
And much more 

Author-illustrator YY Liak tackles the thorny theme of death with a deep compassion for the universal experiences of loss and grief and an intrepid interest in the unique mortuary practices that have arisen across continents, cultures, and millennia. Her colorful, modern illustrations bring to life a whole spectrum of human beliefs about death and dying.

EXISTENTIAL AND ENDLESSLY ENTERTAINING: Whether you’re casually curious about what happens to our bodies after we die or intimately experienced with death and its attendant customs, appreciating the rituals of others can help you develop and deepen your own.

MARVELOUSLY MACABRE, TREMENDOUSLY THOUGHTFUL: Dynamic, full-color artwork accompanies informative and intriguing text, rendering everything in energetic detail—from a step-by-step breakdown of the embalming process to detailed diagrams of ancestral altars around the world.

Author: YY Liak
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Pages: 192pp
Size: 8.25 x 10
Notes: hardcover, full color
Release Date: September 30, 2025
ISBN: 978-1797230047