Colin DicksColin Dicks grew up in the mining town of Orkney in South Africa. He completed his schooling at St. Stithians College in Johannesburg and started his medical training at the University of Pretoria. As a young man, Colin had an extraordinary number ofencounters with death. He witnessed his first death in his teens while at the local swimming pool, where a young man fell off an unprotected grandstand and died instantly. Following this experience, and by the age of 24, Coling was witness to three separate motor vehicle deaths and a death at a wedding. He was also exposed to death as a medical student. Death was a topic that Colin could not avoid.After completing his medical training and compulsory military training, Colin and his wife Mathilde, spent a year in Hull, UK. After this experience in the oncology department, Colin returned to South Africa to specialise. He completed his training as a Radiation Oncologist in 1998 and shortly after that moved to New Zealand for a two-year adventure. Colin completed a diploma of Palliative Medicine while in New Zealand and his two-year adventure turned out to be a fantastic five-year experience. Colin and his family returned to South Africa in 2003.As an Oncologist, Colin became aware of the lack of conversation around death and dying and this led him to write his first book About Dying: how to live in the face of death. It was well received but it lacked what Colin viewed as substance. Following his research project on death education and with a colleague and a friend both facing terminal illness, Colin started writing on death, using the writing to express his views about the dying process. His friend and colleague never got to read the book, but Colin hopes there may be others who get to read this book and that it will make a difference in the way they live their life and complete their life.Colin continues to work on the Sunshine Coast as a Radiation Oncologist. He is also the founder of Dying to Understand, a charity promoting death education. He can be reached via the charity at admin@dyingtounderstand.com.Outside of work, Colin has a 'full-time job' as a husband to his beautiful wife Mathilde, a father to four fantastic adult children, and a labourer on his acreage on the Sunshine Coast. Read More Read Less