“The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying” By Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Simon & Schuster, Two cassettes, Length: Three hours, $18, Read by Ellen Burstyn, with an introduction by the author

Kubler-Ross, author of “On Death and Dying” (Macmillan, 1991), penned her final book while knowing she was dying from the result of several strokes. The woman who defined the stages of death and is credited with bringing the hospice movement to America talks candidly about her unusual life. Blunt and irascible, she has much to say to anyone who has ever contemplated his or her death. Unfortunately, not all of it is in the audio. If it feels as if chunks of the book are missing, it is because the abridger used too heavy a hand in reducing this text to less than half its original volume. The advantage to the audio is Burstyn, with her interesting, slightly raspy voice and ability to capture the laughter and poignancy of each passage.