In 1994, Sherwin Nuland (1930–2014) – a remarkable surgeon and Yale clinical professor who in his nearly four decades of practice cared, truly cared, for more than 10,000 patients – received the National Book Award for his humanistic masterwork “How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter”, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize that year. It is one of the most existentially elevating books I’ve ever read – a inquiry as much into how we exit this life as into how we fill its living moments with meaning, integrity and, ultimately, happiness. Four years later, Nuland followed up with How We Live (public library), addressing the art of aliveness – that spectacular resilience of which the human body and mind are capable – with equal wisdom and warmth. The book is available from Amazon.
