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When Breath Becomes Air
What They Said About This When Breath Becomes Air Book (Reviews):
Maggie Stiefvater
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookA gasping, desperate, powerful little book, bigger on the inside than outside. It's a little bit about dying, but more about being alive.
Petra X
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookI finished the book. I'm glad that I perservered with it. It's quite an odd book and an overall rating might be the sum of the parts, but is not going to reflect the writing or content of those parts.The first part, the foreword, by Abraham Verghese, was verbose, hagiographic and contradictory . He said he didn't know the author at all until after his death. Then he says well he did meet him and they had a long email correspondence. And so it goes. He says it's the foreword but should be the afterword. Verghese must have sat there with a thesaurus composing endless sentences of praise for the author, who had, like most of us, never accomplished anything much out of the ordinary. I dnf'd this part and give it a whole, rounded-up 1 star.The second part, I feel churlish writing this, I really do. The author had an interesting career in his short life, mostly as a student. He had a MA in English Literature, another MA in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, a BSc in Human Biology and finally an MD from Yale, before going on to be a neurosurgeon. It was in his brief career as a neurosurgeon and scientist he was diagnosed with cancer. He tried his best to be introspective and give guidance through the exponentially-increasing awfulness that is the journey through this dread disease. The problem was, he wasn't a natural writer although he'd wanted to be one all his life. Hi prose might have been just the stuff of essays at his Ivy League universities, but to me it is reminiscent of a writers' group where each attempt to outdo each other with portent-laden phrases and lots of deep literary references. It was tedious in parts. But... he did his best and he was a good doctor, husband and father, and this was only his debut book. Five stars for the man, but three stars, just, for this central section of the book.The long afterword is written by his widow. She is a doctor too, but could easily be a writer. She just has 'it' and her late husband, who wanted it so much, didn't. She rounds out the story he told, and continued on at length in the most interesting and well-written part of the book. Her ability to convey emotion without getting either lyrical or sappy was excellent. Five stars. Dr. Lucy Kalanithi should have been credited as co-author. I hope she goes on writingIt won't make sense to read the last part without the second, but you can easily skip the foreword, all it adds is unnecessary verbiage and lots of pages to make it look more than just the thin tome it really is.________________An example of the really rather awful writing that got me down. You may disagree, you may feel that the three words I suggest - dawn came up, are no substitute for the 150 poetic, lyrical, descriptive ones the author wrote instead. I'm too hard, right?
Elyse
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDF1/12/16: Update: Just wanted to mention that this book goes on sale today. Its an amazing story!Paul Kalanithi studied literature at Stanford University. For his thesis, he studied the work of Walt Whitman, a poet , who a century before, was possessed by the same questions that haunted him. Kalanithi wanted to find a way to understand and describe what he termed "the Physiological-Spiritual Man." Kalanithi had a passion for literature. He began to see language as an almost supernatural force, existing between people, bringing our brains, shielded in centimeter-thick skulls, into communion. "There must be a way, I thought, that the language of life as experienced – – of passion, hunger, of love – – bore some relationship, however convoluted, to the language of neurons, digestive tracks, and heartbeats."Paul Kalanithi's thesis was well-received -- but neuroscience as literary criticism didn't quite fit in the English Department. ( nor did he). There was a question he couldn't let go of. "Where did Biology, morality, literature, and philosophy intersect?".Kalanithi consulted a premed advisor - set aside his passion for literature - and figured out the logistics to get ready for medical school. He was still searching for answers to the question "what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay?"When he was in his fourth year medical school, he watched many classmates choose to specialize in less demanding areas, (radiology or dermatology for example). It puzzled him that many students focused on lifestyle specialities--those with more humane hours, higher salaries, and lower pressures. For himself, he chose neurosurgery as a specialty. Kalanithi was diagnosed with Cancer. ( he actually was almost certain he had cancer many months before getting an X-Ray or MRI). Once it was clear that the cancer had invaded multiple organ systems--( "severe illness wasn' life altering--it was life shattering"), decisions needed to be made. His wife Lucy, father, siblings, doctors were all involved - and chemo would start soon. Clarifying the rest of his life ( only age 36 at the time), was going to be a process. He and Lucy went to visit a sperm bank to preserve gametes and options. They had planned on having kids at the end of his residency. To think. Paul Kalanithi wrote this book - relentlessly- fueled with purpose during the last year of his life -- never got to finish his life's plan..( yet he still worked that last year).... But he was racing against time. With this book - he was hoping to confront death - examine it- accept it-- as a physician and a patient. He wanted to help other people understand death and face their mortality. "It's not exotic..but tragic enough and imaginable enough he says". There is a beautiful - but so sad- Epilogue by Lucy - from Paul's wife at the end of the book. Their baby had been born eight months before Paul died - March 9th, 2015. Lucy reports that Paul let himself be vulnerable and comforted by family and friends.. and even when terminally ill, he remained fully alive! Thank You Random House, Netgalley, and Paul ( and Lucy), Kalanithi
Iris Pereyra
Writes about Read Online When Breath Becomes Air Book PDFSharing this interesting New York Times interview with Dr. Lucy Kalanithi.She sounds like a very special person too:***********************************************************Upgrading this to 5 stars, not sure why I didn't before***********************************************************After finishing this profound, emotional memoir I feel like I lost a good friend.Thank you Paul Kalanithi for this beautiful gift you left for us, wherever you are...I was going to try to write a longer review but my mind is not into it these days.All I can say this book will stay with me for a long time and everything good you've heard about how amazing it's well deserved.Sad, poignant, raw, beautiful...
