When Breath Becomes Air is a profound and heartbreaking memoir about Dr. Paul Kalanithi's life, his love for literature and language, his dedication to neurosurgery, and his battle with terminal lung cancer at age 36.
Kalanithi grew up in a loving family, discovering his passion for literature and writing at an early age. As he puts it, "Human knowledge consists of stories..." Yet he also felt drawn to the empirical study of the physical world through science and medicine.
After years of intense training to become a neurosurgeon, Kalanithi's life is upended when he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Now faced with his own mortality, he ponders what makes life worth living in the face of death. He writes, "And yet, life kept putting up opportunities to decide how to stare it down."
Kalanithi and his wife Lucy have to grapple with how to move forward - whether to have a child, continue his career aspirations, and how to find meaning in what remains of Kalanithi's shortened life expectancy. In this inner turmoil and sadness, Kalanithi finds solace in science and literature.
Through exquisite writing and searing honesty, Kalanithi illuminates the duality of being both doctor and patient. His profound musings on questions of mortality, meaning, and human relationships in the face of death provide an intimate look at life's deepest truths.
Though Kalanithi tragically passes before finishing the memoir, his wife Lucy completes it with an inspiring epilogue. When Breath Becomes Air poignantly captures what makes life so precious and profound in its impermanence.
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