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2021 READS: BOOK 3 of 6

Can’t lie, this one took me longer to read because it’s not my typical read. From high school days, I noticed that I lean more on fiction storytelling books; novels - mystery/crime, African affairs, etc. and less towards biographies, memoirs, self help books and history books. The former take me days to finish unlike this one which took a month (plus). Halfway through I contemplated giving it up but I think treading new waters is part of learning and growth, so here I am.

This is a two part memoir, posthumously published about the life of a budding 37yr old neurosurgeon & writer, Paul Kalanithi, his entry into medicine world and exit from it - through Stage IV Metastatic lung cancer. One section talks about his entry into neuroscience, learning the ropes of it all, from being a student, to a resident doctor, to eventually a practicing one. Reading this part was very complicated for me because of the amount of industry jargon used. I had to keep checking the meaning of some words to understand the flow of events. I bet doctors would really love reading this one.

He went easy on us in the second part as this is where he expounded more on his life transition from doctor to patient and what that meant for him and Lucy, his wife. The ending was very emotional - an end of life has never been a thing that doesn’t trigger emotions anyway.

It’s a good read - but not my type of read. I don’t always want to feel like am struggling with a book, so the next few are definitely gonna be fun! 🥰

#whenbreathbecomesair
#2021Resolutions
#bookstagram
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