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A review by architha_thebookishdweeb
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
5.0
“The mind was simply an operation of the brain, an idea that struck me with force; it startled my naïve understanding of the world.” – Paul Kalanithi
Life is taken for granted, sad but true. All dreams and aspirations that we cast aside for a simple excuse that ‘we still have time’ can be destroyed with one abnormal cell division. But that’s not the lesson this book provides, oh no. This book is a lot more than that. If you think this is a story like ‘The Fault in our Stars’ or ‘Five Feet Apart’, you’re wrong. This is the last teaching of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a man I wish I knew, for we share the same interests and ambitions.
This is not a review; rather it’s an account of how deeply this book has impacted me, on a spiritual level. No rating, no grammatical corrections, no takeaways. Just an entry into my journal.
I am a struggling student, trying to make ends meet and finish my deadlines (who isn’t?) so that I can secure a future and make a good impact on this world. I’ve always wanted to do something that not everyone would dare to do, something difficult. Makes me wonder if I have an inborn defect for straying away from the mainstream crowd. That’s when I realized, why not go for a field that not many people have an understanding of? That’s when I met neuroscience, and my life has been dedicated to it ever since.
I stumbled upon this book by a force much more powerful than fate and it will be in my life forever, and, as my mom said, I should re-read it for all eternity. That’s how much this book means to me. It is not only an inspiration but also a reminder for me whenever I’m straying out of my path. It’s a course-corrector, and I will forever be grateful to it. It teaches me the most important aspect of being a doctor, rather, of being a human: humanity and empathy.
Every single person should read this book, doesn’t matter if they’re a medico or not, this is much more than that. It provides a higher understanding of…different lessons for each person. For me, it was life itself.
Life is taken for granted, sad but true. All dreams and aspirations that we cast aside for a simple excuse that ‘we still have time’ can be destroyed with one abnormal cell division. But that’s not the lesson this book provides, oh no. This book is a lot more than that. If you think this is a story like ‘The Fault in our Stars’ or ‘Five Feet Apart’, you’re wrong. This is the last teaching of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a man I wish I knew, for we share the same interests and ambitions.
This is not a review; rather it’s an account of how deeply this book has impacted me, on a spiritual level. No rating, no grammatical corrections, no takeaways. Just an entry into my journal.
I am a struggling student, trying to make ends meet and finish my deadlines (who isn’t?) so that I can secure a future and make a good impact on this world. I’ve always wanted to do something that not everyone would dare to do, something difficult. Makes me wonder if I have an inborn defect for straying away from the mainstream crowd. That’s when I realized, why not go for a field that not many people have an understanding of? That’s when I met neuroscience, and my life has been dedicated to it ever since.
I stumbled upon this book by a force much more powerful than fate and it will be in my life forever, and, as my mom said, I should re-read it for all eternity. That’s how much this book means to me. It is not only an inspiration but also a reminder for me whenever I’m straying out of my path. It’s a course-corrector, and I will forever be grateful to it. It teaches me the most important aspect of being a doctor, rather, of being a human: humanity and empathy.
Every single person should read this book, doesn’t matter if they’re a medico or not, this is much more than that. It provides a higher understanding of…different lessons for each person. For me, it was life itself.