“When Breath Becomes Air” is one of the bestsellers on New York Times and it was highly recommended by Bill Gates on his website, Gates Notes, and that roused my curiosity so I decided that this is going to be my next read.
This book was written by Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who died at the tender age of 36 years old to lung cancer. I was expecting a heavy and dull book because this book is an autobiography as much as a memorial, but I actually felt very calm reading this book.
Paul was interesting in understanding the meaning of life and what makes life meaningful. Paul studied English literature in college because he thought literature “provided a rich account of human meaning” but he decided to switch to become a surgeon after he realized that “It was only in practicing medicine that I could pursue a serious biological philosophy.”
This book is not about dying because we will all die one day, but rather about how to die and how to live a life of meaning.
Get When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.
