"For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? 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...

Introduces the lungs and their makeup, their function within the respiratory system, asthma, and how to keep lungs healthy.

Provides information about the lungs, how they function, and how to keep them healthy.

"We take an average of 7.5 million breaths a year and some 600 million in our lifetime, and what goes on in our body each time oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide expelled is nothing short of miraculous. 'Our lungs are the lynchpin between our bodies and the outside world,' writes Dr. Michael J. Stephen. And yet, we take our lungs for granted until we're incapacitated and suddenly confronted with their vital importance. In Breath Taking, pulmonologist...

This book provides answers to questions that are frequently asked by those who have COPD, and their families. Each of the nine chapters starts with a brief vignette describing someone with COPD in author Donald A. Mahler's medical practice. Practical information is provided that addresses that person's particular challenge, and key points of the chapter are summarized. Next, there is a follow-up about the person that describes what actually happened....