When Breath Becomes Air: The ultimate moving life-and-death story

When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.

This book chronicles Paul Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father.

Despite being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at the age of 36, Kalanithi's writing is both rattling and heartbreaking, offering an exquisite insight into the human experience.

This book is obligatory reading for the living, as it challenges us to reconsider our priorities and live life to the fullest.