Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande, will be the title for the next Book Group discussion on Palm Sunday, March 20, following the worship service. This work of nonfiction, one of the New York Time’s most notable books for 2014, is about the way aging and death are handled within the medical establishment. Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as well as a staff writer for The New Yorker, writes with firsthand knowledge about medicine’s treatment of aging and death as clinical symptoms to treat rather than the inevitable conclusion to life. It includes true stories surrounding the end of life and offers suggestions for changing how we deal with this important, inescapable phase of life.

Oliver Sacks wrote about Being Mortal: “We have come to medicalize aging, frailty, and death, treating them as if they were just one more clinical problem to overcome. However it is not only medicine that is needed in one’s declining years but life—a life with meaning, a life as rich and full as possible under the circumstances. Being Mortal is not only wise and deeply moving, it is an essential and insightful book for our times, as one would expect from Atul Gawande, one of our finest physician writers.”

The book is widely available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and digitally for Kindle. It can be purchased at the Chatham Bookstore or any bookseller, including online. Copies can also be obtained from the Mid-Hudson Library System.

Join the Canaan Congregational Book Group for an informal conversation about Being Mortal after church on March 20.