Jen
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookUnforgettable is what Verghese says in his foreword. I agree and am fighting for my own breath to write my thoughts about this stunning memoir that has left me gasping for air. The writing. The emotion. The beauty in the darkness of dying. I mourn the death of this writer, a surgeon of great potential. A doctor of great compassion. But the message he has left us is quite eloquently simple: make life as meaningful as you can in the time you have. Be grateful. The touching epilogue his wife Lucy wrote.My tears runneth over. 5⭐️ - have upped this. This one will stay with me for a long while.
Maxwell
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookI don't think you should read this book because the story of an incredibly gifted man who had his life taken away at such a young age might give you the motivation to live life more fully. I think you should read this book because that talented, inspiring man has incredibly important things to say derived from his own experiences, and it's important to listen and learn from them. Read this book with the knowledge that you might not always be able to understand everything someone goes through, but you can set aside the time to listen to their story and hopefully give them the dignity and respect they deserve as a human being, in life or death. -Paul Kalanithi
Aisling
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookOh dear. I was always told not to speak ill of the dead. It feels awful to give a three star rating to a nice guy (by all accounts) who is now dead. But I simply did not find this book compelling or insightful enough. It is mildly interesting to learn about neurosurgery as a specialty and to read the author's thoughts as he faced diagnosis, illness and then death. I always felt that the author was holding back; that it was too clinical, too calm, just not passionate enough. The first time I felt that I was reading something worthwhile was in the 26 page epilogue by the author's wife. I guess the best way to say it is this; this is a quick read. And of course it should not be.
Esil
Writes about Read Online When Breath Becomes Air Book PDFA very high 4 stars. When Breath Becomes Air is so good and so sad. It's a brief memoir of a life ended way too early. Kalanithi was 35 years old and finishing his training as a neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. As he was living out the end of his life, he wrote this brief powerful memoir. In the first section, he describes how he became aware of his diagnosis -- he essentially self diagnosed. In the second section he explains how he decided to become a neurosurgeon -- he wavered between being a writer and a doctor but decided that he wanted to do something tangible that engaged him in the real world -- although he had planned to become a writer later in life. In the third section, he writes about being a patient, his struggle to live a normal life, becoming a father, and his failing health. And the final section is written by his wife after his death – she writes about his death, how he wrote the book and who he was to her. I'm not sure what to say to do justice to this book and to Kalanithi. There's a bit of a stream of consciousness feel to the book. But all the bits and pieces of narrative add up to a very meaningful whole: he writes strong fluid prose, he has a brilliant mind, he conveys his dual love of literature and science, and he has great human insight into life, medicine, dying and death. It makes for a very sad book -- not because Kalanithi is melodramatic or self-pitying – quite the contrary -- but because as I read and savoured his prose and thoughts I couldn't help feeling the sense of a life cut far too short. I can't fathom how he was able to so soberly write this book in the last few months of his life, but I'm grateful I had a chance to read it. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
Linda O'Donnell F.
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDF"To begin with -- or, maybe, to end with --I got to know Paul only after his death. I came to know him most intimately when he'd ceased to be." (Abraham Verghese)And we, for the most part, can actually say the same thing about Paul Kalanithi. We've come to know of him only after he had left this world of ours. Ironically, I write this on March 9th, the one-year anniversary of his passing.Paul Kalanithi: son, husband, father, brilliant surgeon. He was a healer whose very existence gave hope to so many. How can this be? In my humble opinion, I believe that we are here on this earth for the appointed time of our being. We draw no more breath than what is pre-determined by a Higher Being....be it the last, raspy breaths of the elderly or the sole breath of a dying newborn. Paul was here for his personal alloted time.This book is divided into two sections: before cancer diagnosis and after cancer diagnosis. Many have expressed a disconnect after having read this story. Many were looking for the gentle words of the dying in philosophical terms. The little nuggets were indeed there. But the perspective was all Paul's.The beginning of the book was both clinical and procedural. That was Paul revealing his sense of "being"......what it took to become this focused man of medicine and of science. His steps were measured in the direction of his accomplishments and towards the light of a future that was never meant to be.The second part of the book concentrated on the shifting of his identity from directing physician to the role of dependent patient. His profound knowledge of medicine served him in a limited capacity as he fought against the aggression of the disease. "But I'd had no idea how hard it would be, how much terrain I would have to explore, map, settle." Much like the rest of us in our stilted human experience.The Epilogue is beautifully written by his wife, Lucy. She writes: "his transformation, from life to death, the ultimate transformation that awaits us all."When Breath Becomes Air should not be taken as a maudlin reading, but one of hope and one of living a life well, no matter what the promise of longevity reveals.
Sabaa Tahir
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookNever has a book turned me into a sad sobbing mess so quickly. Philosophical, beautiful, moving, difficult, heartbreaking. Highly, HIGHLY recommend.
