El Caballero De La Armadura Oxidada

El Caballero De La Armadura Oxidada Puntos destacados del libro completo

"El caballero de la armadura oxidada" es una fábula sobre un caballero que se obsesiona tanto con su armadura y la imagen que presenta al mundo que se olvida de quién es en realidad. La historia sigue al caballero en un viaje de autodescubrimiento mientras intenta quitarse la armadura y aprender a vivir como su verdadero yo. Este encantador cuento es un poderoso recordatorio para lectores de todas las edades sobre la importancia de la autenticidad y el conocimiento de uno mismo en nuestra vida cotidiana.

Introducción | Capítulo 1

Hola, bienvenidos a Bookey. Hoy vamos a desbloquear el libro "El caballero de la armadura oxidada" de Robert Fisher.

Este libro cuenta la historia de un caballero que queda atrapado en su propia armadura y debe embarcarse en un viaje de autodescubrimiento para encontrar su verdadera identidad.

La obra fue escrita y publicada en la década de 1980 y desde entonces se ha convertido en una fábula popular con un atractivo perdurable. Pero ¿cómo era la década de 1980? Fue una época de importantes cambios sociales y económicos, en la que muchas personas se sentían abrumadas por el ritmo del cambio tecnológico y cultural. Como resultado, durante esa época, hubo un creciente interés por la literatura de autoayuda y crecimiento personal, así como una mayor conciencia de la importancia de la inteligencia emocional y de la necesidad de que los individuos fueran más introspectivos. Además, había un renovado interés por los temas medievales en la cultura popular. El libro "El caballero de la armadura oxidada" refleja exactamente estas tendencias sociales y sirve como herramienta de transformación personal.

En el corazón de "El caballero de la armadura oxidada" hay un poderoso mensaje sobre la importancia de la autenticidad y la conciencia de uno mismo. El Caballero se presenta como una figura orgullosa y arrogante consumida por su propia imagen y su armadura, que simboliza el falso yo que el Caballero se ha construido, un personaje que no es su verdadera identidad. El Caballero queda atrapado en su armadura, incapaz de quitársela, y debe embarcarse en un viaje de autodescubrimiento para encontrar su verdadero yo.

A lo largo del camino, el Caballero se encuentra con varios personajes que le ayudan a aprender importantes lecciones de vida. Entre estos personajes se encuentran un sabio ermitaño, una damisela en apuros y un aterrador dragón. El Caballero aprende la importancia de la inteligencia emocional y la empatía a través de su viaje. Además, descubre que la verdadera fuerza proviene del corazón y que es importante desprenderse del orgullo y la arrogancia para encontrar el verdadero yo.

Sin embargo, ¿qué hace que "El caballero de la armadura oxidada" sea tan singular? Una de esas razones es su estructura alegórica. De hecho, el libro está repleto de personajes caprichosos y una narración atractiva que resulta a la vez accesible e invita a la reflexión. El mensaje subyacente sobre los peligros del orgullo y la importancia de ser consciente de uno mismo se transmite sin esfuerzo. Asimismo, la estructura alegórica del libro lo convierte en una contribución única y memorable al género de la autoayuda y el crecimiento personal.

Además del poderoso mensaje que transmite el libro con su forma de fábula, "El caballero de la armadura oxidada" es también una lectura encantadora y entretenida. El libro está lleno de humor, suspenso y una narración atractiva que mantendrá a los lectores enganchados de principio a fin.

Frida-una Biografía De Frida Kahlo

Frida-una Biografía De Frida Kahlo Puntos destacados del libro completo

"Frida: Una biografía de Frida Kahlo" es un retrato íntimo de una de las artistas más importantes e influyentes del siglo XX. El libro explora la vida de Frida, desde su infancia y su matrimonio con Diego Rivera hasta sus luchas con la salud física y mental, su activismo político y sus logros artísticos. A través de la descripción y el estudio detallado de su vida, los lectores pueden comprender mejor la personalidad única de Frida, su visión artística y su perdurable legado. Este libro es una lectura obligada para cualquier persona interesada en el arte, la historia o la vida de una mujer extraordinaria que superó inmensos retos para convertirse en un icono perdurable de fortaleza y resistencia.

Introducción | Capítulo 1

Hola, bienvenidos a Bookey. Hoy vamos a desvelar Frida: Una biografía de Frida Kahlo por Hayden Herrera.

