One of the most touching book I've read

As I told you in my previous blog post, in 2016 I read over 50 books, but one of them made a very strong impression on me.

It is called "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi.
This is the autobiography of Paul, a neurosurgeon who shares his thoughts on life and death from two perspectives - first as a doctor who treats terminally ill patients and later as a cancer patient himself.
He talks about his childhood, his plans to become a writer, about being both a patient and a doctor, becoming a father in the face of death.
The final chapter is written by his wife, describing his last days when he could no longer write.

The book is beautifully written, heartbreaking and both depressing and life-affirming.

“The tricky part of illness is that, as you go through it, your values are constantly changing. You try to figure out what matters to you, and then you keep figuring it out. It felt like someone had taken away my credit card and I was having to learn how to budget. You may decide you want to spend your time working as a neurosurgeon, but two months later, you may feel differently. Two months after that, you may want to learn to play the saxophone or devote yourself to the church. Death may be a one-time event, but living with terminal illness is a process.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air