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The cover of Being Mortal

Being Mortal

Atul Gawande, 2014

Medicine is good at prolonging life and poor at helping it end well. Ask the dying what they fear and hope for, and let those priorities guide their care.

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10 parts, about 23 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that medicine treats aging and dying as problems to fix, while nursing homes put safety above a life worth living
  • Describes alternatives such as assisted living and a nursing home with pets, plants and children that gave residents reasons to live
  • Teaches the questions to ask in serious illness, about fears, hopes and what you would give up, drawing on the author's own father

Who it is for

  • Adult children helping aging parents decide where and how to live
  • Patients and families facing serious illness or end of life choices
  • Doctors and nurses who care for the old and dying

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction1 min
  2. The Independent Self2 min
  3. Things Fall Apart2 min
  4. Dependence2 min
  5. Assistance3 min
  6. A Better Life2 min
  7. Letting Go4 min
  8. Hard Conversations3 min
  9. Courage3 min
  10. Epilogue1 min

Recommended by

  • Katherine BooInvestigative journalist
    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.
  • Oliver SacksNeurologist and author
  • Malcolm GladwellNew Yorker staff writer and author
    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.

About the author

  • Atul GawandeHarvard surgeon and writer, MacArthur Fellow
    • Born in Brooklyn in 1965 to Marathi Indian immigrants who were both doctors; he grew up in Athens, Ohio.
    • Studied at Stanford (1987), Oxford (1989), Harvard Medical School (MD 1995) and the Harvard School of Public Health (MPH 1999).
    • Has been a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston since 2003.
    • Has written for The New Yorker since 1998.
    • His first book, Complications, was a finalist for the National Book Award.
    • Led the World Health Organization safe surgery checklist initiative, published in 2008 for use in operating rooms.
    • Cofounded Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and Lifebox, a nonprofit working to make surgery safer around the world.
    • Presented the BBC Reith Lectures in 2014, a series of four talks titled The Future of Medicine, the year Being Mortal appeared.

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