When Breath Becomes Air: Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Paul’s life was short but he achieved a long lifetimes work. A beautifully written, akin to prose poetry book.His strength and determination to live and do good work should be honored. I drew strength from his writing being on the cancer journey a couple of times. Fortunately Dr. Jacks , my oncologist never gives up either.Please read his book.

This book would be extremely hard for me to categorize.Let me address the obvious first - the superficial structure of the book covers the chronology of an exceptional young man's life, his childhood, his ascension through levels of academic and medical training, culminating in a career as a Neurosurgeon. It is then here, on the cusp of fully manifesting all the years of effort, that young Dr. Kalanithi is confronted with a diagnosis of cancer...ultimately proving to be terminal.Of course I expected this book to be powerful and heart-stirring, but in truth I imagined a much more conventional, "appreciate what you have, stop and smell the roses" sort of missive that we've oft seen before.This book is something very different indeed.Though I never had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant Dr. Kalanithi, and while I fully acknowledge how presumptuous this might sound, I honestly left this book feeling as if I'd just experienced Dr. Kalanithi's crowning achievement. My honest thought was: this man was born to write this book.The Doctor's account of his early life depicts a young man with a sort of dreamy, very rich inner world. This young man would grow to possess an abounding love of philosophy, poetry and literature. Despite coming from a family of doctors, young Paul seemed destined for the life of a novelist.Perhaps the defining and inspiring characteristic of the author is a relentless, uncompromising curiosity. "Why am I alive? What is life all about?" These are the questions the author bravely confronts even as a very young man.As Paul's search for meaning leads him to the very place where these questions arise from, i.e. the brain itself, Paul realizes his quest is leading him into medicine.This reflects a trend we see throughout Paul's life that long precedes his cancer diagnosis. Throughout his life, Paul exhibits the focused drive of an Arthurian Grail Knight. When the road deviates, Paul continues forward unblinkingly. It sets a positive and powerful example.There is much more here too.There is also an incredible, overwhelming sweetness in Paul's marriage and family. There are dizzying heights and gut-wrenching lows.Through it all though, a simple and clear message, taught more through deed than word echoes: hope, salvation, renewal and healing all exist in myriad forms for all of us. In opening our hearts to one another, sharing one another's joys and sorrows, and perhaps most of all, opening our heart to what life places before us and embracing challenges with courage and dignity we will all find our own path to meaning and purpose.This book is, above all, deeply real and human. It offers a brilliantly clear window, through one family's experiences, into a life we all share, i.e. a life that is both finite and yet demanding of us to find our purpose within it.

This is a well written story about dealing with cancer from the point of view of a young doctor who is diagnosed with cancer. Word of warning it is difficult book to get through but, in my opinion, worth the read. Full disclosure- I cried.

We live in a society that esteems the young, beautiful and vibrant above all things. We live in a society that thinks it is invincible and that we will live forever. Doctors are Gods who bring us miracles every day and the advances that they lead are truly astounding. We turn away from death embarrassed, scared, and nervous. When the doctors fail us we sue them. We want them to do everything they can to save us without any examination of what that means.This book is so beautiful and profound because Paul Kalanithi and his wife Lucy stand tall in the face of illness and death and just talk about it. This book is refreshing for its honesty and especially for Paul's refusal to give in to platitudes like, "We are going to beat it!" "We will win!" I understand why people choose that approach, but I think Paul's book and the way he lived his life after his diagnosis shows what a disservice that can be to living the life you have been handed. This is best exemplified in the exchange between Lucy and Paul about whether or not to have a child:""Will having a newborn distract from the time we have together?" she asked. "Don't you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more painful?""Wouldn't it be great if it did?" I said. Lucy and I both felt that life wasn't about avoiding suffering."That's not to say that Paul did not fight his cancer. He did. He desperately wanted to live. But as he said "...I would have to learn to live in a different way, seeing death as an imposing itinerant visitor, but knowing that even if I'm dying, until I actually die, I am still living."I also liked this book for the lessons that physicians can learn from how they talk about treatment and death. I have been blessed to have dealt with some fantastic health care providers in recent years. The doctors and nurses who cared for my father when he was dying last year were fantastic, especially his oncologist. But there were some doctors and nurses who still seemed to side-step the conversation. I know they do not want to be wrong and that there is always hope, but there were so many euphemisms. Instead of telling us that he was in fact dying, there was a lot of talk about labs, and phrases like, "He is a very sick man." When I pressed they agreed wholeheartedly that my brother should come now. But no one said "death." No one said "dying."Paul's desire to understand human relationality and death lead him to medicine. He is honest that he was seeking a kind of transcendence there. But he comes to learn that, "As a resident, my highest ideal was not saving lives - everyone dies eventually - but guiding a patient or family to an understanding of death or illness." And that, "Openness to human relationality does not mean revealing grand truths from the apse; it means meeting patients where they are, in the narthex or nave, and bringing them as far as you can." I could share quote after quote here, but that understanding and transcendence is the meat of this book. Go read it!This book was sad because Paul was so talented and he left behind so much. He was a brilliant and thoughtful doctor. He was also an incredible writer. As I read his book, I was fascinated by his time as a neurosurgeon, but I was equally sad that he would not be writing any more. I wished he had chosen a writing career so that we would have more of his words to read. A writer that can use the word "pluperfect" so well to make his point and to capture his struggle with tense is wonderful. This is another example of his talent:"At moments, the weight of it became palpable. It was in the air, the stress and misery. Normally, you breathed it in, without noticing it. But some days, like a humid muggy day, it had a suffocating weight of its own. Some days, this is how it felt when I was in the hospital: trapped in an endless jungle summer, wet with sweat, the rain of tears of the families of the dying pouring down."The book was also sad because it was so clearly not finished. It felt like the solid beginning of a book and as I neared the end I was a little let down. But Lucy Kalanithi's Epilogue saved it for me. Lucy is a talented writer in her own right. Lucy's Epilogue gave the book the balance and the ending that it needed. Lucy writes, "Although these last few years have been wrenching and difficult - sometimes almost impossible - they have also been the most beautiful and profound of my life, requiring the daily act of holding life and death, joy and pain in balance and exploring new depths of gratitude and love."Lucy signs off her epilogue, "I was his wife and a witness." I loved this book for allowing me to witness Paul's journey. I was honoured to witness his death from afar. I hope this book reminds us all what an honour it is to witness life, and death in particular, and to embrace that more.

An incredible read - couldn’t put this one down. The journey is coming to terms with pending death from cancer. The author’s entire life was a search for meaning - following a path into a difficult career as neurosurgeon. He takes the reader very deeply into his decision making - from college years to career decisions, to his relationships, his learning experiences, his development as a caring physician. He shares the full range of his study to understand the importance of personal meaning as it relates to and guides our own lives.

This book is a reflection of an short but amazing life. A man who used every day to do more than many people who are given significantly more years on earth. Inspiring and we'll written, a gripping read that inspires one to take an a counting of one's life and how to live to the fullest.

Beautifully written and easy to read. I basically finished this in one sitting. Highly recommended though. It’s inspiring and thought provoking.