Es una artista legendaria y respetada en la que nos centraremos a partir de este momento.

Es la mujer con la espesa uniceja cruzándole la frente en sus autorretratos.

Es una artista con una trenza de flores en la cabeza que apareció cuatro veces en la famosa película mexicana Coco.

Es un icono de la moda a quien la famosa cantante Madonna adora y a menudo imita.

El retrato de su cabeza está impreso en el reverso del peso mexicano. Sus obras de arte se han expuesto en prestigiosos museos como el Louvre, e incluso el famoso artista Picasso admitió que su obra era inferior a la de ella después de ver uno de sus autorretratos. Sus admiradores abarcan los continentes de América Latina y Europa. Su composición Viva La Vida fue utilizada como título de una canción por el grupo musical Coldplay.

¿Le suena familiar ahora? Ella es Frida Kahlo. Reconocida como la representante femenina moderna del arte vanguardista de México en el siglo XX, creó 143 obras en vida, 55 de las cuales son autorretratos.

Pero su vida no fue tranquila. Sufrió poliomielitis cuando tenía 6 años. Un accidente de coche a los 18 la dejó con un hueso destrozado y 32 operaciones. Se casó a los 22 y se divorció a los 32. Tuvo tres abortos espontáneos en su vida. Volvió a casarse a los 33 y murió a los 47.

Su historia es cautivadora y emocionante, llena de una fuerza única nacida del sufrimiento. Su vida fue una notable obra de arte, al igual que sus cuadros. A pesar de sus múltiples contradicciones, la indefinible naturaleza de Frida y su audaz voz siguen cautivándonos e inspirándonos. Su poderoso mensaje, que no puede silenciarse, sigue resonando entre la gente hoy en día. Con sus retratos y obras de arte todavía ampliamente reconocidos y celebrados, el legado de Frida sigue siendo atemporal y significativo en el mundo del arte y más allá.

El Club De Las 5 De La Mañana

El Club De Las 5 De La Mañana Puntos destacados del libro completo

El club de las 5 de la mañana, escrito por Robin Sharma, es un libro que te cambiará la vida y te enseñará a aprovechar al máximo tus mañanas, transformando tu rutina. En él se explica el concepto del club de las 5 de la mañana y se ofrece una guía paso a paso para crear una rutina matutina que te ayudará a mejorar tu mentalidad, tu estado de ánimo, tu salud y tu alma. Gracias a sus consejos prácticos, historias inspiradoras y herramientas poderosas, este libro es indispensable para cualquiera que desee liberar todo su potencial y alcanzar sus objetivos más ambiciosos.

Introducción | Capítulo 1

Hola, te damos la bienvenida a Bookey. Hoy descubriremos el libro El club de las 5 de la mañana, escrito por Robin Sharma.

A continuación, descubriremos la vida de tres personas. El primero de ellos es un empresario frustrado que estuvo al borde de la quiebra, hasta el punto de intentar suicidarse. El segundo es un artista que se esforzaba por encontrar formas de potenciar su creatividad y mejorar sus habilidades para crear obras de arte notables que dejaran una impresión duradera en el público.

Los dos asistieron a una conferencia de crecimiento personal impartida por un legendario gurú de los negocios, el Hechicero, donde conocieron a un multimillonario que se disfrazó de pobre y compartió su historia de éxito con ambos.

El multimillonario se llamaba Stone Riley. El hombre invitó al empresario y al artista a su casa de la playa en Mauricio para enseñarles las claves de una rutina matutina de alto nivel, la cual era su fórmula para alcanzar el éxito. El único requisito era que se reunieran a las cinco de la mañana del día siguiente.

A la mañana siguiente, un Rolls-Royce con chófer los recogió y los llevó a un hangar que alojaba un elegante jet privado de color marfil, con el logotipo: "5AC". ¿Qué significaba? Eran las iniciales de "The 5 AM Club". A continuación, partieron hacia Mauricio. Durante los días posteriores, el multimillonario les explicó que levantarse a las cinco de la mañana era la forma en que había aprendido a escapar de la mediocridad para alcanzar la grandeza. Gracias a las enseñanzas del multimillonario, los dos estudiantes adquirieron una nueva perspectiva de vida, así como la capacidad de transformarlo todo para mejor.

