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When Breath Becomes Air
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
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When Breath Becomes Air
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Publisher's Summary
The New York Times number-one best seller.
At the age of 36, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.
When Breath Becomes Air chronicles 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.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when life is catastrophically interrupted? What does it mean to have a child as your own life fades away?
Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. 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.
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about When Breath Becomes Air
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 01-11-2020
Cried it was so beautiful
Meaningful and beautifully written, moved me at my core and showed a different way of looking at life. Short and great read.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kunal Kumar
- 10-01-2021
Moving and powerful!
This memoir by Dr Paul Kalanithi takes the reader on a short yet powerful journey through his illness, his mental stage and the last few years of his life!
Just finished it and I have no words, so not going to write more in this review!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kimberley Tempest
- 08-10-2020
An honest look at life and death
I loved this book. Paul honest and brave account of his life and death was a compelling read. What a remarkable human.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-05-2021
Beautifully heartwrentching
Read this book. It will impact how you view your allotment of time on this earth.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs. A.M. Andrew
- 04-04-2017
Mesmerising
This book is an unforgettable tale of life and death. Completely captivating and wonderfully written.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ross McDougall
- 20-06-2017
Equally inspiring and heartbreaking
A fantastic, honest and thoughtful account of someone whose life was turned 180 degrees in one moment.
Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon with an exceptional career and life ahead of him. His personal life was facing some significant challenges, then a diagnosis comes along that changes his perspective on everything he had ever valued or wanted.
I really appreciated how frank Kalanithi was in the book. His wife Lucy comments that she appreciated Paul leaving in the marital struggles they weathered and that it was in character for him to name the beast that he was battling.
Kalanithi says in the book that he was a fan of literature; even if he hand't said so it would be hard to miss the plethora of influences in his writing. The words lift off the page into your heart in a way I've not experienced before. They take root and one feels themself being transformed in the reading and learning as Kalanithi does.
I listened to this read by Sunil Malhotra and it was the most moving performance I've yet to hear. Yes I know the material is already emotional, but Malhotra really elevates it with a reading that is at once pained and distraught while soft and resolved. Often there is a dissonance to me when listening to someone reading a book in the first person who I know hasn't written it, but Malhotra really embodies Kalanithi and becomes him.
This is a deeply moving and honest book, a fantastic reminder of the things that are really important in life. I'm indebted to Kalanithi and his family for sharing his story, warts and all.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Craig
- 28-05-2017
A beautiful but very sad story
Very well written, touching, personal and very raw, i found i had to put it down every so often to 'recover'. Happy i read it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicolette
- 30-04-2016
Inspiring .
The story made me re look my view on the everyday. What today really means.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Clara
- 22-12-2017
Beautifully written & beautifully read
Experiencing the book in this manner is, in my opinion, the best way to hear his words. The reader’s calm voice mimicked the tone and meaningfulness of the author’s writing, and of course, the book itself was awesome in the awe-inspiring sense. It helped me somehow understand my grandfather (who was a thoracic surgeon) more as he shared similarities with Paul in his experience of death as a doctor and a patient. Moreover, it allowed me to grapple with philosophy once more, which I had loved in university. A great purchase.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-11-2019
Stunning, Beautiful, Moving. Highly Recommend.
Outstanding use of the English language. This book is so much more than I anticipated.
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