Seemita
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFIt has been a few days since I turned the last page of this book. But the numbness reappears the instant I allow the pages to unfold in my memory. The silence which suddenly parts to let these memories seep in and cloud my vision, fills the air. Even as I grapple to make ‘sense’ of what it means to lose a dear, dear one, I, ironically, already know that ‘sense’ to be ephemeral. No part of my being accepts ; they all adjust the lens to view it as a part of .Paul was a neurosurgeon by profession, and passion, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Standing at the threshold of seeing his dream come true, one built on a decade and half of relentless academic pursuits and tireless hours at residency, he witnesses a cruel twist of destiny; he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, just months before his scheduled graduation. A doctor in mind and a fighter in spirit, he battles this uninvited and lethal intruder with immense mettle and equanimity, gaining much wisdom during the course and eventually, surrendering to its inevitability and in a strange, serene way, to its affability.Paul Kalanithi’s memoir is a sublime read. It is a reminder of the transience of life yet an even louder reminder of longevity of deeds and memories. That in little manifestations and significant decisions, in careless words and sombre confessions, we continue to live, long after we are gone. He wrote most parts of this book during his last months in debilitating pain and treatment but he couldn’t have sounded more balanced and calm. The impact of this book is not in his sage-like, detached, professional treatment of his grave illness but in its earnestness; earnestness to detect vulnerabilities and find a path through them that eventually stands meaningful. Somewhere around page 161, he talks about the much quoted five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And along with them, his case, with aberration, wherein the cycle was embraced in reverse order by him. From accepting his fate to slipping into depression at not being able to pursue his career, to adamantly cherry-picking duties at hospital, if only to be closer to his first love to getting angry at his lost mobility and scarred vitality, to finally, plunging into his surgeon duties with a vengeance, agonizingly shoving his deteriorating body aside, Paul exhibits an incredibly hungry mind and dedicated soul. As a reader, I have, many times, felt the palliative effect of books. During my times of distress, I have seen my sorrows and melancholy unloading on the sturdy and wise shoulders of authors and their verses. Thus, I could fathom the strength Paul drew from Beckett and Eliot, Forster and Nietzsche. And most importantly, from his wife, Lucy. A doctor herself, how crushing it would have been for her to keep a good head and not forsake the glimmer of hope in the light of her professional inferences. But as Mark Twain says, Paul and Lucy Kalanithi did live, in their lovely daughter, Cady. Born sixteen months post Paul’s diagnosis, she had the physical company of her father for eight months only. But she will continue to know his courage and feel his magic every time she will pick this book up.
Larry Hoffer
Writes about Read Online When Breath Becomes Air Book PDFWow. I had to wait a little bit to pull myself together before writing a review of this exquisite book, even though I am tremendously late to the party on this one."...See what it is to still live, to profoundly influence the lives of others after you are gone, by your words. In a world of asynchronous communication, where we are so often buried in our screens, our gaze rooted to the rectangular objects buzzing in our hands, our attention consumed by ephemera, stop and experience this dialogue with my young departed colleague, now ageless and extant in memory. Listen to Paul."Paul Kalanithi was, by all accounts, an excellent neurosurgeon, with the potential of being a true guiding force in medicine and science. He spent most of his early adult life seeking knowledge on multiple fronts, from literature and science to philosophy and ethics. When he finally decided to pursue a career in neurology, he wasn't just content to be a doctor—he wanted to understand and identify with his patients fully, to help them and their families adjust to whatever their new reality would be following a diagnosis, an accident, a surgery."I was pursuing medicine to bear witness to the twinned mysteries of death, its experiential and biological manifestations: at once deeply personal and utterly impersonal."At the age of 36, Paul was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Suddenly his life has transformed him from doctor to patient, not an easy transition for anyone, especially someone as hands-on with patient care as Paul had been. While he and his internist wife Lucy are prepared for the worst, Paul's oncologist has hope, and doesn't allow him to wallow in his diagnosis. If he wants to stop being a neurologist, she tells him, it has to be because he doesn't want to continue or wants to pursue something else—his cancer won't stop him.As he struggles with thoughts of his future, however long that might be, he ponders how to fill that time. Should he continue working in a field that has so richly given back to him, and given him the chance to touch so many lives? What gives a life value, and how can that value be measured? What obligations does he owe his family, his friends, his wife, his infant daughter?"At those critical junctures, the question is not simply whether to live or die but what kind of life is worth living." is an intellectual and deeply emotional memoir, written by a young man with so much promise, so much heart, so much empathy. It is both a reflection on coming face-to-face with one's own mortality and a commentary on the responsibility doctors have to help their patients and their families through that same reflection, whether it happens with some warning or suddenly. It is also a love story, of a man and his wife, a man and the child he will never truly know, and a man and his career.You know from the very start of Abraham Verghese's introduction to the book that Paul lost his battle with cancer, yet the end of his life, and the epilogue written by Paul's wife still feel like sucker punches. You mourn a man you probably never knew, but you feel truly blessed he chose as one of his final acts to share his life, his death, and his thoughts with the world, because we are all better for them."'The thing about lung cancer is that it's not exotic,' Paul wrote in an email to his best friend, Robin. 'It's just tragic enough and just imaginable enough. [The reader] can get into these shoes, walk a bit and say, 'So that's what it looks like from here...sooner or later I'll be back here in my own shoes.' That's what I'm aiming for, I think. Not the sensationalism of dying, and not exhortations to gather rosebuds, but: Here's what lies up ahead on the road.' Of course, he did more than just describe the terrain. He traversed it bravely."This is a beautiful book, truly a work of art that I won't soon forget. Easily one of the finest books I've read in some time. My thanks to the Kalanithi family, and Paul himself, for this opportunity to view such an exceptional man at such a critical juncture in his life. See all of my reviews at .
