About GOOD TO GO

Good to Go is partly a guidebook to the last chapter of life, and partly a memoir of my transformation as a doctor. In learning alongside my patients, I went from being intimidated and fearful of death to being myself good to go. The core of this book is the short stories of remarkable patients that helped me overcome my fears, confusions and doubts about dying. Looking back over 50 years of general medical practice, these patients are gifts that I want to share. We all have similar doubts, confusions, and fears about dying. These patients can also be your guide.

“I love this book, which is beautifully written and full of interesting stories, poetry, and wisdom. While there is something in us that is afraid of death, there is also something in us that is not afraid of death. Good to Go helps us to recognize and trust whatever it is in ourselves that is not afraid, so we can face whatever comes with open and peaceful hearts.”

Michael Kearney, M.D.

Palliative care and hospice physician

Dr. Horton is an exceptional physician who has spent a lifetime attempting to facilitate communications between patients and their doctors and patients and their families. He has written a brilliant book summarizing his life’s experience regarding preparations for dying well. This book is a must for anyone who has loved ones who may be grappling with this issue. It is a masterpiece.
Philip W. Gold, M.D.

Library of Congress Council of Scholars, Former Investigator in the Intramural Research Program of the NIMH

About the Authors

Dr. John Horton

It has been over 50 years of medical practice and teaching for Doctor Horton to understand what is needed to navigate the obstacles in the way of a peaceful departure. The subject of his commencement speech at the Duke Medical School gradation in 1970 concerned the lack of human understanding in medical education.

 

The most  human of understandings, the wisdom to accept illness, old age (if you are lucky), and death, is called existential intelligence. This is the core intelligence of doctor Horton’s two current books and the ones to follow.

 

Contact John

Sushila Wood

Sushila Wood is the co-author of Good to Go. She is an Australian writer, producer, Waldorf teacher, and mother of three. She also runs a horse riding program for homeschoolers in Southern California and is the caregiver to her husband who is recovering from a serious stroke.

Sushila grew up in a musical home in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. She migrated to California in her early twenties and worked from the ground up in a production studio in Westlake Village.

In an ideal world, Good to Go would be required reading in every medical school the world over, enabling the next generation of doctors to live their Hippocratic oath with much more wisdom, tenderness and consciousness. But the audience for the book goes far beyond the medical world. It’s for everyone – written in a way that goes down easy.
Mitch Ditkoff

Author of “Unspoken Word: Love Longing & Letting Go” (2023), Storytelling for the Revolution (2018)

Ultimately, the authors want readers to understand that in everybody is something that does not die and can be enjoyed until and perhaps through the very end.
A gentle, well-considered guidebook for making peace with life’s end.
Kirkus Review

I have known Dr. Horton’s remarkable work and wisdom for over 50 years. So, it was with great pleasure when I read Good to Go with Sushila Wood, the latest extension of his unique knowledge and wisdom to the final chapter of all our lives.
James C. Ballenger, M.D.

Former Director of the Institute of Psychiatry; the Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs at the Medical University of SC in Charleston, SC

What Dr. Horton has done with Good to Go is give you the information you need to not feel nervous. And he does it in an easily digestible format using five simple points that are very comforting.
Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Author of the “Emotional Fitness” book series, newspaper column and blog.

“Good to Go” is available to purchase on Amazon