Book review | When breath becomes aire

Selam

It took me a while to warp up what i want to say about this book , one thing i can assure you , as a medical student is that i passed through it and i will never forget how it made me feel

“There is a moment, a cusp, when the sum of gathered experience is worn down by the details of living. We are never so wise as when we live in this moment.”

First , Who’s Paul kalanithi ?

“You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.”

of course you wont find an wikipedia professional biography about him here , i’d rather talk about what got my attention most :
He’s an indian- american neurosurgeon in a family full of doctors , especially a father who couldn’t provide them ( him and his brother ) with much of time , and – commun – love or care like every other kid – their relationship was more inspiring and deep –
He was a Young man who wanted to understand Life , Death and the meaning of our existence , He looked in litterature and classics so he first studied that at college , but than he understood that maybe The Spirtual Human and the physiological one can’t be separated so he went on Studying medecine at Yelle where he found the women of his life Laucy

Ps : Laucy the wife has a Talk on Ted that you may want to check

About the Book

The book is devided on two chapters one about his life before Cancer : The talented Neurosurgeon , His beliefs , interests , Goals .. and the other about Him with a fatal desease , How does this change his prespective , How he suddenly turn to be a Patient after passing most of his life as a doctor !

What i think about the book :

“We shall rise insensibly, and reach the tops of the everlasting hills, where the winds are cool and the sight is glorious.”

Well , Honestly : I LOVED IT ! in this book ; i gave up caring about ‘ How good or bad it is written ‘ or how the events are orgnized ;
i can assume that most of us questioned Why we exist ? but digging in that and making it our main interest is a rare case , but he did and he proudly talked about why he choosed medecine or else ..
How he talked about his journey as a medical student that made me see myself there sometimes .. his relationships ! and mostly THE TURNING POINT ! i just can’t get over his combat with cancer , from denying to depression , till acceptence or the opposite .. how he couldn’t GIVE UP on His ‘ Doctor ‘ Side even when He is the patient .. let’s not ignore the last lines ..

this may look less like a book review , But i think you don’t have to be a medical student to be interested in this book because besides that ; it’s an example of how the edge of falling is so close and dealing with it is not that easy even for a person who sees people daying every day and that he thought he get used to this ..