In 2015 Oliver Sacks published, My Own Life, announcing that he was terminally ill.In 1776 David Hume discovered he was mortally ill and wrote his autobiography, My Own Life.Sacks looked to Hume's work as inspiration for how to have a good death. Sacks faced his final months with a promise to himself to live 'in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can' encouraged by the words of Hume. He writes of a clarity of purpose while at the same time detaching himself from the inessentials of life. Sack's admiration for Hume is explicit in his choice of titles.