
Being Mortal
Medicine and What Matters in the End
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Robert Petkoff
-
By:
-
Atul Gawande
About this listen
Number one New York Times best seller
In Being Mortal, best-selling 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.
©2014 Atul Gawande (P)2014 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
The Checklist Manifesto
- How to Get Things Right
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies - neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Tad Davis on 01-11-10
By: Atul Gawande
-
Better
- A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In this book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.
-
-
A MUST read . . .
- By Kathy in CA on 08-11-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
Complications
- A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This audio is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form, but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad.
-
-
FALLIBILITY, MYSTERY AND UNCERTAINTY
- By AnnH on 10-04-20
By: Atul Gawande
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Too Much Filler
- By J. Badaracco on 04-09-23
By: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
The Emperor of All Maladies
- A Biography of Cancer
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance but also of hubris, arrogance, paternalism, and misperception, all leveraged against a disease that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer".
-
-
Incredible
- By S.R.E. on 03-02-16
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
The Checklist Manifesto
- How to Get Things Right
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies - neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Tad Davis on 01-11-10
By: Atul Gawande
-
Better
- A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In this book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.
-
-
A MUST read . . .
- By Kathy in CA on 08-11-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
Complications
- A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This audio is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form, but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad.
-
-
FALLIBILITY, MYSTERY AND UNCERTAINTY
- By AnnH on 10-04-20
By: Atul Gawande
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Too Much Filler
- By J. Badaracco on 04-09-23
By: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
The Emperor of All Maladies
- A Biography of Cancer
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance but also of hubris, arrogance, paternalism, and misperception, all leveraged against a disease that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer".
-
-
Incredible
- By S.R.E. on 03-02-16
-
The Price We Pay
- What Broke American Health Care - and How to Fix It
- By: Marty Makary MD
- Narrated by: Marty Makary MD
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of price-gouging, middlemen and a series of elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up.
-
-
Very important book!
- By Wayne on 05-17-21
By: Marty Makary MD
-
The In-Between
- Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
- By: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Narrated by: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
-
-
Author's Reach is Beyond Her Grasp
- By CW on 07-26-23
-
Die Wise
- A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul
- By: Stephen Jenkinson
- Narrated by: Stephen Jenkinson
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the discussion and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well.
-
-
Wonderful book!
- By Kate on 12-22-16
-
The Art of Dying Well
- A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end-of-life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times best-selling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the “art of dying” as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life transitions of aging and dying.
-
-
Me too
- By Clif Green on 01-04-20
By: Katy Butler
-
A Bittersweet Season
- Caring for Our Aging Parents - And Ourselves
- By: Jane Gross
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In telling the intimate story of caring for her aged and ailing mother, Jane Gross offers indispensable, and often surprising, advice for the rapidly increasing number of adult children responsible for aging parents. Gross deftly weaves the specifics of her personal experience with a comprehensive resource for effectively managing the lives of one's own parents while keeping sanity and strength intact.
-
-
Exceptional, thought-provoking, liberating!
- By Anne on 08-10-11
By: Jane Gross
-
Do No Harm
- Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery
- By: Henry Marsh
- Narrated by: Jim Barclay
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With compassion and candor, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets, and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life. If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft, practiced by calm and detached surgeons, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again.
-
-
Uneven
- By Scott on 06-02-15
By: Henry Marsh
-
Every Patient Tells a Story
- Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis
- By: Lisa Sanders
- Narrated by: Lisa Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis", the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis.
-
-
Make sure this is what you think!
- By Ronda on 05-11-12
By: Lisa Sanders
-
A Beginner's Guide to the End
- Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
- By: Dr. BJ Miller, Shoshana Berger
- Narrated by: BJ Miller, Shoshana Berger
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first-ever practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying - and living fully until you do.
-
-
Essential reading wiithout exception
- By Daniel J. DiBona on 08-24-19
By: Dr. BJ Miller, and others
-
Notes on Grief
- A Memoir
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core.
