Being Mortal

Gawande presents a detailed, but highly readable history of how the meaning of death has changed over the past fifty or sixty years. He presents this history in the careful voice of a medical professional, but textured with the stories of older people he's met through his family and his practice.These stories highlight how our approach to death in the developed world has completely changed in just a few generations, and raises questions around shifting away from simply fighting for longer life towards fighting for the things that make life meaningful.