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When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese
Published
January 12, 2016
Pages
228 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Random House
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$11.99
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$13.16
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$15.60
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About This Book
#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
Introduction
In a heartbreaking yet inspiring memoir, Paul Kalanithi, a gifted neurosurgeon, navigates the harrowing terrain between life and death. Faced with a devastating diagnosis of advanced lung cancer, his candid exploration of mortality and the meaning of life transcends his medical career. Through profound reflections, he shares deeply personal insights that compel readers to ponder the significance of time and the courage required to live fully, despite life's uncertainties.
This memoir offers a unique perspective on the human condition, uniting the wisdom of a doctor with the vulnerability of a patient.
Key Takeaways
A neurosurgeon's insights on mortality illuminate the quest for purpose amidst life's impermanence. Facing terminal illness Paul offers a poignant exploration of being both healer and patient. Kalanithi's writing portrays a heartfelt journey of renewed hope and discovery while confronting death.
Detailed Description
When Breath Becomes Air is a captivating memoir that intertwines the realms of medicine and art offering a profound meditation on life. Paul Kalanithi a neurosurgeon with a passion for literature reflects on his life from medical student to doctor. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at age 36.
Navigating the shifting roles from doctor to patient Paul endeavors to understand what makes life meaningful. His candid portrayal reveals the intertwining of uncertainty and hope prompting readers to examine their own lives. The narrative weaves together medical cases with personal anecdotes demonstrating his dual mastery of both professions he cherished.
Paul's eloquence in confronting his mortality creates a deeply personal exploration that transcends his own experience. With poetic grace he examines themes that resonate universally inviting others to reflect on the fragility and beauty of existence. This book stands as both a science and a testament to living with purpose and dignity.
His unwavering quest for understanding drives the memoir forward revealing not only a doctor's intimate knowledge but also a patient's vulnerability. Within the lines of this beautifully rendered narrative the essence of humanity is intricately carved leaving a lasting imprint on those who journey with him. In his final days Paul's reflections confirm the duality of hope and despair crafting a narrative that ignites a conversation about resilience and courage.
When Breath Becomes Air offers an unforgettable dialogue on what it means to live achieve one's dreams and face the inevitable with grace.
Standout Features
This book's profound impact lies in Paul's ability to articulate complex emotions with extraordinary clarity and empathy His skillful storytelling melds personal memoir with philosophical exploration creating a narrative that remains both compelling and deeply moving. \nThe fusion of science and literature within Paul's writing uniquely highlights the intertwined nature of intellect and human experience His observations offer readers a rare glimpse into the mind of a doctor faced with the ultimate reversal of roles. \nPaul's unflinching honesty about the oscillating emotions surrounding life and death sets this memoir apart His ability to find beauty amidst despair speaks to the strength of the human spirit making his story universally resonant and profoundly inspiring.
Book Details
081298840X
978-0812988406
5.28 x 0.9 x 7.79 inches
11.2 ounces
Specifications
Rating
Based on 106308 ratings
Customer Reviews
The power of an author's voice and story -- over an author's style
Paul Kalanithi’s WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR is one of my favorite memoirs (along with Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House). Full disclosure: I also write memoirs and read a variety of them. BREATH is in many ways a straightforward memoir. It’s a sickness memoir where the writer struggles with a debilitating condition. And I knew the ending before I started reading. Still the ending moved me more deeply than it should have. What distinguishes this book from others is the purity of Kalanithi’s voice. It is a voice that is urgent, beautiful, and outrageously kind. In the first half of the book, we see his struggle to become a doctor. In the second half, we see him navigate soul-crushing news. I wish we could have more books from Paul, but am grateful for this one. My own memoir is a bit more metaphorical as I explore the wondrous magic and terrifying monsters I’ve encountered in my sixty-year life. Kalanithi’s book is a reminder to me of the power of an author’s voice and story over an author’s style. It’s a lesson I won’t soon forget. Dwight Okita, The Invention of Fireflies (A Memoir), and The Hope Store
Brilliant memoir of a young physician facing a terminal diagnosis