Amanda
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFWhen Breath Becomes Air is one of the most beautifully written, heartbreaking, and affecting memoirs I have ever read. Even though the book is incredibly sad, it is ultimately life affirming and worth the emotional investment.At the age of thirty-six, Paul Kalanthi, a doctor nearing the completion of his neurosurgeon training, is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. This revelation becomes a dividing line in his life, something of a reversal of fortune. Paul goes from being a healthy physician with limitless possibility ahead of him to a sick patient with an uncertain future.Paul's love affair with literature began at an early age. "Books became my closest confidants, finely ground lenses providing new views of the world." Fearing that her son would not receive an adequate education in the small Arizona town where his father opened a cardiology practice, Paul's mother supplemented with endless literary classics. Paul, convinced that he would not go into medicine, decides to major in English literature but also completes a degree in human biology because of his fascination with the brain. "Literature provided a rich account of human meaning; the brain, then, was the machinery that somehow enabled it." After completing a Master's degree in English literature and wanting to discover where biology, morality, literature, and philosophy intersect, Paul chooses to apply to medical school. "Words began to feel as weightless as the breath that carried them." He longed for a direct experience. He selects neurosurgery because for him it was truly a calling.After the cancer diagnosis, Paul struggles with answering the philosophical questions that plague him. "The tricky part of illness is that, as you go through it, your values are constantly changing. You decide you want to spend your time working as a neurosurgeon, but two months later you may feel differently...Death may be a one-time event, but living with terminal illness is a process." Paul never claims to have the answers, but he perseveres and continues to live. Paul and his wife Lucy even decide to have a baby together. He goes back to the OR until he is no longer able to practice and then dedicates himself to writing this book. Unfortunately, Paul lost his battle in March of 2015, two years after his diagnosis. I am sure different people take different things from this book, but I was captivated by Paul's love of literature. He even credited literature for bringing him back to life during his first course of treatment. Paul's words are so eloquent, and frankly, I had to restrain myself not to quote the entire book. After learning of the cancer, Paul joked with a friend, "The good news is I've already outlived two Brontës, Keats, and Stephen Crane. The bad news is that I haven't written anything." Well, Paul Kalanthi did leave behind a powerful work of literature that I highly recommend.Indulge me for one final quote:In the end, it cannot be doubted that each of us can see only a part of the picture. Human knowledge is never contained in one person...It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still it is never complete. And truth comes somewhere above all of them.
Jill
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFSometimes you don’t go out and find a book; the book finds you. Facing an impending loss without a foundation of faith to fall back on, I find myself asking, “What is the meaning of life if we’re all just going to die?”Paul Kalanithi answers that question in the most meaningful way possible in his outstanding book. A 36-year- old neurosurgeon, Paul wrestled between medicine and literature as an eventual career. Medicine won out and he was just on the cusp of a stellar trajectory when he was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. Paul nurtured a passionate belief in the moral dimensions of his job. He also strongly believed that the relational aspect between people undergirded meaning and that life’s meaning has everything to do with the depth of the relationships we form in our journey. He says this, “The secret is to know that the deck is stacked, that you will lose, that your hands or judgment will slip, and yet still struggle to win …You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which are ceaselessly striving.Just as his surgeon’s scalpel eased disease of the brain and saved lives, his words give reasons for living. The grace with which he navigates his journey – from a top-rated surgical resident to writer to his most important role of all, husband and father of a young daughter – his book is ample testimony to how one life well-lived can continue to create such a great impact.In the foreword by fellow doctor and writer Abraham Verghese, that doctor writes, “He (Paul) wasn’t writing about anything—he was writing about time and what it meant to him now, in the context of his illness.” And in the afterword by his wife Lucy, the meaning of that time becomes even clearer. I felt the sense of having lost a personal friend.Let me make this clear if I haven’t already: this is NOT a self-pitying, manipulative memoir and it is not the reason I’m 5-starring it. It’s a beautifully written, insightful, page-turning book on how we connect as humans and why life – no matter how truncated – is worth living. I will be recommending this strongly to just about everyone in my life.
Carol
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air Bookundefined
Eve
Writes about Read Online When Breath Becomes Air Book PDFPaul Kalanithi is just thirty-six years old when he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Before entering the medical field, he debated about whether to follow his love of literature into a teaching and writing field. It’s touching that he got to do both things in his short life, and that his one attempt at authorship would produce this poetic, ethereal ode to a life more than half lived.I’m still processing this book several days after completing it, so excuse my lack of other descriptive words. Books like these make me overwhelmingly sad, so I don’t usually seek them out, but in this case I feel so grateful for having met Paul through his work. Abraham Verghese described coming to know Paul through his prose in the foreword, and I couldn’t have described it any better.
