Such an important book written by a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with advanced cancer. He is an excellent writer, and I just loved that he could elicit so many emotions in me. What I liked is that he never elicited pity.

One thing that really struck me is the weight of being a doctor/surgeon. Making one minor mistake that ends a person's life or significantly impairs them. The weight of that is huge. One very small piece is that a colleague had made a mistake, and the weight of that prompted the doctor to commit suicide. The brutal hours, being at the top of your game at all times even when you are suffering, it's amazing that people go into those occupations.

Paul's disease is ravaging. He had the best care, and he even then cancer won. I think to my own mother's battle with ovarian cancer. She's actually almost to 4 years surviving a pretty nasty form of cancer, but it's a reminder that at any moment things can go severely downhill.