El autor de este libro, Robin Sharma, presenta la información mediante una historia ficticia, descubriendo la vida de tres personajes que buscan el éxito personal y profesional. Dicho enfoque narrativo nos permite involucrarnos con el libro de una forma más cercana y memorable, mientras descubrimos las luchas y los triunfos de estos personajes.

Entonces, ¿por qué no acompañarlos en su aventura? Analizaremos el contenido principal del libro en las siguientes tres partes:

En la primera parte, hablaremos de los cuatro imperios interiores, es decir, la Mente, el Corazón, el Cuerpo y el Alma.

En la segunda parte, analizaremos la fórmula 20/20/20, la cual puede utilizarse para aprovechar las primeras horas del día.

En la tercera parte, hablaremos de la importancia del sueño y del ritual previo al mismo, el cual puede ayudarnos a dormir mejor.

Who Moved My Cheese

Who Moved My Cheese Full Chapter Book Summary

In a maze lived four characters. Two were mice, named Sniff and Scurry, and two were little people, named Hem and Haw. Their intertwined stories unfold in two parts. The first part is a parable entitled Who Moved My Cheese?, and the second is called Out of the Maze. The former tells the story of how each character reacts when their stocks of cheese vanish one day. It tells of how the loss affects them and the strategies they use to cope. The second part focuses on Hem, who is particularly unwilling to accept the fact that the cheese is gone for good. For a long time, he stays where he is in the maze, frozen, unable to move. But, eventually, even Hem starts to take action and goes off in search of fresh cheese with the help of a new character named Hope. With Hope’s influence, he changes little by little. Finally, transformed, Hem walks out of the dark maze once and for all. These simple but insightful stories will teach you how to cope with changes and, if you are stuck in a situation, get unstuck.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book Who Moved My Cheese and Out of the Maze.

Life is a labyrinth of choices, turnings in every direction. In this maze, everyone is looking for their own “cheese”. It could be a stable job, a healthy body, strong relationships, or love. In this search, it is inevitable to encounter turnings that will take you by surprise. One day, you may find your perfectly ripened cheese has gone bad or it has already been eaten: then, what will you do? These two books may help you with encouraging inspiration.

The first book, Who Moved My Cheese, rapidly gained wide acclaim as soon as it was first published in 1988. The second, Out of the Maze, was not only an anticipated sequel but also a legacy left by Spencer Johnson, as it was the last book he wrote before he passed away. The first book introduces the maze. In this environment live four characters, two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two little people named Hem and Haw. The story describes how one day, their cheese vanishes, how each character responds and how they learn to cope with change in their lives. The sequel continues the story of Hem. Hem has stayed in the maze, and with the help of a new friend, Hope, he starts to take action. Little by little, he changes and transforms himself, eventually stepping outside the maze once and for all.

Cheese is Johnson’s metaphor for all the beautiful things we pursue in our lives. The four characters represent four typical reactions to a significant change in life. In this situation, some will be put on the alert, staying vigilant, and prepared for further dangers. When their cheese simply vanishes, with no explanation, they won’t question who may be responsible but adapt to the new circumstances. Others indulge themselves. They don’t acknowledge that there has been a change; they ignore it. Ultimately, such people may harden their resolve and eventually take actions. In order to do so, they must leave their comfort zone, overcoming their initial fear. Another type of person is like an ostrich, burying its head in the sand. They don’t accept the change and live in the false hope that everything will reset to normal. They won’t consider changing themselves until they are sure there’s no other course. Perhaps, the vast majority of people are inclined to be like ostriches.

Hillbilly Elegy Full Chapter Book Summary

More Content On Bookey Best Book Summary App.

This is a memoir written by James David Vance, who was born in Middletown (also known as the Steel City), Ohio, located within the Rust Belt. Vance came from a Scottish-Irish working-class community plagued by poverty and poor social mobility. While most members of the community had been stuck at the bottom of the social ladder for generations, Vance graduated from Yale Law School and managed to move up the social ladder. This book not only recounts his journey to success, but also highlights the crises faced by white working-class Americans and examines the causal factors behind these social issues.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.

The book was written by J. D. Vance, who was born in Middletown, Ohio, within the Rust Belt. While he is white, he is not a member of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants—the first group to settle in the Northeastern United States. Vance is of Scottish-Irish descent, and his community consists of mostly non-college-educated, working-class individuals whose ancestors had been brought over to American South as day laborers. The subsequent generations had worked as sharecroppers, coal miners, and factory workers. They have been called “rednecks,” “white trash,” and “hillbillies” by other Americans, the last of which lends itself to the title of this book.