Rebecca Foster
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFI’m something of an aficionado of cancer memoirs, a subgenre that appeals for family history reasons but also because I appreciate stories lived right on the knife edge of life and death. Here’s one I would recommend to anyone for the beauty of its prose – a fine blend of literature and medicine – and the simple yet wholehearted picture of a life cut short.Paul Kalanithi was 36 and just completing his neurosurgery residency in Stanford, California when he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer that did not respond well to treatment. It came as a complete surprise and set the young surgeon’s life on a new course. He and his coterie of doctors managed his symptoms so he could operate for as long as he could, but when the time came he knew he wanted to devote his last year to writing this memoir. In addition, he would get a brief, sweet taste of fatherhood: he and his wife Lucy, also in the medical field, decided to have a child.Kalanithi grew up the son of Indian immigrants in Arizona. “I was driven less by achievement than by trying to understand, in earnest: What makes human life meaningful?” he recalls. Degrees in English literature and human biology were disparate attempts to find an answer. Like Henry Marsh (), he has a surgeon’s knowledge of the anatomy of reasoning, but realizes that does not provide a full picture. He recognizes the responsibility of holding others’ lives in the balance, and regrets occasional failures of empathy.“Those burdens are what make medicine holy and wholly impossible: in taking up another’s cross, one must sometimes get crushed by the weight.” It’s intriguing to see religious language in that statement – indeed, Kalanithi saw his work as a calling, and one with moral connotations. Christian imagery shows up repeatedly:When’s the last time you encountered the word “narthex”?! The vocabulary is striking throughout, as in another favorite passage: “A tureen of tragedy was best allotted by the spoonful. Only a few patients demanded the whole at once; most needed time to digest.”Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015. There’s a lovely epilogue from his wife – like Marion Coutts, the author of , she’s more than competent to carry on his story.
Kelli
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFWith over 1200 reviews in just over a month, there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said. I'm not sure I even need to acknowledge the brilliance, ambition, tenacity, curiosity, and endurance this man possessed or the fact that he wrote in a way that felt conversational and genuine, even when discussing procedures of the brain and medical school examples well outside most people's normal realm. His wife's epilogue was extremely well-written and reduced me to tears, as did his note to his baby daughter. I felt it was a wonderful gift he gave his wife by tasking her with seeing the book through to publication...giving her the opportunity to speak about him and truly keep his memory alive while really focusing on the most positive aspects of his experiences as a husband, a father, and a neurosurgeon.There is much to be learned here about death and living with a terminal illness, but what I came away with from this clearly unfinished memoir is simple: if there were more doctors endeavoring to make the type of connection to their patients that Paul Kalanithi saw as valuable and worked to establish, the state of medical care in this country would be improved in a way that likely cannot be quantified. This man came to realize the value of human connection. He witnessed the effect it had on a patient's ability to accept their situations and their ability to make decisions. He knew the strength of the doctor/patient relationship and he saw the positive outcome of treating the whole patient rather than focusing on just the medical problem to be solved. He was lucky to have an oncologist with the same vision treating him later in the book. Paul Kalanithi has left a great legacy. I hope his generation of doctors/surgeons/educators is paying attention. 5 stars for this beautiful, gentle soul and this book that could change the future of medicine.
Glenn Sumi
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFBy now I’m sure you’ve all heard about this book by the young Dr. Paul Kalanithi, who, in his mid-30s, was completing his training as a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist when he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. At the time, he and his wife Lucy, also a physician, were contemplating having children. Universities were wooing him. The future was all mapped out, years of hard work about to pay off.And then he got the news about his cancer. Suddenly, he had to reassess his life and think: How do I want to spend the rest of my time, however long that may be?One of his long-term goals was to become a writer. And before he died in March 2015 he asked his wife (and now mother of his child) and parents to make sure this book – alas, incomplete at the time of his death – got published. And this is the result, a brief but powerful and remarkable volume.The book, complete with prologue and (written by Lucy) moving epilogue, is divided into two parts. The first recounts moments from Kalanithi’s childhood, his early love of literature (he studied both literature and biology as an undergrad) and his discovery of his calling as a physician. The second deals with his illness. For the most part, Kalanithi’s writing is clear and earnest, and there are some surprising moments. At one point during his pre-med years at Stanford he was so poor that he squatted for a time in an empty dormitory. He quotes a lot of literature, especially Joyce and Beckett, but I wish he had explored in more depth what he got from books.It feels churlish to critique the writing of such a multi-talented man who never got to finesse the manuscript in book form with an editor, but surely someone at Random House could have made some of these sentences more graceful: I had to look up “asymptote,” and I wish an editor had tweaked that awkward word “relationality.”The second half of the book is much richer, because it’s here that Kalanithi is forced to dig deep and ponder big questions. Here he is questioning his identity:That last observation is simple yet profound. Witnessing his rapid maturation is inspiring and, in the end, makes you reflect on your own priorities. His final words, about his young daughter, are so wise and generous they'll make you tear up. And Lucy’s bittersweet epilogue puts her husband's writing in perspective. She knows the book feels unfinished, and that it doesn’t capture Kalanithi's sense of humour and other qualities. But sometimes, we can intuit, there’s not time for everything. Let’s be grateful for what we do have, not what we don’t.
