Join a book club that is reading When Breath Becomes Air!
When Breath Becomes Air
#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?
"Unmissable . . . Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option."--Janet Maslin, The New York Times ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, People, NPR, The Washington Post, Slate, Harper's Bazaar, Time Out New York, Publishers Weekly, BookPage 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. Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir
"Unmissable . . . Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option."--Janet Maslin, The New York Times ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, People, NPR, The Washington Post, Slate, Harper's Bazaar, Time Out New York, Publishers Weekly, BookPage 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. Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
This beautifully written and heartbreaking account describes the final days of a man who has dedicated his career to healthcare. The author, Kalanithi, shares his passion for working with the nearly departed and reflects on how this experience profoundly affects him. He offers insights into both neuroscience and the role of a physician, as well as emphasizing the importance of humanity in medicine. Through his own journey with a terminal illness, he explores the brevity of life and how it shapes his approach to his career. This work is both heartbreaking and beautiful, providing solace for anyone who has loved or cared for someone they have lost due to illness.
This book is truly moving. Watching someone who has spent years and years to have a successful life as a neurosurgeon suddenly have his life spin 360 degrees, shows two completely different perspectives on life. Troubles seem obsolete once faced with a battle for one’s own life. Paul Kalanithi was a gifted man with words so inducing of graciousness.
This is the second time I've read this, once for the Health, Medicine, and Society reading group and now again to teach in my intro to Medical Humanities class. I cried a bit less at the end this time around. This book is fascinating and important to me because of how deeply it considers the doctor-patient relationship, the struggles that face both physicians and patients, and the exposure of how difficult it can be to find meaning at the end of life. Kalanithi's challenges are very real, but they are met with full faith in a medical network that was personally invested in him, as well as a supportive family and enough wealth to not worry about providing care or fighting insurance companies. I can't help thinking while reading it that few are as lucky.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.