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A Second Act

What Nearly Dying Teaches Us About Really Living

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A Second Act

By: Matt Morgan
Narrated by: Matt Morgan
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About this listen

 I’ve worked as an intensive care doctor for over twenty years, caring for patients who are in the thick fog between life and death. I’ve met hundreds of people who have died, were resuscitated and lived. I’ve long thought that these are the people that we should be listening to, not influencers or business gurus. They know what really matters.

It happened in an instant. Ed was walking through a park with his friend Stuart when there was a bang, a bright light and then nothing. Ed and Stuart had been hit by a bolt of lightning – 300 million volts, enough to power a city for a day, coursed through their bodies, short-circuiting their hearts. Ed was found first, given life-saving CPR to start his heart again, and he survived and had a second chance. He lives life a little differently now, every day knowing the thin margins that separate life and death.

In this book, Dr Matt Morgan meets people whose hearts have stopped and have been brought back from clinical death. He shows us how doctors resuscitate people, the shadowy world of ICU, how you can learn to save a life.We meet the patients who have experienced hypothermia, overdoses, cardiac arrests and a heart transplant and see how their lives have transformed and the lessons they want to share. Along the way, Morgan has his own realisations about his life, how to make the most of it and ensure that life is not wasted on the living.
Death & Dying Emergency & Critical Care Heart Disease Medicine & Health Care Industry Physical Illness & Disease Sociology

Critic reviews

'Morgan has a knack of writing simply and sincerely on matters that worry most of us…dramatic and heart-warming’
‘A Second Act has a neat narrative structure and covers a resonant subject, and Morgan is a thoughtful and sensitive writer…[it] contains a lot of wisdom’
‘Morgan proves an excellent guide to such wisdom. He is grateful to bear witness to these stories – and self-effacing about the part he plays in enabling some of them’
‘Combining vivid storytelling with thoughtful reflections… A Second Act calls to something deep inside me, inside all of us, not to let the wonder of being alive pass us by. I hope this book reaches readers everywhere, to inspire and console them’ (Dr Kathryn Mannix, author and palliative care doctor)
All stars
Most relevant
Matt Morgan your books always inspire me and make me think about my life and that of those who you have chosen to write about. I listened to the audiobook format, my preferred choice, and appreciated how your excellent narration made me feel like I was listening to you while sharing a pleasantly long coffee break. I look forward to your next book, wondering what that will be about.

Second chances to live and make your life matter

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Life is a gift. 2nd Act is a gift beyond compare. Change your life—- now!

Sorry- If this doesn’t change your view on life- then you are already dead.

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This doctor has a good complex. He talks about his philosophical musings like we are bothered about a doctors philosophical musings ...
How about the popular near death experience? No mention of what his patients reported after being resuscitated.

a vanity project. I want my credit back!

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I've never written a poor review before so this is the first. so I will be succinct. the author begins each chapter by giving a brief overview of how someone died. then proceeded to talk about himself for the majority of the rest of the chapter. which is beyond tedious. then he finishes up by telling you that the person who died was brought back and he imparts some banal life lesson. it might be fine if the life lessons were inspiring. but they are banal. it's not inspiring. it's not insightful. it's not entertaining. it doesn't make you think. no idea how this book was published. really regret wasting a credit

self indulgent and tedious.

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