Perry
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookAs memorable as it is moving for not only the charm and impact of Dr. Paul Kalanithi's writing but his impressive might to complete the memoir's manuscript maugre the malignancy that ultimately ended his life before he could finish writing it. Though I'd never presume as much, I try to maintain my faith that a reason exists for the premature death of someone like Paul Kalanithi, who was ably devoted to giving so much. That is to say, I have hope that Dr. Kalanithi, a mid-30s highly respected neurosurgeon with a loving wife and infant daughter, was empowered by his disease, as the best of empyreal messengers, to contemplate, conceive and write his message with a profundity that reminds readers that we are mortal, a reminder not in a melancholic or morbid sense, but as eyeing a morning glory, as we move forward on the road to the rest of our lives. Put another way, I need to believe in my soul that angels are among us.As I see it, his message is that we each will die, but we can live a meaningful life by giving of ourselves to make an impact on others, by trying to improve those around us by doing good deeds and by art, such as by creative writing. In this way, we may live on, as Dr. Kalanithi has managed through this sublime memoir.I found touching his wife's epilogue describing his monumental endeavor to write this memoir and I especially admired her strength to endure what must have been an extremely painful ordeal in writing of his last couple of weeks, when he could write no more.
Sue
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFI found this to be a very thought provoking, resonant, difficult at times, and oh so human memoir. Very relatable for me, especially in parts that might not be so to other readers. Kalanithi was a resident neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, with aspirations to become a writer later in life when he was diagnosed with a virulent lung malignancy that was to end all of his plans and goals. His memoir becomes a thrashing out of his life before and after, a view of what is this life about. What is Life? What is a Good Life? What is a Good Death? What gives life meaning?Kalanithi uses his own life, his family and incidents from his life as student, intern and surgeon to explore these meanings and seems able to answer these questions for himself. The answers are quite often difficult, sometimes beautiful, often so personal that the reader may not always relate to all the details, but the meaning seemed present for me. Family, love, work, doing the best he could do, striving for success--to relieve suffering as his work dealt in diseases and injuries to the brain, the center of personhood. There is much ego here...but I don't believe a neurosurgeon exists without ego--who would dare to enter someone else's brain with a scalpel otherwise. And there is also the mind of a seeker of beauty -- in his infant child, in nature, his wife, the human body.Kalanithi's wife, Lucy, also a physician, has written an excellent Epilogue in which she sums up the "end of the story" and also states that Paul would be unlikely to finish the manuscript for the book due to physical changes. I think this shows somewhat in the book but should not hold anyone back from reading it. It is a powerful exploration of one man's life, as it is ending.As his wife wrote in the Epilogue: This struggle apparently began early in his life and took on new urgency with his illness.Highly recommendedA copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Joseph
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFOkay, I so wanted to like this very absorbing book more than I did. I am not going to recap it other than to say the Paul came from a privileged background, a very supportive family and an Indian (Asian Tiger) mom. He succumbed to an aggressive form of lung cancer. My own wife died of lung disease (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis). Outside of the hospital I was her caregiver for a year and a half. I was the one who made sure she had oxygen, got to her appointments, watched this once vital woman deteriorate, and held her hand in icu when she passed. Unlike Paul and Lucy, we did not stay together out of a sense of obligation because one of us was sick. Unlike Paul and Lucy we did not have an extended family to support us. Unlike Paul and Lucy we adopted. I went through this with her because I loved her. I never thought of another option even though she tried to persuade me once or twice that there might be other options. The book is very well written and Paul had a gift for including just the right amount of medical detail and jargon. He explains things precisely when explication as needed. The book flows smoothly from his childhood through Stanford and then Yale medical school. Paul according to himself is just about the best at whatever he undertakes and again according to himself he always takes care to score one more point than his closest competitor. He catalogues a list of the books he has read -- exclusively Western -- and drops a few favorite quotations from some. Strangely he makes no mention of Indian writing or writers or of the great Kiowa author Scott Momaday who matriculated at Stanford. Kinda too bad Paul did not read Momaday. If he had he might have understood the power and use of words better than he did.He becomes according to himself a wonderful neurosurgeon, probably the best ever although he does not reduce it to that exact description. He is decisive, fast, innovative and just an all around wonderful doctor.If you are getting the impression that he comes across as extremely self centered you broke the code. If you are getting the impression that he comes across as lacking real depth you not only broke the code you read between the lines.The book is very well written and at times absorbing, but it left me wondering, was that all there was to Paul and Lucy?
