Select A Store
Select Store
My Store:
Select A Store
Overview
Overview
#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 THE BEST BOOKS 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 na ve 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.
- Format: Hardcover
- Author: Kalanithi, Paul
- ISBN: 9780812988406
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 7.50 x 1.00
- Number Of Pages: 256
- Publication Year: 2016
Customer Reviews
Rating Snapshot
5 ★
78%
4 ★
11%
3 ★
11%
2 ★
0%
1 ★
0%
9 Ratings
0
0% Would Recommend
0 Recommendations
Review Images
Sort by:
-
Life is a beautiful thing
Josh J. - 2 years 2 months agoWhen Breath Becomes Air is a truly inspiring book about Paul Kalanithi, a Neurosurgeon, who was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after finishing school. He takes you along with him as he slowly struggles with the transformation from doctor to patient. Many hard-won bits of life advice are to be found in this book, and I guarantee you won't feel as though you've wasted your time when you've finished. It can be a hard book to finish, but it is truly one of the most stunning and beautiful books I've read.
HPB Staff Review -
Grappling with Mortality
Kristen B. - 4 years 4 months agoHow exactly does one go from being a doctor to a patient? After years of training to be a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at a very young 36 years old. Since he was a child, he was fascinated with life and death. After being diagnosed, Kalanithi really started to grapple with his own mortality. In When Breath Becomes Air, he chronicles his journey from his first love, witnessing his first birth and first death, his advancement in his career and his own battle with cancer. A central theme throughout the book is the question what makes life worth living? When Breath Becomes Air is a very thought provoking and emotional book. Its one that will stay with you for a long time after reading.
HPB Staff Review -
Beautifully expressed end-of-life journey
Brian L. - 5 years 5 months agoA welcome, captivating listen on a long road trip. Offering an open-eyed look at mortality, Kalanithi’s reflections and his personal story left me with plenty to appreciate and plenty to contemplate. In addition to Kalanithi’s vulnerability, his scientific and medical knowledge enhance the book’s theme; his diagnosis of terminal cancer occurs just as he is completing residency and lining up a permanent, career position as a neurosurgeon. Though few of us have experienced it yet, we know that facing death brings clarity to our lives, and Kalanithi has shown his particular journey to clarity in beautiful fashion. He has also convinced me that final-stage-of-life scenarios should always prioritize quality of life questions as the primary lens through which to make decisions.
-
A Life Cut Short Way Too Soon
Mary R. - 5 years 11 months agoThis tragically haunting Pulitzer Prize finalist book was written by a young neurosurgeon diagnosed with cancer. It is a true story that is heart-breakingly tragic, yet informative--a story of a life cut short way too soon. I found myself bookmarking many pages, because I knew I would want to return one day and reread the author's beautiful words. A couple of examples: “Even if I’m dying, until I actually die, I am still living.” and "Life wasn't about avoiding suffering." Reading this book will make you think about your own life and mortality. Thank you, Dr. Kalanithi, for leaving your words of wisdom behind. #BannedBook
-
Insightful
ellie S. - 6 years 3 months agoThis was an insightful quick read about death, suffering, and personal journey of Paul Kalanithi, who passed away from cancer about 2015. He was a neurosurgeon.