Vance was only thirty-one years old when he wrote this memoir. At the time, he had no notable achievements. He hadn’t been elected as senator or governor, nor had he started a company with a market value of one billion dollars or a non-profit organization that would change the world. In the first thirty-one years of his life, his biggest success was graduating from Yale Law School.

However, this memoir written by a “nobody” became a bestseller on Amazon and in The New York Times—even earning recommendations from influential Silicon Valley figures such as Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, author of Zero to One. Hillbilly Elegy was also adapted into a movie directed by renowned director Ron Howard, whose filmography includes A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.

What makes this book so popular, then? There are two primary reasons. First, Vance’s story is inspirational. For someone born into a poor, chaotic family in an impoverished city, success is a strange. Many people who share the same background find themselves in the deep end. Against all odds, however, Vance managed to move up the social ladder and become a self-made businessman. The second reason is societal. Not only does this memoir detail Vance’s past, but it also reflects the living conditions of white blue-collar workers, offering insight into a real facet of American society. Through Vance’s perspective, readers can explore the challenges faced by the white American working class and learn the causes behind them. For this reason, many people regard Vance as the spokesman for white working-class Americans. Some critics even believe that this book, which articulates the mentality of said demographic, explains why Donald Trump was so well-liked among this demographic and how he came to win the 2016 election with their support.

Bad Blood Full Chapter Book Summary

More Content On Bookey Best Book Summary App.

For nearly a ten billion dollar fraud, what meticulous planning is required? How did a school dropout with no medical background deceive the medical technology establishment and even political giants? In “Bad Blood”, the author, John Carreyrou, uses a calm and objective style of writing to reveal the shocking fraudulent activity at the heart of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes’ company. In his research for the book, Carreyrou interviewed over 150 people, including sixty former employees. He drew upon the comprehensive background detail they provided to uncover the truth. Carreyrou tears apart the legendary company that built on lies. He reveals to the reader how the fraud was executed.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.

Before we begin, let us try to imagine a particular type of product, a portable medical “magic box”. It can be kept at home, produce a diagnosis, and suggest a treatment plan. Whenever you feel physically unwell, all you need to do is to open this magic box, use the needle on top to prick your finger, let a drop of blood fall into the box, and this magic box will provide over two hundred professional test results. With this device, not only would you be able to track your physical condition instantaneously, the data from the blood test would be transmitted online to your doctor. They can then send over more comprehensive consultation notes and advise on your medication going forward. With such a magic box, you would be able to accomplish the entire process of a doctor’s consultation without stepping out of your door. Is this a product you would hope to own?

This is not a fantasy. Once upon a time, someone from Silicon Valley created such a product. The entrepreneur was a passionate follower of Steve Jobs. Like Jobs, had believed that “the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” For this revolutionary dream, this individual dropped out of Stanford University, gathered a group of like-minded talents, and created a company that sold medical apparatus. Soon it was estimated to be worth $9 billion USD.

This person, who founded a company they called Theranos, was none other than Elizabeth Holmes. It was she who came up with this captivating idea and proceeded to use an irresistibly charming manner to rake in investment. She attracted business world legends, such as the Oracle founder Larry Ellison, to be her shareholders. She was even successful in persuading military and political leaders, like former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, and former Defense Minister William Perry, to join the Board of Directors. These significant figures provided a shield for the company. Their credibility helped her company’s value ascend in the market, such that, at one point, it was the most successful Silicon Valley start-up.

At the helm of Theranos, Holmes dreamt of becoming a hero destined to save humanity. Yet ultimately, the dream melted as everyone found out that the magic product was just an illusion Holmes had created. The bubble was burst when everyone shockingly realized that the Theranos company Holmes’ had created was the biggest medical fraud in history.

The Body Keeps the Score Full Chapter Book Summary

More Content On Bookey Best Book Summary App.

Have you ever suffered abuse, sexual assault, a serious car accident, or some other injuries? Life often leaves us with too many psychological traumas and nightmarish memories. We struggle to get rid of them and forget them, only to find we can’t. The brain and body never forget the psychological trauma caused by an event, and it is not “all in one’s head,” but rather has a physiological basis. This book will take us through the secret of the body that never forgets trauma.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we’ll unlock the book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

Let’s first hear a story. Marilyn was a tall, athletic-looking woman in her mid-thirties who worked as a nurse. She met a fireman named Michael while playing tennis at the sports club and the two began a relationship. They often talked about tennis and movies together. Marilyn said that she usually avoided men, but this relationship gradually made her feel comfortable.