Trish
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookWhat makes human life meaningful? Kalanithi, a thirty-six year old neurosurgeon, tried to locate the nexus of language between science and philosophy to answer the question. “Literature provide[s] the best account of a life of the mind, illuminates another’s experience, and provides the richest material for moral reflection.” There is messiness and weight in real human life that is not accounted for by science, says Kalanithi. Science and analytics (and atheism) cannot encompass all the mystery of human life. He gives the best argument I have heard for religious faith, suggesting that no one human has any answers because each individual has only piece of the puzzle. It is only in human connection that we can start to put the pieces together, making sense of the world. “Human knowledge grows in the relationships we form between each other and the world.”Science, created by human hands to make sense of the world, cannot contain the world. It doesn’t account for those things that make literature, and life, so compelling and so meaningful: “hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving, suffering, virtue…sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness…justice...goodness…mercy.” Questions without answers. Pieces of a puzzle.Kalanithi died of lung cancer shortly after writing these words. But he strove every day, in his work, in his studies, in his family and friends, to find meaning in life. He thought it might reside in words. Language. As a neurosurgeon he was taught, and he believed, that if a person lost the capacity to communicate--to speak or to understand language—their life became no life at all. He was a student of literature besides being a neurosurgeon, and in language was meaning. This memoir is Kalanithi’s attempt at connection. The Foreword is written by a Dr. Abraham Verghese, author of the unique and unforgettable novel about medicine and Africa, . The Epilogue is written by his wife, Lucy Kalanithi, also a doctor. Their words fore and aft add heft and a kind of : this man really existed and, yes, he was as thoughtful as he appears. His life had meaning.Kalanithi changed my mind about something, and showed up a deficit, a smallness in my own thinking. I have always been suspicious of people who spend their lives in school, even though they might be concurrently working, piling up more and more degrees. can do that, I thought. Kalanithi completed a Bachelor's in English literature and human biology, a Master's in English literature, a degree from Cambridge in the history and philosophy of science and medicine, a medical degree with neuroscience and neurosurgery specializations. He was in his mid-thirties when he finally finished. And then he died. That last year he wrote this book and he managed to show me that, if one is focused and serious and seeks the critical nexus between life and death, one may begin to perceive the outlines of a moral philosophy that might help answer the large questions. We only have a lifetime to find meaning, and sometimes that lifetime is short.When Kalanithi talks of his 8-month old daughter shortly before his death, how she is all future and he is all past, we see what he sees: that their circles just touch, but don’t significantly overlap. She will never know him. This has the poignancy, truth, messiness, love, and tragedy of literature. Of life.I listened to the audio of this book, read by Sunil Malhotra and Cassandra Campbell. I have encountered Malhotra before and he is one of the best narrators in my experience. His pacing is perfect and he makes the reading very easy to follow. I ended up buying the hardcover because the book was so meaningful for me and because it is easy to pass around.
Vanessa
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFI couldn't not rate this book 5 stars. I don't know if it was because it was non-fiction, and truly touching because of that, or because it was just so compulsively readable and fascinating, or maybe some other reason. All I know is this is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. And yes, I cried.Science has never really been a strong interest of mine, but this book has opened the floodgates in terms of pursuing scientific-based non-fiction in the future. Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon and budding neuroscientist, and the vast knowledge that he imparted in this book was both fascinating and incredibly understandable for a novice like myself. I also loved how he managed to integrate the world of the arts with the world of science, two things that are usually seen as polar opposites. His musings on life and what it means to be were touching and I loved how he melded his scientific knowledge with ideas he had taken from the literary works he had read over the years.Kalanithi came across as a wonderful, caring, intelligent man who just wanted to help people through absolutely no selfish means. His writing flowed beautifully and I truly felt like I was close to him while reading and a real part of his story. However, it wasn't until the epilogue (written by his wife/widow Lucy Kalanithi) that I truly felt the sadness of his illness and what it really meant to be on the outside of it. Lucy's words on Paul's last days battling his terminal lung cancer were heartbreaking and I couldn't not cry. She wrote about him so beautifully though, and I thought it was a perfect ending to the sadly unfinished book.I would highly recommend everyone read this - it is a truly touching, well-written memoir, and something that I think everyone could enjoy and take something from, despite its sad subject matter.
Tiffany Reisz
Writes about Read Online When Breath Becomes Air Book PDF“The main message of Jesus, I believed, is that mercy trumps justice every time.” ― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes AirI thought I was reading a memoir about a surgeon who died of cancer. I didn't realize I was also reading a beautiful work of theology. But even more than that, it's the story of a writer trying to live long enough to finish the only book he would ever write, and that a book about his death. The great Isaac Asimov said “If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.” Paul Kalanithi typed a little faster. This writer salutes the writer he was until the very end.
Heidi The Hippie Librarian
Writes about Reading When Breath Becomes Air BookThis is Paul Kalanithi's life story. He relates how he got into neuroscience, his exhausting and life consuming training, his illness, and his eventual transition out of this world into the next.At first, Paul didn't even want to become a surgeon because his own father was one and he saw how hard it was to balance work and family: pgs 24-25, ebook.But, even though he started out as an English major, Paul's own interests led him towards the profession. He was passionate about medicine and making the best decisions for patients. He was interested in what makes life worth living and how the brain's functions effect quality of life. This is what he had to say after a sobering visit to a home for people who had suffered severe brain injuries as children: pg 34It was really difficult for me, personally, to read the parts of this memoir that dealt with Paul learning how to make life and death decisions for ailing patients. He talks in depth about taking people off of life support because they didn't want their bodies to be kept alive while their brains were gone. I was reminded of how my grandfather, though he never suffered any debilitating brain injury, was kept alive through endless medicines and machines to reduce the water around his heart. He eventually refused to eat and refused a feeding tube, so he slowly withered away.. this from a man who lived for eating and described the joys of consuming a fresh peach in summer as one of his favorite memories. It was heartbreaking. In this passage, one of Paul's professors is talking about the same type of situation with his own grandma: pg 41 ebook. Eating was my grandpa's form of prayer. So, you may want to avoid this memoir if you have any fresh grief that you're dealing with, as this book brings it all bubbling to the surface.Paul studies so hard to become a doctor to learn the secrets of life and death. But, he begins to realize, that as a doctor, he'll constantly deal with these moments but never truly understand them: pg 56Then, he has his own illness and realizes that, even though he's seen death and suffering, he really knew nothing about it: pg 82. The rest of the book is so very sad, but one thing is clear, Paul Kalanithi finally found the moment when breath becomes air, what he had been searching for his whole life. Neurosurgeons write really fine memoirs. At least, that's been the case for nearly every one I've come across. Some read alikes, if you're interested: by (not a neurosurgeon, but Kevin talks about the burnout that comes in the medical community), by (neurosurgeon), by (neurosurgeon), or by .
