About the BOOK:
When Breath Becomes Air chornicles the life of PaulKalanithi who after having completed a decade long training as a neurosurgeonis confronted with being diagnosed of lung cancer.
From being one who treated serious patients to being apatient with a terminal disease, Kalanithi started penning this auto-biographyafter he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and was counting days.
It is a moving story about Kalanithi’s own life: from beinga student pondering over the meaningfulness of life to a famous neurosurgeonwho operated brains that deals with the core of human identity, to being a newfather at a time when his own life is awaiting an uncanny end.
In writing about his own life, Kalanithi puts forth somereflecting questions: what is a person supposed to do when his life iscatastrophically cut off? What makes a life admirable and worth living right inthe face of death? And, finally, what does it mean to have a child right whenone’s own life is on the verge of perennial slumber?
Paul Kalanithi passed away while working on the book yet’When Breath Becomes Air’ is regarded as a profound reflection on theacceptance of mortality and on the relationship between a patient and a doctor,all from an author, who had to face it all.
Reviews:
“A vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite.Obligatory reading for the living.”
(Nigella Lawson)
“Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful.”
(Atul Gawande, author of BEING MORTAL)
“A great, indelible book … as intimate andilluminating as Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal,” to cite only one recent exampleof a doctor’s book that has had exceptionally wide appeal … I guarantee thatfinishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option …gripping from the start … None of it is maudlin. Nothing is exaggerated. Ashe wrote to a friend: “It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.” Andjust important enough to be unmissable.”
(New York Times)
About the AUTHOR:
Paul Kalanithi: A neurosurgeon who took to writing, PaulKalanithi held degrees in human biology, English Literature and history andphilosophy of science and medicine from Cambridge and Stanford Universitiesbefore finally graduating from Yale School of Medicine. He was also bestowedwith the highest award for research in the field of medicine by the AmericanAcademy of Neurological Surgery.