-
-
Grief is the price we pay for love
- By Finfin Krzanowski on 06-23-21
-
On Death and Dying
- What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Family
- By: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- Narrated by: Carol Bilger, cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross created her classic seminal work, On Death and Dying, to offer us a new perspective on the terminally ill. It is not a psychoanalytic study, nor is it a "how-to" manual for managing death. Rather, it refocuses on the patient as a human being and a teacher, in the hope that we will learn from him or her about the final stages of life.
-
-
Terrible narration
- By Nassir on 06-25-05
-
How We Die
- Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
- By: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Narrated by: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even more relevant than when it was first published, this edition addresses contemporary issues in end-of-life care and includes an all-embracing and incisive afterword that examines the state of health care and our relationship with life as it approaches its terminus. How We Die also discusses how we can take control of our own final days and those of our loved ones.
-
-
Rip-off
- By T. McG. on 03-07-14
-
Far from the Tree
- Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
- By: Andrew Solomon
- Narrated by: Andrew Solomon
- Length: 40 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant and utterly original thinker, Andrew Solomon's journey began from his experience of being the gay child of straight parents. He wondered how other families accommodate children who have a variety of differences: families of people who are deaf, who are dwarfs, who have Down syndrome, who have autism, who have schizophrenia, who have multiple severe disabilities, who are prodigies, who commit crimes, who are transgender.
-
-
A Gripping Masterpiece
- By C. Beaton on 12-14-12
By: Andrew Solomon
Featured Article: 55+ Quotes for Whenever You Need a Little Encouragement
We all have bad days and dry spells. We all experience moments of disappointment, sadness, and self-doubt. And occasionally, we all need an encouraging word—or several—to lift our spirits, boost our confidence, and fill us with hope. Straight from the works of best-selling and widely admired authors, here's a collection of positive and reassuring words you can turn to anytime you're in need of support.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Better
- A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In this book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.
-
-
A MUST read . . .
- By Kathy in CA on 08-11-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
The Checklist Manifesto
- How to Get Things Right
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies - neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Tad Davis on 01-11-10
By: Atul Gawande
-
Complications
- A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This audio is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form, but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad.
-
-
FALLIBILITY, MYSTERY AND UNCERTAINTY
- By AnnH on 10-04-20
By: Atul Gawande
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
The Art of Dying Well
- A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end-of-life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times best-selling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the “art of dying” as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life transitions of aging and dying.
-
-
Me too
- By Clif Green on 01-04-20
By: Katy Butler
-
How We Die
- Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
- By: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Narrated by: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even more relevant than when it was first published, this edition addresses contemporary issues in end-of-life care and includes an all-embracing and incisive afterword that examines the state of health care and our relationship with life as it approaches its terminus. How We Die also discusses how we can take control of our own final days and those of our loved ones.
-
-
Rip-off
- By T. McG. on 03-07-14
-
Better
- A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In this book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.
-
-
A MUST read . . .
- By Kathy in CA on 08-11-14
By: Atul Gawande
-
The Checklist Manifesto
- How to Get Things Right
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies - neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist.
-
-
Riveting!
- By Tad Davis on 01-11-10
By: Atul Gawande
-
Complications
- A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This audio is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form, but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad.
-
-
FALLIBILITY, MYSTERY AND UNCERTAINTY
- By AnnH on 10-04-20
By: Atul Gawande
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
The Art of Dying Well
- A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end-of-life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times best-selling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the “art of dying” as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life transitions of aging and dying.
-
-
Me too
- By Clif Green on 01-04-20
By: Katy Butler
-
How We Die
- Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
- By: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Narrated by: Sherwin B. Nuland
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even more relevant than when it was first published, this edition addresses contemporary issues in end-of-life care and includes an all-embracing and incisive afterword that examines the state of health care and our relationship with life as it approaches its terminus. How We Die also discusses how we can take control of our own final days and those of our loved ones.
-
-
Rip-off
- By T. McG. on 03-07-14
-
Summary: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
- Medicine and What Matters in the End
- By: Dean Bokhari, FlashBooks
- Narrated by: Dean Bokhari
- Length: 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is an audio summary of Being Mortal, a book that explores the inevitable process of aging and ultimately death, and takes a critical look at how the medical profession does not yet have a firm grip on how to handle these processes well.
