You've heard of this book, and you've probably not read it. It's definitely worth a read. A touching story about a sportswriter who reconnects with a beloved college professor. He learns, or maybe relearns, lessons about what matters in life from Morrie, who is dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. This is an awful degenerative condition in which the victim gradually loses all muscle control but the brain is left basically unaffected. So you experience the loss of all of your capabilities except thinking and memory. Morrie knows what's coming and at one point confides that he's no so much afraid of death as he is fearful in knowing that at some point, as he puts it, "someone is going to have to wipe my ass." For an unforgettable essay/short story about what it's like to have ALS, seek out professor James Buchanan's Patient Encounters: the Experience of Disease.