Thank you! You’ll be the first to know when this item is back in stock.
Oops! Something went wrong. Please try signing up for restock notifications again.

This title is currently out of stock, but don’t worry—we restock quickly! Enter your email below to be the first to know as soon as it’s available again.

Notify Me

When Breath Becomes Air

Regular price
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: S$22.16  

Life, death, and meaning explored by dying doctor.

"When Breath Becomes Air" isn't merely a memoir; it's a stark reminder of mortality wrapped in a quest for meaning. If you've ever contemplated the fleeting nature of existence or found yourself questioning what it means to live a fulfilling life, Paul Kalanithi's journey offers a profound, deeply personal perspective. His dual role as both a neurosurgeon and a patient provides an incredibly unique lens into the human condition, making this book an eye-opening read that resonates long after the last page.

  • Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Biography or Autobiography (2017)
  • Wellcome Book Prize Nominee (2017)
  • Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography (2016)
  • Waterstones Book of the Year Nominee (2016)
  • Prix Jan Michalski Nominee for Longlist (2017)
  • Book of the Month Book of the Year Award Nominee (2016)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

When Breath Becomes Air

Regular price
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: S$22.16  
ISBN: 9780399590405
Publisher: Random House
Date of Publication: 2017-01-01
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Biographies & Memoirs, Philosophy, Science
Goodreads rating: 4.41
(rated by 748520 readers)

Description

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
Condition guide
 
 More payment options
When Breath Becomes Air
When Breath Becomes Air
Regular price
Unit price
per
Add to Wishlist

Life, death, and meaning explored by dying doctor.

"When Breath Becomes Air" isn't merely a memoir; it's a stark reminder of mortality wrapped in a quest for meaning. If you've ever contemplated the fleeting nature of existence or found yourself questioning what it means to live a fulfilling life, Paul Kalanithi's journey offers a profound, deeply personal perspective. His dual role as both a neurosurgeon and a patient provides an incredibly unique lens into the human condition, making this book an eye-opening read that resonates long after the last page.

  • Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Biography or Autobiography (2017)
  • Wellcome Book Prize Nominee (2017)
  • Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography (2016)
  • Waterstones Book of the Year Nominee (2016)
  • Prix Jan Michalski Nominee for Longlist (2017)
  • Book of the Month Book of the Year Award Nominee (2016)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.