-
-
Being allowed o die
- By Kay Arnold on 12-02-24
By: Dean Bokhari, and others
-
Secrets, Lies, and Consequences
- A Great Scholar's Hidden Past and His Protégé's Unsolved Murder
- By: Bruce Lincoln
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1991, Ioan Culianu was on the precipice of a brilliant academic career. Culianu had fled his native Romania and established himself as a widely admired scholar at just forty-one years old. He was teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he was seen as the heir apparent to his mentor, Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian expatriate and the founding father of the field of religious studies, who had died a few years earlier.
-
-
Scholarship and politics
- By Anonymous User on 06-27-24
By: Bruce Lincoln
-
Knocking on Heaven's Door
- The Path to a Better Way of Death
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like so many of us, award-winning writer Katy Butler always assumed her aging parents would experience healthy, active retirements before dying peacefully at home. Then her father suffered a stroke that left him incapable of easily finishing a sentence or showering without assistance. Her mother was thrust into full-time caregiving, and Katy became one of the 24 million Americans who help care for aging parents. In an effort to correct a minor and non - life threatening heart arrhythmia, doctors outfitted her father with a pacemaker.
-
-
A better way to narrate a book about death?
- By MAUREEN on 10-21-13
By: Katy Butler
-
The Bright Hour
- A Memoir of Living and Dying
- By: Nina Riggs
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exquisite memoir about how to live - and love - every day with "death in the room", from poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the tradition of When Breath Becomes Air.
-
-
Awe inspiring legacy of A Brave Young Woman.
- By Julia on 06-18-17
By: Nina Riggs
-
Caring for the Dying
- The Doula Approach to a Meaningful Death
- By: Henry Fersko-Weiss LCSW
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caring for the Dying describes a whole new way to approach death and dying. It explores how the dying and their families can bring deep meaning and great comfort to the care given at the end of a life. Created by Henry Fersko-Weiss, the end-of-life doula model is adapted from the work of birth doulas and helps the dying to find meaning in their life, express that meaning in powerful and beautiful legacies, and plan for the final days.
-
-
Good; Narrator a little too "much"
- By Wyatt on 04-18-18
-
The Emperor of All Maladies
- A Biography of Cancer
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance but also of hubris, arrogance, paternalism, and misperception, all leveraged against a disease that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer".
-
-
Incredible
- By S.R.E. on 03-02-16
-
Complications
- A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
- By: Atul Gawande
- Narrated by: William David Griffith
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human.
-
-
It's about time...
- By T.K. on 05-31-03
By: Atul Gawande
-
What Doctors Feel
- How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine
- By: Danielle Ofri MD
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While much has been written about the minds and methods of the medical professionals who save our lives, precious little has been said about their emotions. Physicians are assumed to be objective, rational beings, easily able to detach as they guide patients and families through some of life’s most challenging moments. But understanding doctors’ emotional responses to the life-and-death dramas of everyday practice can make all the difference on giving and getting the best medical care.
-
-
Book resonates with outpatient internist
- By Juli W. on 09-19-22
By: Danielle Ofri MD
-
Doctored
- The Disillusionment of an American Physician
- By: Sandeep Jauhar
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Sandeep Jauhar, an attending cardiologist, accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital on the outskirts of Queens. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is low and getting lower.
-
-
Frank, inside perspective on the follies of unintended consequences in medical reform
- By JW on 02-25-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
-
Every Patient Tells a Story
- Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis
- By: Lisa Sanders
- Narrated by: Lisa Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis", the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis.
-
-
Make sure this is what you think!
- By Ronda on 05-11-12
By: Lisa Sanders
-
The House of God
- By: Samuel Shem
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By turns heartbreaking, hilarious, and utterly human, The House of God is a mesmerizing and provocative journey that takes us into the lives of Roy Basch and five of his fellow interns at the most renowned teaching hospital in the country.
