As a pre-med, I’ve gotten into the habit of reading not just books containing relevant technical knowledge, but also the books that really show the human side of medical careers. This was the book that filled the story-shaped void in my stack of cell biology textbooks.

Dr. Paul Kalanithi, the author of this autobiography, details his journey, starting out with his experience moving to Kingman, Arizona from New York City. He didn’t have much to begin with; at the time, the school district he grew up in didn’t have the best resources, yet he pressed on. Finding solace and meaning in the classics, he built a solid foundation which ultimately got him into Stanford University. After finishing his master’s degree at Cambridge, he found his calling, and went to medical school at Yale.

Yet, the nature of this book wouldn’t be the same if it were just about his successes. The story takes a tragic turn in the middle of his neurosurgery residency. He was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic lung cancer. Reflecting on his mortality as a human, he realized that coming in such close contact with his own mortality had changed both “nothing and everything,” simultaneously realizing that thinking about death all the time was no way to live. Despite being faced this diagnosis, he didn’t stop being himself, continuing his career for as long as he can hold on.

Of all the autobiographies I have read, this one is the memorable, not because it related with a future career trajectory that I’m trying to pursue, but a rare book that addresses human mortality and the nature of life itself in a field that coexists side-by-side with death. It’s for this reason that I believe that this work is a must-read for anyone interested in pursuing a career in medicine. The one part that I simultaneously love and hate about autobiographies is their dual and fickle role— while they chronicle the herculean tasks that their authors had to go through to achieve overwhelming success, loss and sadness bleed through the pages as well. A good autobiography will have moments where one feels like they’re standing at the summit of the mountain with the author, and moments where one is crying alongside them.

Ultimately, my greatest takeaway from the book is this line, which follows me today, and will follow me as I continue to go through my own journey: “even if I’m dying, until I actually die, I am still living”.