Kate Bowler’s latest memoir, No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear), intersects with Virtues & Vocations’ emphasis on moral purpose in and beyond one’s profession. This second book about Bowler’s life after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer at age 35 particularly engages with the ways her heightened sense of mortality and uncertainty affected her professional identity. As the book describes Bowler grappling with whether her historical research was still a worthwhile pursuit, readers are prodded to consider why we work and what good work looks like in our limited lives. The narrative is also particularly relevant to people working in medicine, giving a patient’s perspective that enhances the conversation around healthcare and medicine in service of flourishing.

While the book opens questions of purpose, it does so gently, through a well told story that is at turns deep and funny. This is a quick but thoughtful read.