The Measure of Our Days: A Spiritual Exploration of Illness

No user reviews yet. Soon you will be able to review this book.

Check back in the near future to submit a review of this book.

• "An astonishingly well written book that illuminates life's meaning without a trace of maudlin sentimentality. It is a clich? that life's lessons are learned in the face of impending death. Groopman goes far beyond the obvious, however, in this remarkably perspicacious book."
• Meditations on the end of life by a physician who has been present at many deathbeds. This memoir covers Groopman's own medical practice, his research into cancer and AIDS, and the catastrophic illnesses he has seen.
• A physician recounts his experiences with the dying and details how different people react to a diagnosis of terminal illness
• With The Measure of Our Days, Dr. Jerome Groopman established himself as an eloquent new voice in the literature of medicine. In these eight moving portraits, he offers us a compelling look at what is to be learned when life itself can no longer be taken for granted.

  These stories are diverse--from Kirk, an aggressive venture capitalist determined to play the odds with controversial chemotherapy treatments; to Elizabeth, an imperious dowager humbled by a rare blood disease; to Elliott, who triumphs over leukemia and creates for himself a definition of success--but each, in the words of Maggie Scarf, "transmute the misery of terrible suffering into a marvelous celebration of the sweetness of human life.

  more...
  " Far from medical case studies, these are spiritual journeys of questioning and self-awareness, embarked on by the physician as well as the patient.
  less...