-
-
First time I started it I hated it...
- By Tamara T. on 01-20-16
By: Samuel Shem
-
Starting a Business: A 7-Step System to Successfully Launch Your Own Business in 30 Days & Become a Great Entrepreneur
- By: Walter Grant
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ditch the 9-5 and join the ever-growing army of prosperous business owners... Do you hate your day job and find yourself staring relentlessly at the clock every day, counting down the minutes to when you can finally go home? Do you have a genius business idea that you are passionate about turning into a reality, yet don’t know a single thing about owning a business, let alone start one? Are you in search of a new adventure, a new phase of your life, where you become your own boss and make decisions according to your own visions? With how repetitive work life can get, it’s difficult not ...
By: Walter Grant
What listeners say about Being Mortal
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniela
- 01-07-15
You must read this book
Because you - like me - are going to die one day. Because maybe you - and maybe I too - will become one day old and frail.
Because maybe you too - like me - have an old parent to care for. Maybe you too - like me - have lost a parent to a terminal illness.
And we have a lot of doubts, and hopes, and fears. This author helps us a bit, with his compassionate interest for unpleasant and important questions that concern us all.
Don't miss this book, it's important.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
26 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gordon Wilson
- 10-22-17
Should be Required Reading for Anyone over 40!
Truly a life-changing book for me. It changed the way I look at death and dying--particularly through the eyes of a medical professional. Atule's observations about what those in healthcare are inclined to do to help the dying, what they should be doing, and the importance of determining with the patients what their needs and wants really are--what a revelation about how wrong they often are in spite of their best intentions! I've asked my wife and all our children to please read this book to help them understand end-of-life and, moreover, to help them help me when I reach that point!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J
- 09-15-20
Everyone should read. Everyone!
Halfway through and I had already recommended this book to several people who also read or are reading it. Hard to believe a book on death and dying could be a page-turner. But it’s really all about living. And that’s what makes it a masterpiece. This book is one of the best, if not the best, Audible book in my library of hundreds of listens.
I wish everyone had access to painless dying and medical professionals like Dr. Gawande. What a wonderful human being dealing with the very important subject of being human.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura
- 01-14-21
Quality in life and death
Such great information shared on assessment of choices in life and at the end of life. Information essential for myself and the choices I make as well as understanding the choices that others make for themselves. Thank you writing this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amanda
- 08-16-20
Eye-opening
A beautifully poignant book on what matters most at the end of our lives. I think people at all stages in life would benefit from reading this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JJ
- 06-30-20
Paradigm changing book!
Robert Petkoff did a phenomenal job of narrating this book. The literature was a perfect mix of historical, clinical and personal anecdotes delivered in a way that went straight into my heart. The plight of the aging and chronically ill population is a growing, expanding condition that every one of us will get to face both personally, and within our circle of family and friends. Everybody dies. Some of us die a piece at a time. A few of us get taken out of this life with one whack, but for most of us, it is a gradual dying. So the big question is how shall we make LIVING WHILE DYING the very best it can be? This book attempts to paint a picture of possibilities. It is hope-filled. Things can be better than they have been if we can honor each other’s humanity to the very end. I loved it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Abbey R
- 12-03-20
Thought Provoking and Eye Opening
An amazing experience for a first time user of Audible & incredible first book. AWESOME
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ammar
- 06-13-20
A must for every health care worker, and everyone else!
All health care professionals, mainly medical students and doctors need to read this book a few times at different stages of their learning/training/practicing.
And for all of us, it explains an important period of our lives which is often overlooked and avoided.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stanco1981
- 06-25-20
Everyone Alive Who Will Die Should Read !
Fabulous Book on the realities of dying and late life medical and physical care from very personal experiences. Learned more about where I don't want to end up as I grow older, than any other information. Illuminating about what makes for a quality last quarter of life!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cheryl Brown
- 10-03-20
Critical Book for all Health and Spiritual Care
I recommend this book for all health and spiritual care. It touches on what we really need to consider when end of life decisions are involved. It is what must be faced beyond medicine.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful