This is a very beautiful book,written by a brilliant neuro-surgeon’s personal battle with terminal cancer at the age of 36. It is tender, inspiring and ultimately heart-rending. It is not a book that one can recommend generally - it takes a lot of thought to select the right recipient.

A very poignant true story which I found both fascinating and sad

I had heard about this book for a while - before I had the chance to read it due to the courtesy of Netgalley. The book lived up to all expectations and more. Firstly it was informative on so many levels - emotional, spiritual, medical. It is an astonishing book, completely honest and obviously written with extreme bravery in horrendous circumstances. I am so glad that Paul managed to complete this important work which will surely become a future classic. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book and I feel honoured to offer my review for your site. I will verbally encourage everyone to read Paul's book- and will definitely highlight this title when my book blog is set up.
Finally- please note that I have indicated above that I would love to interact with this author though events etc, although sadly in reality this is impossible. By ticking the question above - I meant to confirm that I would like the opportunity to read more about the author via website information and through any future work which his widow might write in the future.

I’ve read some of the other reviews of this book and really wonder if they read the same book as me. If you’re looking for a misery memoir, a warts and all revelation of how harrowing it is to go through cancer and all that entails, then this isn’t for you. Those books have their place – my mother died from cancer and it was helpful sometimes to read others accounts and to know that other people were feeling as I did. But I wish I’d had this book back then.
Because this is more than a memoir or an account of illness and death. The author doesn’t list in too great detail what happens to him because it’s not supposed to be about that. This is about a man who, before he knew he was ill, strove in his studies and in his work to get at the meaning of life, at what it means to be human, and what it means to die. And then, somewhat ironically, just at the brink of achieving one of his goals in life, he was diagnosed with lung cancer – cancer that killed him at the age of thirty-seven.
A brilliant, eloquent and sensitive man, Paul Kalanithi continued to strive throughout his illness, to find meaning in what life meant, what made it worthwhile, and to understand when it was enough, when it was time to stop. This is what he had always wanted to do for his patients and this was how he lived his last days.
A really unusual and beautiful book. I was sobbing at the end – and any book that can cause such a powerful reaction is something very special indeed.