#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward 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 some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

Book Description: "Breathing Through Challenges" Discover the transformative journey within the pages of "Breathing Through Challenges." Guided by the wisdom of 2Pac Shakur and a tapestry of motivational voices, this book explores the art of breathing life into adversities. With each chapter, embark on a voyage through emotional resilience, triumph over setbacks, and the unwavering human spirit. From the depths of challenges arise opportunities for growth, awakening a determination to conquer obstacles and elevate aspirations. This book is a reminder that challenges are not barriers but catalysts for transformation, inviting readers to embrace the art of breathing and emerge stronger from every trial.

In his acclaimed memoir Intern, Sandeep Jauhar chronicled the formative years of his residency at a prestigious New York City hospital. Doctored, his harrowing follow-up, observes the crisis of American medicine through the eyes of an attending cardiologist. Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Jauhar accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital on the outskirts of Queens. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is low and getting lower. Blatant cronyism determines patient referrals, corporate ties distort medical decisions, and unnecessary tests are routinely performed in order to generate income. Meanwhile, a single patient in Jauhar's hospital might see fifteen specialists in one stay and still fail to receive a full picture of his actual condition. Provoked by his unsettling experiences, Jauhar has written an introspective memoir that is also an impassioned plea for reform. With American medicine at a crossroads, Doctored is the important work of a writer unafraid to challenge the establishment and incite controversy.

Beyond Breathing is a story of a mother's loss of her 13 year old daughter, Jena, to Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease. Her journey takes you from unfathomable heartache to love and understanding of life's realities. Through her journey she learns that life lessons come from her children and the beauty of living and the power of love. In the span of one year she learns to go from depression and dependency to inner strength and the realization that love never ends and that there are no coincidences. That she is beyond just breathing.

Analyzes the portrayal of death, afterlife, heaven, and hell in the art of various cultures, from ancient Egypt to the North American Indian

Death, even for a moment, changes everything. In Life After Breath, Jacob's near-death experience as a child ripped an opening between him and the spirit world. He lived, but was forever changed. As he grew, darkness and light led him on a roller coaster ride of turmoil, loss, discovery, and renewal. He now shares this mystical journey with those brave enough to explore the "other side," understand the beings there, and hear the wisdom gleaned. He faces the question of the hereafter, looks at life lessons, and examines what a connected awareness can mean to the human experience.