When Breath Becomes Air

By: Paul Kalanithi

Finished: Early 2024

What's it about?: A true story, biographay of sorts of a neurosurgeon who has watched hundreds of people die comes to grips with the reality that he himself has an incurable cancer that is killing him

Main takeaway: It was a little ago that I read this, which I guess is good when searching for the main takeaway. I guess the desired takeaway is that life is precious and can be here today gone tomorrow. Also that there is something uniquely intangible about life, an ethereal inexplainable "something" that holds us together.

Only once our author discovers he is dying does he transition his life's work to wiriting, something we all likely do, kicking the proverbial can down the road. Perhaps a the cliche "live like you were dying" idea comes into play here.

The only thing I can additionally think I took away was not to over stress your body. The man describes 18 hour days of intense focus, exhaustion, and nibbling on ice cream. I think one of the most important levers we can all pull in life for longevity is low stress. I would have thought a neurosurgeon may have been able to see that, as even as he was fighting his illness he went back to work!