Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote a review on the book by late Stanford neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, MD, which he labeled "amazing," on gatesnotes.
Dr. Kalanithi died after a battle with metastatic lung cancer at age 37 in March 2015. Before his death, Dr. Kalanithi was writing a book about his experience of living with the knowledge of an inevitable early death. His wife, Lucy Kalanithi, MD, also of Palo Alto-based Stanford Medical Center, published her late husband's book, "When Breath Becomes Air."
Here are four insights:
1. Mr. Gates wrote he will certainly re-read When Breath Becomes Air, noting the book touched him and is the "best nonfiction story [he's] read in a long time."
2. He noted tear-jerkers usually don't do much for him, but the book "definitely earned [his] admiration — and tears."
3. Especially interested by the book's insights into surgical training, Mr. Gates praised Dr. Kalanithi's ability to explain the tough decisions surgeons face.
4. Mr. Gates highlighted the juxtapositions presented in the book, such as "life and death, patient and doctor, son and father, work and family, faith and reason," as particularly fascinating.
Read Mr. Gates' review in full here.