From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Atul Gawande

Start date: November 1, 2015

Finish date: November 30, 2015

Discussion: Book Club 2015

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Book Club 2015

* December 2015 - Violinist's Thumb
By Betsy , co-mod · 32 posts · 87 views

last updated Jan 11, 2016 06:55AM

* November 2015 - Being Mortal
By Betsy , co-mod · 55 posts · 111 views

last updated Jun 25, 2016 03:15PM

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What Members Thought

Nov 22, 2015 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction, unbearably-sad

Many people avoid the subject of what should be done when the elders in their family become too frail or sick or demented to live by themselves or if a family member, whether old or young, is told they have a fatal disease such as cancer. When such news happens, and it will happen, the fraught, sometimes guilty, sometimes extremely distressed, yelling and arguing which follows the diagnosis can produce wrong incompetent rushed decisions that can lead to lifelong regrets and self-recriminations w ...more

51 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2015 Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: health-medicine, cr-nf-challenge, read-in-2016

Everyone should read this book

5 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2014 Jimmy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

The author begins with a brief discussion of The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. I remember reading that story as one of the first to deal with death realistically. For example: "What tormented Ivan Ilyich most was the deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but was simply ill, and he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then something very good would result." Later Ivan wishes "for someone to pity him as a sick child is pitied."

A Mr. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2015 Chinook rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, 2-on-shelves, book-riot-box

This book is incredible. It's well-written and researched and has an incredibly emotional impact. I think readers will all see themselves and their families in this book. It's an incredibly important book to read and contemplate.

Read in Colorado Springs. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review