At the age of 36 and with nearly a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon under his belt, Dr. Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. In an instant, he went from a doctor treating the sick to a patient struggling to live and the life that he and his wife had imagined for themselves disappeared. As a result of the diagnosis, Kalanithi delved into some profound questions: What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future becomes a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child and cultivate one life as another quickly fades away? In When Breath Becomes Air, Dr. Kalanithi answers these questions, incorporating his own personal transformations throughout the years.
Paul Kalanithi died last year in the process of writing this book. However, his incredibly poignant words live on as a beacon for us all. When Breath Becomes Air tells the story of Kalanithi’s ability to face mortality; letting it change both everything and nothing about life at the same time. Find it in the Popular Reading Collection today.