When Breath Becomes Air

About the book

**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER**'Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful,' Atul Gawande, bestselling author of Being MortalWhat makes life worth living in the face of death?At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. 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.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.'A vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite. Obligatory reading for the living' Nigella Lawson