Oct 2026: Being Mortal
Details
Mon 26 Oct 2026 (Labour day weekend):
Being Mortal
by Atul Gawande
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.
Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.
Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.
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General Attendance Policy:
- If you encounter a limit on the number of attendees to an event, ignore it and come along anyway! (Free version of MeetUp has a cap, but we don't).
- We encourage you to read the book (or most of it), but if you didn't, don't let that stop you from attending. If you want to withdraw, please change your RSVP to 'Not attending' 48 hours prior to the event.
- If you are struggling to locate a copy, please let us know and we will endeavour to locate a copy.
- Please respect everyone's opinions and ideas and use common courtesy when participating.
- Members take turns hosting the book affairs. The host for the month is responsible for leading the discussion but anyone in the group can ask questions.
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First time attending an ink affair meetup? On the day, you will be asked the following questions as a way of introduction:
- Name
- A little bit about you (i.e. resides in Tauranga, visiting)
- What are your current reading habits?
- What are you hoping to get out of being part of a book club?