When I looked at the CT scan, at the lungs, the spinal cord, and the liver, the diagnosis became clear.

When Breath Becomes Air Summary Prologue: The Beginning of the EndĪs a neurosurgical resident about to graduate and move into the role of doctor, I knew what the signs of cancer were. When words became insufficient, he decided to enroll in medical school to become a neurosurgeon. Through science, he wanted to find the boundary separating life from death and what constituted each.

Through literature, he wanted to find language that gave depth to human experiences. These two passions would guide the rest of his life. Therefore, coinciding with his literature studies, he also studied biology. He wanted to understand how this organism was involved in creating meaning in life. Paul quickly became enraptured by literature and decided to follow that love through his undergraduate and graduate studies at Stanford University.Īlong the way, Paul also became fascinated with the brain. Thanks to his mother’s determination to see her three sons surpass the boundaries that a rural education in Kingman, Arizona could provide, she instilled in them a love of books. With elegant and beautiful prose befitting a novelist more than a doctor, Paul guides readers through his life before and after his diagnosis, a life marked by a search for understanding life, death, and meaning.Īs a young man, Paul never considered becoming a doctor, a profession many in his family had chosen. Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon diagnosed with lung cancer during his last year of residency. When Breath Becomes Air recounts the life of Dr. 1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of When Breath Becomes Air

When breath becomes air pdf