THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
'A vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite. Obligatory reading for the living' Nigella Lawson
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.
When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when when life is catastrophically interrupted? What does it mean to have a child as your own life fades away?
Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2017



![Niland, Conor SPORT Conor Niland: The Racket [2024] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/niland-conor-conor-niland-the-racket-2024-paperback-58820653515091_{width}x.jpg?v=1760353359)
![Daly, Hannah IRISH BIOGRAPHY Hannah Daly: Knowing No Boundaries [2022] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/daly-hannah-hannah-daly-knowing-no-boundaries-2022-paperback-1171049945_{width}x.jpg?v=1748883685)
![Westover, Tara BIOGRAPHY Tara Westover: Educated: The international bestselling memoir [2018] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/westover-tara-tara-westover-educated-the-international-bestselling-memoir-2018-paperback-57939868025171_{width}x.jpg?v=1726362680)
![O'sullivan, Katriona IRISH BIOGRAPHY Katriona O'Sullivan: Poor: Grit Courage And The Life-c [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/o-sullivan-katriona-katriona-o-sullivan-poor-grit-courage-and-the-life-c-2023-paperback-57396766343507_{width}x.jpg?v=1727097442)
![Anthony Bourdain PREORDER NONFICTION New Bourdain Anthony: Kitchen Confidential [2025] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/anthony-bourdain-bourdain-anthony-kitchen-confidential-2025-paperback-9781526692528-1161531001_{width}x.jpg?v=1746750693)