#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR … OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage
Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir
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.
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This was an amazing book written by a brilliant young neurosurgeon diagnosed with terminal cancer and how he chose to really LIVE his life. He was an incredible man.
You may not agree with all the arguments, but this book is considered, and well argued, and promotes new thinking about old questions about the relationship between faith, empiricism and consciousness. It is a quick read that is certainly thought provoking. Well worth a few hours (and more) of reading and reflection.
Insightful and thought-provoking.
Best description of cancer treatment, but difficult to read because it’s so honest
This book is so touching and it was the reality of what can happen to any one oc us at any time! CANCER! This DR was diagnosed just as he was completing his Residency in Neurosurgery. He was a genius and you wonder WHY did this happen to a brilliant young DR who had so much to offer and even though he is gone, we can still read his story with many others and so he is STILL GIVING US LIFE LESSONS because a good book can live far beyond our earthly life. A book as moving as this is a gift that keeps on giving!
Very good at speaking to the strength as well as the frailty of life. So important, though we don’t like to think about it… which makes it even more important.
An amazing story, told by the author about his terminal disease, how he coped, his family drama, how he made his last months so fulfilling. A must read.
It’s been awhile since I read but was well worth the read and much to think about.
A gut-honest memoir from an amazingly-talented brain surgeon about to begin his transition from residency to full-time surgeon. With a diagnosis of cancer, everything changes – everything. A superbly written narrative that will remind you of what really matters in life. A book you’ll remember. Promise.
This book explores end of life experience from a moving perspective. A medical student knows he will die, and he details his efforts to be cured as well as his acceptance of the inevitable. He courageously returns to work when his disease is in remission, and he and his wife bravely conceive a child. The final living room scene had me in tears.
Excellent read.
I don’t read Biographies as a rule but this was suggested by my daughter-in-law and I chose to try it. I will not pretend to understand a lot of the terminology he used as it is above my head. However, his story was clear. His trials and triumphs were there plain to see. After watching my brother-in-law go from diagnosis to death in 5 short months I often wondered what we could have done to help his battle more forcefully or ease his comfort more gently. Paul let us see that what we did for Tim was all we cold do. He also let me visualize Tim’s trial through new eyes. Too many I love have been taken by this horrible disease and if Paul’s work helps even one person I will be overjoyed. I was truly astounded by Lucy and saw that she, like my sister was present through all of the wins and losses of Paul’s journey. I hope Paul truly has his answer to the puzzle of life and death and purpose. I see each a little clearer now through his words. This is an amazing book by an amazing man. The Prologue and Epilogue let you see Paul as a friend and a wife saw him and adds to the wealth of this story. I hope for Lucy and Elisabeth happiness and a bright future filled with love and legacy.
I think Paul Kalanithi’s story is quite tragic, however I am not a fan of this book at all. It’s condescending and not really inspirational.
This book is a treasure eloquently detailing the dying process of a young neurosurgeon who is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. The epilogue, written by his wife, is a testament to the tenderness and power of love. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
The book was very well-written, and very quickly you feel you know and understand this couple and the people around them. Fairly early in his marriage, this young physician, who is marked for an amazing career in medicine and ground-breaking science, learns that he has stage 4 Cancer. He is marked for death. An early, heart breaking shock to him, his young marriage, his wife and their entire families. The book speaks mostly about how they handle this awful situation, their loving marriage, the child they choose to have, and the rest of their short life together before his ultimate death. I feel richer for having known these people.
Fabulous!!
Absolutely amazing
Oh, death. She must come for us all in the end, and sometimes the end is now.
Weird how the part that broke my heart the most was at the very end, not when Kalanithi’s story reached a frustrating stop (which was heartbreaking enough in itself) but rather when his wife exposed her thoughts on the matter, giving an honest depiction of the good, loving and charming man she had married.
I’d call this book tragic, but I also want to say it is “quietly loud.” One of those books you read with an aura of silence around you, and finish, a little shaken, too quickly, and close with awed and broken reverence.
This is an uplifting book about facing a terminal illness from one who is usually sharing with patients their future expectations. The writing is excellent.
A view of death that we rarely see. Beautifully written. The world lost a very talented man.