Being Mortal by Atul Gawande audiobook

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

By Atul Gawande
Read by Robert Petkoff

Macmillan Audio 9780805095159
9.07 Hours • Unabridged
Format : Digital Download (In Stock)
  • 2 Formats: Digital Download
  • 2 Formats: CD
  • $19.99
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    ISBN: 9781427244246

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    ISBN: 9781427244239

#1 New York Times Bestseller In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal shows how the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life—all the way to the very end.

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Summary

Summary

A #1 New York Times bestseller

Winner of the New England Book Award for Nonfiction

Winner of an Indies Choice Book Award in Nonfiction

A #1 Amazon.com bestseller in Health Care Delivery

A New York Times Editor’s Choice

Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Finalist for the 2015 Audie Award for Best Nonfiction Narration

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award

A 2014 New York Times Notable Book

An Amazon Best Book of the Month selection

Among longlisted titles for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Guide to the 100 Best Books of the Year, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Oprah.com Best Books of the Year, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year, 2014

Winner of National MS Society Books for a Better Life Award Winner, 2015

Among longlisted titles for Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2015

Winner of Indies Choice Book Awards Winner, 2015

Among shortlisted titles for Audie Award Finalist, 2015

Among longlisted titles for Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Shelf Awareness Best Books of the Year, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Los Angeles Times Holiday Books Guide, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Apple iBooks Best of the Year, 2014

Winner of NPR Best Book of the Year, 2014

Among longlisted titles for The Economist Magazine Books of the Year, 2014

Among shortlisted titles for L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist, 2015

Among longlisted titles for Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2014