As they got closer, one Saturday evening, Marilyn invited Michael to stay over at her apartment. She described feeling “uptight and unreal” as soon as they were alone together, having very little sense of what would happen next. After a few glasses of wine and several episodes of a TV show, they fell asleep together in bed.

At around two in the morning, when they were fast asleep, Michael turned over. When Marilyn felt his body touch hers, she exploded—pounding him with her fists, scratching and biting, screaming, “You bastard, you bastard!” Michael, startled awake, grabbed his belongings and fled.

After he left, Marilyn felt deeply humiliated and hated herself for what she had done. So she turned to the therapist Bessel Van der Kolk for help in dealing with her terror of men and her inexplicable rage attacks.

So why did Marilyn act like that? After several treatments，Van der Kolk found that Marilyn had never been able to let go of her childhood experience of sexual assault by her father.

In fact, on many occasions, even if things have changed and time has long passed, we may still go out of control due to some tiny danger signals that trigger our horrible memories. People often think that it’s “all in one’s head,” but the book The Body Keeps the Score suggests that psychological trauma actually has a physiological basis.

So what are the physical and psychological effects of trauma? What does the body have to do with trauma? How can it be treated? This book will give us the answers.

The author of this book is Bessel Van der Kolk, who is the world’s best-known master of trauma treatment. He is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline in the United States, a Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School and director of the National Complex Trauma Treatment Network. With more than 30 years of experience in cutting-edge research and clinical practice in the field of psychological trauma, he is an expert in both medication and psychotherapy, with a creative insight on trauma. He also frequently conducts in-depth exchanges and cooperation with all the founders of major trauma treatments in the United States. As one of the authorities in the field of psychological trauma treatment, his theory has greatly influenced the mainstream approaches to trauma treatment today.

Zero to One Full Chapter Book Summary

More Content On Bookey Best Book Summary App.

Every entrepreneur is eager to know what kind of startup can gain a foothold in the business world, and understand how to make innovative products, face competition, assemble teams, sell products and services, and ensure a company's sustainable development. In this book, Peter Thiel, known as the "Silicon Valley venture capital godfather," gives the right answers based on his entrepreneurial history and experience. In his opinion, startups must find unique ways to innovate if they want to succeed.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.”

For those who are interested in starting a business, they will always be anxious before starting a business. What kind of entrepreneurial project is more likely to succeed? Should they enter a red ocean to participate in the competition or strive to find a blue ocean to explore the unknown world? Going into a red ocean means that there are existing and successful cases that can be learned from and referred to. But when faced with many competitors, it is not easy to survive and win. However, choosing blue oceans is not necessarily better than red oceans. Although there is not much competition in blue oceans, if the market is not developed, the road ahead will be full of unknowns and challenges for any pioneers. Whether they can keep going depends on their determination and capabilities.

Every entrepreneur is eager to know what kind of startup can gain a foothold in the business world, and how to make innovative products, face competition, assemble teams, sell products and services, and ensure a company's sustainable development. This book gives the right answers to these critical and highly practical questions.

The author, Peter Thiel, who is known as the “Silicon Valley venture capital godfather” and a thinker in the investment world. Which companies come to our mind when we think of the most successful startups in the past decades? Probably Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tesla? All these startup stars are closely related to Peter Thiel.

Peter Thiel is a successful entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal in 1998 and sold it to eBay for US$ 1.5 billion in 2002, bringing e-commerce to a new era. But what is more commendable is his investment foresight for startups, as we mentioned in another bookey “The Facebook Effect” in which we introduced him as the first Facebook investor. He then co-founded Founder Fund, which has provided early funding for LinkedIn, SpaceX, Yelp and dozens of outstanding technology startups. Former colleagues ran many of these companies. They have been dubbed the “PayPal Mafia,” which includes Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla.

Why Nations Fail Full Free Audio Book Summary

Come to Bookey Book Summary to unlock more content.

Why are some nations wealthy and others poor? Why is it that vastly different institutions can emerge in two nations of similar backgrounds and origins, with a huge disparity in the respective quality of life of their citizens? Just what exactly determines a country’s future? This book combs through the developmental history of human civilization and analyses the case studies of over twenty countries in great detail to show us why different countries have different institutions, and how good and bad institutions can influence a nation’s destiny.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.

