Being Mortal (Gawande)

Book Reviews
"I never expected that among the most meaningful experiences I'd have as a doctor—and, really, as a human being—would come from helping others deal with what medicine cannot do as well as what it can," [Gawande] writes. Being Mortal uses a clear, illuminating style to describe the medical facts and cases that have brought him to that understanding.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


Gawande writes that members of the medical profession, himself included, have been wrong about what their job is. Rather than ensuring health and survival, it is "to enable well-being." If that sounds vague, Gawande has plenty of engaging and nuanced stories to leave the reader with a good sense of what he means…Being Mortal is a valuable contribution to the growing literature on aging, death and dying. It contains unsparing descriptions of bodily aging and the way it often takes us by surprise. Gawande is a gifted storyteller, and there are some stirring, even tear-inducing passages here. The writing can be evocative…. The stories give a dignified voice to older people in the process of losing their independence. We see the world from their perspective, not just those of their physicians and worried family members.
Sheri Fink - New York Time Book Review


Dr. Gawande’s book is not of the kind that some doctors write, reminding us how grim the fact of death can be. Rather, he shows how patients in the terminal phase of their illness can maintain important qualities of life (Best Books of 2014).
Wall Street Journal


Atul Gawande’s wise and courageous book raises the questions that none of us wants to think about.... Remarkable.
John Carey - Sunday Times (UK)


Gawande’s book is so impressive that one can believe that it may well [change the medical profession].... May it be widely read and inwardly　digested.
Diana Athill - Financial Times (UK)


Being Mortal, Atul Gawande’s masterful exploration of aging, death, and the medical profession’s mishandling of both, is his best and most personal book yet.
Boston Globe


Masterful.... Essential.... For more than a decade, Atul Gawande has explored the fault lines of medicine...combining his years of experience as a surgeon with his gift for fluid, seemingly effortless storytelling.... In Being Mortal, he turns his attention to his most important subject yet.
Chicago Tribune


A needed call to action, a cautionary tale of what can go wrong, and often does, when a society fails to engage in a sustained discussion about aging and dying.
San Francisco Chronicle


Beautifully crafted.... Being Mortal　is a clear-eyed, informative exploration of what growing old means in the 21st　century...a book I cannot recommend highly enough. This should be mandatory reading for every American.... [I]t provides a useful roadmap of what we can and should be doing to make the last years of life meaningful.
Time.com


Beautifully written.... In his newest and best book, Gawande...has provided us with a moving and clear-eyed look at aging and death in our society, and at the harms we do in turning it into a medical problem, rather than a human one.
New York Review of Books


Being Mortal left me tearful, angry, and unable to stop talking about it for a week.... A surgeon himself, Gawande is eloquent about the inadequacy of medical school in preparing doctors to confront the subject of death with their patients.... it is rare to read a book that sparks with so much hard thinking.
Nature

　
Eloquent, moving (Best Books of 2014).
Economist


A great read that leaves you better equipped to face the future, and without making you feel like you just took your medicine (Best Books of 2014).
Mother Jones

Leading surgeon, Harvard medical professor, and best-selling author, Gawande is also a staff writer at The New Yorker, which published the National Magazine Award-winning article that serves as the basis for this study of how contemporary medicine can do a better, more humane job of managing death and dying.
Library Journal


Gawande displays the precision of his surgical craft and the compassion of a humanist...in a narrative that often attains the force and beauty of a novel.... Only a precious few books have the power to open our eyes while they move us to tears. Atul Gawande has produced such a work. One hopes it is the spark that ignites some revolutionary changes in a field of medicine that ultimately touches each of us (Best Books of 2014).
Shelf Awareness


[A] cleareyed look at aging and death in 21st-century America.... Gawande offers a timely account of how modern Americans cope with decline and mortality. He points out that dying in America is a lonely, complex business.... A sensitive, intelligent and heartfelt examination of the processes of aging and dying.
Kirkus Reviews