When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi Book Review

Title: When Breath Becomes Air
Author: Paul Kalanithi
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: January 12, 2016
Pages: 229

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

My Thoughts

OMG. Boy did it meet and exceed expectations.

Star Review: ★★★★★ (5)

I sat in my dorm room one night, freshman year, to finish this when both my roommates were out thinking I would be done in an hour or so. Turns out it took almost two hours and the pile of tissues on my desk was lowkey insane...it was SO good. 

Overall, When Breath Becomes Air is a must read for everyone, not just for those interested in healthcare. Everything is so raw but so humane, it really touched a deeper part of me. I hope everyone who reads this memoir can open their hearts to relate and receive the life experiences Paul went through. Go along for the ride, have your heart broken and then pieced back together by his exquisite words.

About the Author

Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon and writer. He grew up in Kingman, Arizona, and graduated from Stanford University with a BA and MA in English literature and a BA in human biology. He earned an MPhil in history and philosophy of science and medicine from the University of Cambridge and graduated cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. He returned to Stanford to complete his residency training in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience, during which he received the American Academy of Neurological Surgery’s highest award for research. He died in March 2015. He is survived by his large, loving family, including his wife, Lucy, and their daughter, Elizabeth Acadia.