This brief memoir is interposed between a foreword by Abraham Verghese, the brilliant author of “Cutting for Stone” and an epilogue by author’s wife, Lucy Kalanithi. It is a beautifully, heartrending, deeply philosophical piece by an accomplished young man who dedicated heart and mind to his work and study in neurosurgery. He discovers that he has terminal lung cancer at the age of 36, just before completing his grueling neurosurgical residency and embarking on the career he has worked so hard to attain. The book is very thoughtful and reflective in nature, especially upon the meaning of life. It made me wonder if the author was truly always so interested in finding the meaning of life, or if only when told of this terminal diagnosis, that reflection back on his life made this search so apparent. As one nears death, what is most important, becomes glaringly more obvious, and Paul Kalanithi describes this so well. Abraham Verghese speaks in the foreword of how he had met Paul in person several times before his death, but it was not until he read his book that he felt he really knew him. I too, felt like I got to know Paul through this book. He is very open and honest about himself, his sickness, his relationships, and struggles and triumphs throughout the process of dealing with cancer. I find it interesting that Paul did not always think he wanted to be a physician, but rather thought he might be a writer. He may not have realized his full potential as neurosurgeon and professor, but he surely achieved his goal to be a writer. He has left behind a beautiful book that will be read for many years to come. It will be of great interest to those with life-threatening disease, their family members, and really everyone, because we will all be in those shoes at some point. He has also left behind a wonderful gift of himself to his daughter. She will not remember her time with him, but she will be able to know him through this book and well as through the memories that I’m sure his close relations will share with her. Aside from writing and even delving back into neurosurgery residency at one point, he spent the last years of his life following his diagnosis, building closer bonds with his family, and the love there was overflowing. Aside from being an important read for anyone facing a life-threatening illness themselves or loving someone who is, I think it is a very important read for all medical professionals. It puts a face behind a patient, who is clearly able to articulate the thoughts and feelings of being a patient in our medical system. It emphasizes and highlights the importance of the physician-patient relationship. I gave this book 5 stars for it’s thought provoking, beautiful prose, as well as for writing it’s way through a death with utmost dignity. He strengthens his belief systems, forges stronger relationships with family and loved ones, and finds greater meaning in life once he is given this terminal diagnosis. For discussion questions, please visit book-chatter.com
great reading, medically integrating
Talks and gives real life testimony to the life and death question we all face and what becomes of it when we have to look it in the eye. Great read
A MUST read…
This truly is a MUST read for medical professionals and to be enjoyed by all. Beautifully written, thought-FULL, and an HONOR to read and share. A hearty congratulations for a profound book and many blessings to his family as they create their future without Paul but enjoying his continued love and legacy.
A Poetic Memoir About Dying, Life, and Meaning
Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon, a scientist, and an English literature and a philosophy graduate degree recipient. And at 36 years old, at the cusp of becoming all he worked so hard to achieve, he got the catastrophic diagnosis that he had terminal lung cancer. This sudden devastation concerning someone so accomplished and so promising is the starting point for a sincere, sensitive, and inspiring journey that you will take with him in his memoir to discover the meaning of existence and the acceptance of the inevitability of death. In his struggle to stave off the ravages of cancer and deal with the uncertainty of when he will “shuffle off this mortal coil,” he grapples with the most fundamental philosophical questions a human mind and heart and soul can imagine. And we are fortunate that he has written so eloquently and intelligently about those struggles in his memoir entitled When Breath Becomes Air. This is a hard and a glorious autobiography. It is hard because of the harrowing topic, but it is glorious because of what it teaches us as humans lost in a sea of confusion about the whys of living and the limits of life and knowledge—the search for meaning in a meaningless world. You will be captivated and enlightened by this amazing man, and you will be engrossed by the significance of his life and the meaning of his illness and death. The book is slim (229 pages) but extraordinarily powerful, moving, poetic, and philosophical. You will admire Paul Kalanithi for his decency and humanity, and you will lovingly respect his posthumously published last wondrous gift to us. As his wife Lucy says in her epilogue to the book: “He wanted to help people understand death and face their mortality.” With husband Paul’s wisdom and grace in this memoir, you will. On a personal level, this book was difficult but important as well. That is because I lost my spiritual father and mentor, who was a physician and psychiatrist, to the same cancer as Paul had. He, too, died too young. But he too would talk about facing mortality, about existential surprises, and the meaning of life. His voice accompanied Paul’s throughout my reading of this work. They were both comforting and inspirational. There is also a dear friend, a psychiatrist who helps many with grieving and is and has been my friend for many years and was my grief counselor. She is also like Paul and my spiritual dad in many ways. She was supportively with me in spirit as well when I was reading this beautiful and powerful memoir. When Breath Becomes Air is one of the most important books I have ever read, ranking up there with Night by Elie Wiesel and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It is that special.