What is the greatest challenge facing mankind today? Every person has a different answer to this question. Jared Diamond, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the bestselling sociology classic Guns, Germs and Steel, which we have unlocked for you in a previous bookey, believes that the problem of income disparity among various countries around the world can be considered the greatest challenge facing humanity today.

The per capita income of Egypt is only 12% that of the United States – this is a shocking figure, and it is arguably one of the key factors for Egypt’s political instability. However, this example is not even the largest disparity known to exist between countries. The gap between the per capita income of the United States and that of the poorest countries in the world is much larger – in those countries, even a full meal might be considered a luxury.

What exactly causes this disparity? Why are some nations prosperous with a flourishing population, while others are impoverished with their people in deep suffering? Can poor countries ever change their destiny, or are they doomed to fail? Since the dawn of time, countless experts have tried to answer this question. The book Why Nations Fail provides us with a short answer: institutions.

While this answer appears to be deceptively simple, it is full of complexities. It took the authors of this book fifteen years of dedicated research to arrive at this answer. Both authors are leading economists: Daron Acemoglu is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and recipient of the prestigious John Bates Clark Award, and James Robinson is a professor at Harvard University and world-renowned expert in Latin American and African studies.

Over the course of fifteen years, these two experts pored over thousands of years of human history, and compared the developmental processes of over twenty countries. They came to the conclusion that differences in institutions are responsible for the different fates of various countries around the world. In this book, Acemoglu and Robinson analyze volumes of historical case studies to show us why different countries developed different institutions in the first place, how the earliest institutions came about, and how good and bad institutions can influence a nation’s destiny.

When Breath Becomes Air Full Free Audio Book Summary

Come to Bookey Book Summary to unlock more content.

After many years of hard study and medical practice, Paul finally caught a glimpse of his own Promised Land. He was poised to receive a tenure-track professorship and a chance to start his own neuroscience lab from the Stanford University School of Medicine. At that moment, he joined the 0.12 unlucky people out of every ten thousand who contracts lung cancer before the age of 36. From then on, he began to explore the truth behind death as a doctor and a patient. While we listen in to this bookey, Paul, its author, has already passed away. His breath has turned into air, yet the courage he possessed in the face of death lives on.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we will unlock the book When Breath Becomes Air.

For every ten thousand people in the modern world, of those under the age of 36, only 0.12 will contract lung cancer. The book’s author Paul Kalanithi happened to be one of this tiny unfortunate minority. At Stanford University, Kalanithi attained dual honors in his Bachelor’s degree in English literature and human biology. He went on to earn a Master of Philosophy in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Finally, at the Yale School of Medicine, his stellar research was acknowledged with a PhD. During his six to seven years of residency, he worked a hundred hours a week. For his efforts in this period of intensive research, the American Academy of Neurological Surgery acknowledged him with their highest award. In short, at Stanford University, he was hailed as one of the most gifted doctors. However, in his final year of residency, as he was poised to receive a tenure-track professorship as well as an opportunity to head his own neuroscience lab at Stanford University School of Medicine, Kalanithi was denied the time to savor the fruits of his years of hard labor. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and forced to confront his mortality.

Death itself is not shocking but having life snatched away prematurely often leaves people with a tragic sense of regret. From the moment when a person is diagnosed with cancer, they will inevitably yearn to set the clock back and live their life again. Yet, a fact is a fact. Going back to the old life, as well as the future that one imagined, is now seen to be nothing more than extravagant dreams. What should one do in this predicament? Merely wait for death to come? No. Paul Kalanithi decided to continue living as he would have lived had he not been given his tumultuous cancer diagnosis. The Paul of the past had wanted a child. After much deliberation, a post-cancer Paul made the same decision to extend his family, even if this might make saying goodbye even more excruciating.

Paul had always regarded medicine to be his life-long mission. After his diagnosis, Paul went back to the operating theatre whenever his physical condition allowed. Paul had always wanted to write. So, despite suffering intense physical pain from his condition, he propped himself up and forced his weakened frame to write ceaselessly. And finally, he completed When Breath Becomes Air. Although cancer had the effect of accelerating Paul’s life to its end, he remained faithful to his heart’s desires. He kept asking himself what was meaningful, what was truly important. Then, he channeled all his remaining strength and spirit into those enterprises.