When Breath Becomes Air - Book Discussion

We will read and discuss "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi. It is an autobiography of a very successful doctor with cancer. The book has gotten extremely good reviews in its ability to highlight how we can alter the course of our lives, even though we all have limited time. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize.

Quoting from the New York Times Book Review

"“When Breath Becomes Air” is gripping from the start. But it becomes even more so as Dr. Kalanithi tries to reinvent himself in various ways with no idea what will happen. He can’t gauge how much strength his body still has until he tests it, and sometimes the consequences are horrific. He no longer knows who he is or what he wants. His whole sense of identity is shaken. And for a terrible period when his oncologist is away, he is treated as a problem and not a patient by an inept medical resident who nearly hastens his death by denying him one of the drugs he desperately needs.

Part of this book’s tremendous impact comes from the obvious fact that its author was such a brilliant polymath. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him — passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die — so well. None of it is maudlin. Nothing is exaggerated. As he wrote to a friend: “It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.” And just important enough to be unmissable."