being mortal

Never before has aging been such an important topic. For, even as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become profoundly detached from the reality of being mortal.

Here, Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he explores the modern experience of mortality - what it's like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn't, where our ideas about death have gone wrong.

The systems that we have put in place to manage our mortality are manifestly failing; but, as Gawande reveals, it doesn't have to be this way. The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death, but a good life - all the way to the very end.

--back cover