Being Mortal

Atul Gawande's study of aging and dying argues that medicine, focused on survival, too often works against what people want at the end of life, and that doctors should aim for well-being instead. A practicing surgeon, Gawande draws on stories of his patients and his own family: broken hips, dementia, overwhelmed relatives, costly geriatric care and lost independence. Early chapters look at models of senior living such as poorhouses, multi-generational homes and nursing homes, and he draws on accounts from Keren Brown Wilson, one originator of assisted living. Later chapters turn to end-of-life care, including euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, and present hospice as the most humane model. Two of the eight chapters began as New Yorker essays.

Barack Obama took it on a Hawaiian vacation, according to a reading list released by the White House, and Malcolm Gladwell praised it as Gawande's most moving book. Indra Nooyi called it beautifully written.