When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Searching for books to read, this one jumped out at me. A man sacrifices a significant amount of his life striving towards a worthy, major accomplishment only to be met with a terminal cancer diagnosis as he approaches the finish line. Paul Kalanithi writes about his journey - wanting to understand life and death, becoming a neurosurgeon (aka a brain surgeon), and then finding out his time on earth will be cut short due to stage IV lung cancer.

The first half of the book is about his journey to become a neurosurgeon. The second half is about facing cancer and dealing with it. It's very interesting to hear how he was giving orders one day and then receiving them the next day. The book ends sort of abruptly, but it's understandable because Paul passes away (not a spoiler since this is on the book cover flap). The epilogue is really, really sad as his wife writes about Paul's last few days.

I didn't like the forward, nor did I like the references to historical literature and authors. I get that he has a background in English and writing, but I thought it slowed down the narrative sometimes. Everything else about this book is great. The author's storytelling and writing is great. I cannot emphasize that enough. Even though the book talks about death, it is really about life and living.

If you know me, you know that I love memoirs. I strongly related to the first part of Paul's story...he made sacrifices and spent so much time to become a doctor. I have spent so much time and made sacrifices to become an actuary. As I finish up my exams (more on that in a future blog), this book made me pause and think about my life. What would I do if I only had a few months to live? I don't consider it a dark thing to think about; rather, it puts things in perspective and really makes me want to enjoy every day.

Favorite Quote: "This is not the end. Or even the beginning of the end. This is just the end of the beginning."

My rating for When Breathe Becomes Air: 4.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. Another tidbit. I'm adding a new feature to the blog called "Blast from the Past". Essentially I'll be highlighting a review from the past. It'll update each week with a different past post. I figure there are a lot of good reviews from over the last five years. Plus it'll be a nice way to bring new readers up to speed on books I've read in the past.