When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi

Description

For-readers-of-Atul-Gawande,-Andrew-Solomon,-and-Anne-Lamott,-a-profoundly-moving,-exquisitely-observed-memoir-by-a-young-neurosurgeon-faced-with-a-terminal-cancer-diagnosis-who-attempts-to-answer-the-question-‘What-makes-a-life-worth-living?’At-the-age-of-thirty-six,-on-the-verge-of-completing-a-decade’s-worth-of-training-as-a-neurosurgeon,-Paul-Kalanithi-was-diagnosed-with-stage-IV-lung-cancer.-One-day-he-was-a-doctor-treating-the-dying,-and-the-next-he-was-a-patient-struggling-to-live.-And-just-like-that,-the-future-he-and-his-wife-had-imagined-evaporated. When-Breath-Becomes-Air chronicles-Kalanithi’s-transformation-from-a-naïve-medical-student-“possessed,”-as-he-wrote,-“by-the-question-of-what,-given-that-all-organisms-die,-makes-a-virtuous-and-meaningful-life”-into-a-neurosurgeon-at-Stanford-working-in-the-brain,-the-most-critical-place-for-human-identity,-and-finally-into-a-patient-and-new-father-confronting-his-own-mortality.What-makes-life-worth-living-in-the-face-of-death?-What-do-you-do-when-the-future,-no-longer-a-ladder-toward-your-goals-in-life,-flattens-out-into-a-perpetual-present?-What-does-it-mean-to-have-a-child,-to-nurture-a-new-life-as-another-fades-away?-These-are-some-of-the-questions-Kalanithi-wrestles-with-in-this-profoundly-moving,-exquisitely-observed-memoir.Paul-Kalanithi-died-in-March-2015,-while-working-on-this-book,-yet-his-words-live-on-as-a-guide-and-a-gift-to-us-all.-“I-began-to-realize-that-coming-face-to-face-with-my-own-mortality,-in-a-sense,-had-changed-nothing-and-everything,”-he-wrote.-“Seven-words-from-Samuel-Beckett-began-to-repeat-in-my-head:-‘I-can’t-go-on.-I’ll-go-on.'” When-Breath-Becomes-Air is-an-unforgettable,-life-affirming-reflection-on-the-challenge-of-facing-death-and-on-the-relationship-between-doctor-and-patient,-from-a-brilliant-writer-who-became-both.