When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air is a non-fiction autobiographical book written by American Neurosurgeon Dr. Paul Kalanithi. It is a memoir about his life and illness, battling stage IV metastatic lung cancer. It was posthumously published by Random House on January 12,

His words are bracing for their honesty. He also writes beautifully about the philosophical aspect of medicine, neurosurgery in particular: “Every operation on the brain is, by necessity, a ma­nipu­la­tion of the substance of our selves, and every conversation with a patient undergoing brain surgery cannot help but confront this fact.”

''an emotional investment well worth making: a moving and thoughtful memoir of family, medicine and literature. It is, despite its grim undertone, accidentally inspiring.'' Comment from a reader