- Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gowande
I read these three books all on a medical theme in a row. They were three of the best books I read all year - all highly recommended. (I actually listened to the audiobook version of all three - I can recommend the audio versions of Do No Harm and Being Mortal, but found the narrator of When Breath Becomes Air to be insufferable - I suggest you stick to the print or ebook version of that book.) They each provide a different viewpoint on life and death, without being overly morose or heavy. Do No Harm is a series of vignettes by retired British neurosurgeon, Dr Henry Marsh. It is a truly compelling read with insights into life, death, medicine, success, failure and much more besides. The author is refreshingly honest about his failures as a surgeon in addition to the soaring successes. I didnt think I’d like it as much as I did. One to go back to again. When Breath Becomes Air ended up on many best-of-2016 lists, and deservedly so. The book is a memoir of a by-all-accounts brilliant young neurosurgeon, nearing the end of his training, who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The author is..was.. a gifted writer as well as a talented surgeon, and it shows in this book. He started writing the book after the diagnosis and died before he could fully complete it. It’s a book that forces to think deeply about life, death and everything in between. The title comes from Caelica 83, a poem by Baron Brooke Fulke Greville:
You that seek what life is in death, Now find it air that once was breath. New names unknown, old names gone: Till time end bodies, but souls none. Reader! then make time, while you be, But steps to your eternity.
Being Mortal is an exploration of aging and death, and our society’s approach to end-of-life care. I really enjoyed Gowande’s book The Checklist Manifesto and his occasional articles in The New Yorker and thought this book was thought-provoking, moving and eloquent. A must-read, especially for those of us with aging parents, or indeed anyone who hopes to live to an old age.