#5 in Popular science
Being Mortal
- 283
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 68 weeks on the list, peaked at #4
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Our view
“Being Mortal” is a surgeon’s plain-spoken account of ageing and dying, both useful and deeply moving. Gawande looks at nursing homes, hospices and the conversations between doctor and patient, and asks when more treatment stops serving the time left; the story of his own father gives the argument its intimacy. The subject is heavy, but some readers facing illness or loss in the family call the book a real help.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 'A GOOD READ' THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'GAWANDE'S MOST POWERFUL, AND MOVING, BOOK' MALCOLM GLADWELL 'BEING MORTAL IS NOT ONLY WISE AND DEEPLY MOVING; IT IS AN ESSENTIAL AND INSIGHTFUL BOOK FOR OUR TIMES' OLIVER SACKS For most of human history, death was a common, ever-present possibility. It didn't matter whether you were five or fifty - every day was a roll of the dice. But now, as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become increasingly detached from the reality of being mortal. So here is a book about the modern experience of mortality - about what it's like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn't, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. With his trademark mix of perceptiveness and sensitivity, Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do. Never before has aging been such an important topic. The systems that we have put in place to manage our mortality are manifestly failing; but, as Gawande reveals, it doesn't have to be this way. The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death, but a good life - all the way to the very end.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.9 across 336 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 70% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Popular science average of 8.3. That is how 8.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.9 | 41 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 8.9 | 295 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is Being Mortal?
It has 283 pages — shorter than 67% of the ranked books in Popular science.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Popular science — with scores between 8.4 and 8.9, closest to this book.
