El buen doctor / When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi, a young and promising neurosurgeon, received a devastating diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer at the age of thirty-six. He was a doctor treating patients one day and the next was struggling for his own life. On the verge of completing a decade's worth of training, he decided to begin writing this book to come to terms with and give closure to his life, and to face death with courage. What makes a life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder towards 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 a few of the questions Kulanithi wrestles with in this moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi passed away in March 2015, yet his words live on as a guide and gift to us all. Simultaneously a reminder of the fragility of our existence as well as a plea for a brave and vigorous life, El buen doctor will inspire all readers.

Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon and writer. He graduated from Stanford with a B.A. and M.A. in English literature and a B.A. in human biology. He earned an M.Phil in the history and philosophy of science and medicine from Cambridge and graduated cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. He returned to Stanford to complete his residency training in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience, and received the American Academy of Neurological Surgery’s highest award for resident research.