Paul Kalanithi, a young and promising neurosurgeon, received a devastating diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer at the age of thirty-six. He was a doctor treating patients one day and the next was struggling for his own life. On the verge of completing a decade's worth of training, he decided to begin writing this book to come to terms with and give closure to his life, and to face death with courage. What makes a life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder towards your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are a few of the questions Kulanithi wrestles with in this moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi passed away in March 2015, yet his words live on as a guide and gift to us all. Simultaneously a reminder of the fragility of our existence as well as a plea for a brave and vigorous life, El buen doctor will inspire all readers.