HAMLET famously spoke of that "undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns".

Fear of death makes us readily bear the burdens of life, rather than think about what might face us in the hereafter.

But should death really instil such fear? Two new books tackle the taboo subject head on, with inspiring results.

Graham Coleman, with the blessing of the Dalai Lama, has distilled the essence of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in to a concise treatise on the great creativity that can come from deepening our insight in to the relationship between living and dying.

Graham is co-founder and president of the Bath-based Orient Foundation charity for the support of Tibetan cultural and arts traditions.

And Felicity Warner, of Bridport in Dorset, has produced a guide to helping a loved one or friend die gently and with dignity once medicine has reached its limits.

Felicity is the founder of the Hospice of the Heart Trust, a charity promoting holistic, compassionate and "de-medicalised" approaches to end-of-life care.

Earlier this year, Graham, with his wife Dechen and son Rinchen, moved from Southwick, near Bath, to live in the Western Isles, and he is currently in India assisting Orient Foundation workers. Graham spent 15 years editing the first complete translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which appeared in 2000, and said that, while making film documentaries in Tibet, he had been moved by the care that monks gave to the dying and the bereaved family, and the Tibetan culture's understanding of the process of death and its vision of an after-death state.

Felicity, who herself has drawn inspiration from the Tibetan approach, said: "Death and dying is growing in taboo rather than lessening, and I think the reason for that is not as many people are dying at home these days. When they did, we were used to seeing and hearing how that went, but we have detached ourselves from the experience by handing people over to be cared for by strangers in hospitals, care homes and hospices."

Meditations on Living, Dying and Loss: Ancient Knowledge for a Modern World, edited and introduced by Graham Coleman, is published by Penguin at £8.99. Gentle Dying: the Simple Guide to Achieving a Peaceful Death, by Felicity Warner, is published by Hay House, also at £8.99