Many people in life are taught to save others or help others live. However, no one has been taught to handle the idea of death itself. Why is this true? As a student in medical school, you learn many things but death isn’t one of them. You are set up to successfully save lives as you become a doctor. Death is a difficult reality for most people and many doctors are not taught how to approach the situation. When they are confronted with death, they sometimes cry or shut people out.

An author named Atul Gawande wrote the book Being Mortal to accomplish a goal of changing medicine and the lives of many. Through research and heartfelt stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the struggles of his profession. He also distinguishes how medicine fails the people it’s supposed to help. 

Gawande engages his readers in stories to leave them with a good sense of what he means. Being Mortal is a valuable contribution to the idea of age and death. As a reader, I learned a new perspective about the purpose of life and I recommend that you add this book to your “To Read” list.