No Cure for Being Human audiobook cover - (and Other Truths I Need to Hear)

No Cure for Being Human

(and Other Truths I Need to Hear)

Kate Bowler

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Categories:
Religion & SpiritualityBiography & MemoirMotivation & Inspiration

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No Cure for Being Human
The Illusion of Control+
The Myth of the Bucket List+
Work and Meaning+
The Reality of Pain+
Body and Self+
Collective Suffering+
Actionable Takeaways+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9
Why did Kate Bowler object so strongly to the prosperity gospel books sold in the hospital gift shop?
  • A. They promote the harmful idea that suffering and illness are the result of a person's lack of faith.
  • B. They offer alternative medical advice that directly contradicts modern chemotherapy treatments.
  • C. They are written by doctors who lack spiritual empathy for their terminally ill patients.
  • D. They encourage patients to accept death passively rather than fighting their disease.
Question 2 of 9
According to the book, what is the core flaw of the contemporary 'best life' and self-help movements?
  • A. They focus too heavily on spiritual enlightenment rather than practical financial success.
  • B. They operate on the false premise that humans can completely control and perfect their lives through sheer will and mindset.
  • C. They encourage people to abandon their families and responsibilities in pursuit of selfish desires.
  • D. They rely exclusively on outdated New Age philosophies from the 1970s that have been scientifically disproven.
Question 3 of 9
How did Kate initially respond to her stage four cancer diagnosis in relation to her time?
  • A. She immediately quit her academic career to travel the world and relax.
  • B. She fell into a state of apathy and refused to engage with her medical team.
  • C. She treated her illness and her remaining time as an opportunity for extreme productivity, trying to 'master' cancer.
  • D. She completely abandoned her previous reliance on schedules and lived entirely in the moment.
Question 4 of 9
Why does Kate critique the concept of a 'bucket list'?
  • A. Because it is far too expensive for the average person to complete.
  • B. Because it distracts terminally ill patients from spending time with their families.
  • C. Because it attempts to impose artificial order and quantification on the inherently disorderly experience of being alive.
  • D. Because it forces people to focus on their past regrets rather than their future possibilities.
Question 5 of 9
How does Kate ultimately reconcile her professional ambitions with her limited time?
  • A. She realizes that all academic work is meaningless and stops writing completely.
  • B. She decides to work even harder to achieve tenure so she can leave a financial legacy for her son.
  • C. She concludes that while blind careerism is pointless, pursuing a true calling gives life meaning and is a place where her loved ones can find her.
  • D. She shifts her career entirely away from the humanities to focus on medical research.
Question 6 of 9
What is Kate's perspective on the societal expectation that pain and suffering should be framed as a 'learning experience'?
  • A. She embraces it, believing her cancer journey made her a vastly superior person.
  • B. She resents it, refusing the pressure to perform positivity or act as an 'inspiration' just because she suffered.
  • C. She believes it is true for emotional trauma, but not for physical illness.
  • D. She thinks society actually dwells too much on the negative aspects of pain and should focus more on the lessons.
Question 7 of 9
How does Kate view her desire to look good and care for her aging, scarred body?
  • A. She feels immense guilt for caring about something so superficial when she should just be grateful to be alive.
  • B. She accepts that it is completely natural and not shallow to want to feel at home and good in your own body.
  • C. She decides to undergo multiple cosmetic surgeries to completely erase the physical memory of her cancer.
  • D. She completely detaches from her physical form, viewing her body solely as a temporary vessel.
Question 8 of 9
What parallel does Kate draw between her personal experience with cancer and the global COVID-19 pandemic?
  • A. Both demonstrated that the medical establishment is fundamentally untrustworthy.
  • B. Both proved that humanity is incapable of empathy during times of severe crisis.
  • C. Both highlighted the human urge to 'optimize' tragedy, eventually giving way to the realization that life is unpredictable and out of our control.
  • D. Both showed that strong religious faith is the only reliable way to guarantee physical survival.
Question 9 of 9
Why does the book advise against keeping traditional 'gratitude lists' or 'gratitude journals'?
  • A. Because gratitude is a toxic emotion that prevents people from striving for better circumstances.
  • B. Because writing down blessings often leads to feelings of guilt and unworthiness.
  • C. Because focusing on the present makes it impossible to plan effectively for the future.
  • D. Because attempting to quantify and distill complex, fleeting joys into bullet points diminishes their nuance and glory.

No Cure for Being Human — Full Chapter Overview

No Cure for Being Human Summary & Overview

No Cure for Being Human (2021) is the thoughtful chronicle of Kate Bowler’s attempts to make the most of her life after a brutal cancer diagnosis at only 35. Part memoir, part critique of the widespread obsession with positivity, No Cure for Being Human is a poignant dispatch from the fragile border between life and death.

Who Should Listen to No Cure for Being Human?

  • Those who’ve supporting a loved one through a serious diagnosis, or have received one themselves
  • Critics of the prosperity gospel and impeccably curated Instagram feeds
  • Those grappling with the idea that they, too, might be incurably human

About the Author: Kate Bowler

Kate Bowler is a professor of the history of Christianity at Duke University. She’s published scholarly works on evangelism and the self-help industry while also gaining a popular following for her life writing with the New York Times best-selling title Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her newest release No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear).

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