Cathrine ☯
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFFrom the forward by . was a very brave man with the talent and promise of becoming a brilliant neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with cancer in his last year of residency. He also loved literature which is so evident in his beautiful and stunning writing. he entered into his earthly life’s final transformation on his own terms, the reflections of which would make for rich and insightful conversation in a group setting. How often have we heard the question , especially when each day can redefine your value system. I would have loved to explore his thoughts and choices with fellow readers.One of my favorite sections of this narrative is the epilogue by Paul’s wife Lucy. It stands on its own as a poignant witness and testimony to a man greatly respected and well loved. As she stated and in describing his memoir she wrote: I listened to the very excellent audio version and highly recommend it.
Philipp
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFalternative title: "How the upper class dies"Autobiographical book by a guy who's trained and studied all his life, nearly became a writer, then chose to become a doctor instead (that's what happens when you come from a family of medical doctors), and is diagnosed with cancer at the end of his training. [1] sets in and he has to write that one book he always wanted to write. It's partially an autobiography of his training, a hymn to his wife, and a bit on patient-doctor relationship.Sometimes it's way too pretentious for its own good, lots of classical lit, lots of poetry quotes, lots of namedropping - who on earth reads Wittgenstein to a newborn?? - and sometimes it's too sentimental and just straight-up walks into territory. It is not an ugly death - for that the family is too well-trained in medicine to "fight" ultimately senseless fights, too well-acquainted with death to cause a fuss, too rich to die in a dump, too well-connected to suffer bad doctors.The last chapter written by the wife after his death is probably the best - still, I wouldn't recommend it, not much new, not that interesting [2]. Would make a good book for Oprah's Book Club.I can guarantee you that yours and my death will be much worse than what is described here. Here there is no constant vomiting, no blood, no mucus, no week-long screaming from the pain. Death is too clean, like the book itself.[1] One of the best words we have in German - literally "gate closing panic", it usually denotes a woman who starts to behave unusual once she realises that her child-bearing age window is closing, but it can be used to describe everyone who starts to behave unusual once time starts to run out[2] It feels extremely mean to write that about a guy's work who has just died
Camie
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFI spent my career years as a Registered Nurse and always considered that I was someone dedicated and compassionate towards those for whom I cared, but as Paul Kalanithi explains in this wise and lyrical account it is remarkable how quickly and dramatically our perception of terminal illness changes when the patient is us or someone in our own family. Paul is a gifted young neurosurgeon who confronts the life threatening conditions of others daily , and whose own life is tragically cut short. Before he encountered late stage lung cancer his love of literature and medicine filled him with desire to better understand the human condition . His aspirations to write most of this book documenting his personal journey before his death were realized, and as Abraham Verghese states in it's foreword , we have been left a great gift in his message. 5 stars
Emma
Writes about Download When Breath Becomes Air PDFI put down this book with tears in my eyes. It ends with an epilogue written by Lucy Kalanithi, Paul's wife; her description of his last days and the enduring love she continues to feel for him are heartbreaking. Yet her words provide a fitting close to a book which, as she remarks, is largely about Paul as an individual, and illuminates the emotional impact of his illness on him and his family, something that his very matter of fact tone doesn't always reveal.While reading, I was reminded of the argument Atul Gawande makes in , that the levels and extent of medical intervention in the treatment of life changing or terminal illness needs to be directed by the choices of the individual, determined by what they consider to be the most important aspects of their life and how they want to spend the time they have left. With the help and support Lucy and his consultant, Emma, Paul seems to have been able to do this throughout most of his illness. Firstly, in his aim of returning to practice neurosurgery, then in the writing of this book, and finally the decision not to be intubated, instead choosing to spend time with his daughter and the rest of his family. It is this focus on individual choice that made the book feel empowering as well as moving. Paul was a man with an enquiring mind and a determined spirit, one who was resolved to maintaining the agency in his life. Because decisions about his care were based on his priorities, he was able to achieve the goals he set himself, including being able to set down the words within this book to speak for his experience and perhaps offer comfort, knowledge....something to those who read them. He stands as an example about how to live life and how to cope with death.Many thanks to Random House UK/Vintage Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this copy in exchange for an honest review.
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