#1 New York Times Bestseller In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal shows how the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life—all the way to the very end.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Eloquent, moving. —The Economist (Best Books of 2014)
Being Mortal left me tearful, angry, and unable to stop talking about it for a week. . . . A surgeon himself, Gawande is eloquent about the inadequacy of medical school in preparing doctors to confront the subject of death with their patients. . . . it is rare to read a book that sparks with so much hard thinking. —Nature
A great read that leaves you better equipped to face the future, and without making you feel like you just took your medicine. —Mother Jones (Best Books of 2014)
Beautiful. —New Republic
Gawande's book is so impressive that one can believe that it may well [change the medical profession] . . . May it be widely read and inwardly digested. —Diana Athill, Financial Times (UK)
We have come to medicalize aging, frailty, and death, treating them as if they were just one more clinical problem to overcome. However it is not only medicine that is needed in one's declining years but life--a life with meaning, a life as rich and full as possible under the circumstances. Being Mortal is not only wise and deeply moving, it is an essential and insightful book for our times, as one would expect from Atul Gawande, one of our finest physician writers. —Oliver Sacks
Beautifully crafted . . . Being Mortal is a clear-eyed, informative exploration of what growing old means in the 21st century . . . a book I cannot recommend highly enough. This should be mandatory reading for every American. . . . it provides a useful roadmap of what we can and should be doing to make the last years of life meaningful. —Time.com
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. —Malcolm Gladwell
“Being Mortal, Atul Gawande's masterful exploration of aging, death, and the medical profession's mishandling of both, is his best and most personal book yet. —Boston Globe
Masterful . . . Essential . . . For more than a decade, Atul Gawande has explored the fault lines of medicine . . . combining his years of experience as a surgeon with his gift for fluid, seemingly effortless storytelling . . . In Being Mortal, he turns his attention to his most important subject yet. —Chicago Tribune
Beautifully written . . . In his newest and best book, Gawande . . . has provided us with a moving and clear-eyed look at aging and death in our society, and at the harms we do in turning it into a medical problem, rather than a human one. —The New York Review of Books
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. —Katherine Boo
Dr. Gawande's book is not of the kind that some doctors write, reminding us how grim the fact of death can be. Rather, he shows how patients in the terminal phase of their illness can maintain important qualities of life. —Wall Street Journal (Best Books of 2014)
“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.” —Malcolm Gladwell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of David and Goliath
Gawande displays the precision of his surgical craft and the compassion of a humanist . . . in a narrative that often attains the force and beauty of a novel . . . Only a precious few books have the power to open our eyes while they move us to tears. Atul Gawande has produced such a work. One hopes it is the spark that ignites some revolutionary changes in a field of medicine that ultimately touches each of us. —Shelf Awareness (Best Books of 2014)
Atul Gawande's wise and courageous book raises the questions that none of us wants to think about . . . Remarkable. —John Carey, The Sunday Times (UK)
A needed call to action, a cautionary tale of what can go wrong, and often does, when a society fails to engage in a sustained discussion about aging and dying. —San Francisco Chronicle
Powerful. —New York Magazine
“We have come to medicalize aging, frailty, and death, treating them as if they were just one more clinical problem to overcome. However, it is not only medicine that is needed in one’s declining years but life—a life with meaning, a life as rich and full as possible under the circumstances. Being Mortal is not only wise and deeply moving, it is an essential and insightful book for our times, as one would expect from Atul Gawande, one of our finest physician writers.” —Oliver Sacks, New York Times bestselling author of Hallucinations
“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.” —Katherine Boo, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
“Beautifully crafted…Being Mortal…is a clear-eyed, informative exploration of what growing old means in the twenty-first century…a book I cannot recommend highly enough. This should be mandatory reading for every American…It provides a useful road map of what we can and should be doing to make the last years of life meaningful.” —Time
"Being Mortal left me tearful, angry, and unable to stop talking about it for a week…A surgeon himself, Gawande is eloquent about the inadequacy of medical school in preparing doctors to confront the subject of death with their patients…It is rare to read a book that sparks with so much hard thinking.” —Nature
“Dr. Gawande’s book is not of the kind that some doctors write, reminding us how grim the fact of death can be. Rather, he shows how patients in the terminal phase of their illness can maintain important qualities of life.” —Wall Street Journal
“Eloquent, moving.” —Economist
“Illuminating.” —New York Times
“In his compassionate, learned way, Gawande shows all of us—doctors included—how mortality must be faced, with both heart and mind.” —Amazon.com, editorial review
“Atul Gawande’s wise and courageous book raises the questions that none of us wants to think about…Remarkable.” —Sunday Times (London)
“Surgeon Atul Gawande delivers an indictment of the way our health care system fails people with fatal illnesses and those too infirm to live without assistance. Doctors—by training and temperament—are ill prepared to help people face their mortality, he believes, and often cannot even talk about death with their patients…Hospice, Gawande learned, is not about aiding or hastening death but about making each remaining day the best it can be. And the key to caring for the elderly, he believes, is to listen to what people say is most important to them and to help them live by those priorities.” —Washington Post
“Masterful…Essential…For more than a decade, Atul Gawande has explored the fault lines of medicine…combining his years of experience as a surgeon with his gift for fluid, seemingly effortless storytelling…In Being Mortal, he turns his attention to his most important subject yet.” —Chicago Tribune
"Being Mortal, Atul Gawande’s masterful exploration of aging, death, and the medical profession’s mishandling of both, is his best and most personal book yet.” —Boston Globe
“A needed call to action, a cautionary tale of what can go wrong, and often does, when a society fails to engage in a sustained discussion about aging and dying.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Powerful.” —New York magazine
“Gawande’s book is so impressive that one can believe that it may well [change the medical profession]…May it be widely read and inwardly digested.” —Financial Times (UK)
“Gawande displays the precision of his surgical craft and the compassion of a humanist…in a narrative that often attains the force and beauty of a novel…Only a precious few books have the power to open our eyes while they move us to tears. Atul Gawande has produced such a work. One hopes it is the spark that ignites some revolutionary changes in a field of medicine that ultimately touches each of us.” —Shelf Awareness
“Robert Petkoff delivers this important essay on how traditional medicine falls short in treating the aged. His changes in pacing and intensity do more than keep the narrative interesting; they convey an emotional tone that moves in perfect sync with the pathos throughout the book…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” —AudioFile

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Author

Author Bio: Atul Gawande

Author Bio: Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande is author of three bestselling books: Complications, a finalist for the National Book Award; Better, selected by Amazon.com as one of the ten best books of 2007; and The Checklist Manifesto. His latest book is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. He is also a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, a MacArthur Fellowship, and two National Magazine Awards. In his work in public health, he is executive director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. He and his wife have three children and live in Newton, Massachusetts.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download, CD
Category: Nonfiction/Social Science
Runtime: 9.07
Audience: Adult
Language: English

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