Being Mortal

"[Gawande] uses a clear, illuminating style to describe the medical facts and cases that have brought him to that understanding. He begins with an anecdote that illustrates how wrong doctors can be if they let their hubris and fear of straight talk meld with a patient's blind determination to fight on, no matter what . . . He captures the inevitable physical intimacy that comes with death, which is perhaps the strangest shock to a culture that has used hospitals and nursing facilities to isolate the dying from the healthy in ways that earlier generations never could."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times "A deeply affecting, urgently important book—one not just about dying and the limits of medicine but about living to the last with autonomy, dignity, and joy."—Katherine Boo

"We have come to medicalize aging, frailty, and death, treating them as if they were just one more clinical problem to overcome. However it is not only medicine that is needed in one's declining years but life—a life with meaning, a life as rich and full as possible under the circumstances. Being Mortal is not only wise and deeply moving, it is an essential and insightful book for our times, as one would expect from Atul Gawande, one of our finest physician writers."—Oliver Sacks

"American medicine, Being Mortal reminds us, has prepared itself for life but not for death. This is Atul Gawande's most powerful—and moving—book."—Malcolm Gladwell