Tag: biography

Don’t think I ever spent a minute of any day wondering why I did this work, or whether it was worth it. The call to protect life—and not merely life but another’s identity; it is perhaps not too much to say another’s soul—was obvious in its sacredness. Before operating on a patient’s brain, I realized, I must first understand his mind: his identity, his values, what makes his life worth living, and what devastation makes it reasonable to let that life end. The cost of my dedication to succeed was high, and the ineluctable failures brought me nearly unbearable guilt. Those burdens are what make medicine holy and wholly impossible: in taking up another’s cross, one must sometimes get crushed by the weight.

This is the autobiographical story of an incredibly gifted person, Paul Kalanithi, written while he was dying of cancer, only in his thirties.

The author describes his life and morals, from childhood, to medical school, to his English degree at Cambridge, to operations as neurosurgeon and, finally, fighting cancer in his last weeks.

Paul Kalanithi was a truly extraordinary human being, valedictorian in high school, then Standford, Cambridge and the Yale School of Medicine. A neurosurgeon with great writing skills, dedicated to a have meaningful life. Paul finds out he has cancer and despite some minor improvements, he succumbs to the illness. Cancer took him in less than two years.

However, before he died, he wrote this extraordinary book, talking about his life and eventual death, about time and meaningful things, about his patients and his family.

His writing is so fluid, words are well chosen, vocabulary is vast and he grasps such a deep understanding of things. The readers finds himself moved with emotion at every page.

It is an honour, a source of inspiration and a pleasure to read about humans pushing the boundaries of what can be done, to show true skillfulness and quality, and, above all, great strength of character and bravery.

The book is the Goodreads choice winner of 2016. I could not recommend it enough.

Whenever I finished filming a movie, I felt my job was only half done. Every film had to be nurtured in the marketplace. You can have the greatest movie in the world, but if you don’t get it out there, if people don’t know about it, you have nothing.

This is the autobiography of Arnold Schwarzenegger, starting with his childhood in Austria, his first bodybuilding contests, going to the United States, becoming best bodybuilder, then becoming actor, one of the best paid in Hollywood, then businessman, owing city blocks and airplanes, then governor of California. An impressive story by all accounts.

By what Arnold does best is being inspirational, with many, many good quotes in the book. Some readers might know his speech, the 6 rules for success.

1. Trust yourself

2. Break some rules (not the law)

3. Don’t be afraid to fail

4. Ignore the naysayers

5. Work like hell

6. Give something back

Here is an inspirational video, the original speech and the transcript of the speech.

What is impressive about him is the tenacity, the discipline, the ambition and the cold calculations done to succeed. Arnold went well beyond what was necessary to win.

For example, he went to public bodybuilding demonstrations, in parks and prisons, growing the field. Of course, he gained the titles, he was the one growing the bodybuilding business, bringing money and fame for all involved, including referees and competitors. For movies, I quoted him, saying that making the movie is only half the job, the other job being promoting it. Being Governor of California was not a fluke, Arnold going to the Republic Party conferences years ahead his bid to be elected.

He started his first business when he was still competing as bodybuilder, renting apartments. He gradually expanded his real estate, earning millions from his business.

He really left no stone unturned when fighting for a goal he set for himself. His great breakthrough was the acting career and he talks most about coming to the United States and trying to succeed. Bodybuilding was not enough for this man.

He read books, took English classes, business classes, acting classes, everything in his power to become an actor. And like Sylvester Stallone, he never accepted anything less than the main role. He believed in his star and pulled others to do the same.

Arnold was a social butterfly, knowing all the main Hollywood starts BEFORE his first movie. He names dozens of famous people as friends, so his social reach must have been exceptional.

Of course, his book, like any autobiography, shows only his best part, leaving aside failures. The first part of the book talks about his childhood, forming years, coming to America and his first years. The second part is as governor of California and it is mostly on politics, unattractive for some readers.

Overall, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a man of contrasts: he has high discipline for himself, but he cannot be faithful to his wife; he is a bodybuilder, but smokes cigars; he is an environmentalist, but drives a Hummer.

His book is widely considered one of the best inspirational stories that one can read and I fully recommend it.

[Featured picture by Gage Skidmore]