Read this when
Being Mortal
The question isn't only 'how long?' It's 'what makes a day worth living for you?' Ask it before you have to. 🕊️
Who it's for
Gawande, a surgeon, admits that medicine trained him to fix problems, not to help people die well, and he follows patients and his own family through aging and terminal illness.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Surgeon Atul Gawande's 2014 nonfiction book examines how modern medicine handles aging, frailty and dying, arguing that care should prioritise well-being and what matters to patients rather than survival alone.
Where to find it
In print (Metropolitan Books / Picador); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain. The PBS Frontline documentary Being Mortal (2015) is free to stream on P.
Before you start
Heads up: Terminal illness and a parent's death.
Age: Ages 16+
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Death”
