---
layout:                                 collection

title:                                  When Breath Becomes Air
tagline:                                Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer ...
description:                            When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation
                                        from a medical student into a patient

date:                                   2016-10-27 19:16:49 +0100
category:                               books
tags:                                   [ Memoirs, Neurosurgery, Doctors ]
resources:                              []
toc:                                    false
regenerate:                             false

book:
  cover:                                https://d3by36x8sj6cra.cloudfront.net/assets/images/book/large/9781/8479/9781847923677.jpg
  format:                               hardback
  pages:                                256
  publisher:                            Vintage Publishing
  author:                               Paul Kalanithi
  ISBN10:                               1847923674
  ISBN13:                               9781847923677
  rank:                                 40
---

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Paul Kalanithi at the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a
decade's training as a neurosurgeon, was diagnosed with inoperable lung
cancer.

Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his
words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming
reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor
and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.

The *NEW YORK TIMES* Number One Bestseller, the *SUNDAY TIMES* Bestseller:
Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an
option: *Unmissable*.

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[[readmore]]
One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient
struggling to live. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's
transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and
meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity -
the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father. What makes life
worth living in the face of death? What do you do when when life is
catastrophically interrupted? What does it mean to have a child as your
own life fades away?

Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his
words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming
reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor
and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.