Book Review – Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

A book review is different from a “book report,” such as you may have done in high school. Rather than just summarizing the book (a book report), a book review is an analysis of the book. In this case, you will take a critical, analytical view of the arguments presented in the following book. This book is available inexpensively online, but you MUST order it now—you won’t be able to do this review at the last minute.

Gawande, Atul. 2017.  Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. New York, NY: Picador Paperback.  ISBN 978-1-250-07622-9

Your task read the book and then write a 4-5 page book review with the following components:

     1. What is the main argument of the book? In other words, what is the main point that the author wants the reader to know? Describe the main argument fully and completely.

          a. Provide information on the support (“proof”) that the author gives to substantiate his/her main argument.

          b. Do you find this support persuasive? Is it biased? Explain.

     2. In addition to the main argument of the book, describe three (3) additional arguments made in the book. Describe these points fully and provide a brief synopsis of the evidence for these arguments. These should be prominent points that either you did not know before reading the book OR that you think any  student would benefit from knowing.

          a. Which of these points do you find the most persuasive and why?

     3. How does this book apply to the study of dying, death and bereavement? In other words, how could someone actually use the information provided in the book?

     4. Overall, was the book effective? Would you recommend it to other students? Why or why not?

It must be crystal clear that you have read this book. If it becomes clear that you have not read it, or that you are just reading parts online, you will not receive credit.

Other Instructions:

1. You may not plagiarize in any way on this assignment. All work must be yours and yours alone. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE ANYTHING! You may not use quotes from any source, whether accurately cited or not. Everything should be in your own words to reflect your own understanding of the material you have read. Plagiarism and/or use of direct quotes (whether appropriately cited or not) will result in failure on the assignment and possibly in the class.

2. All information that you present that is not the product of your own original thought must be appropriately cited in APA style in a reference page.

3. The assignment should be presented in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins.