dr. marty makary a surgeon at johns hopkins hospital and professor of health policy. this week dr. atul gawande in his latest book "being mortal" medicine and what matters in the end. and at the award-winning author argues with all the medical science in the modern era it still deficient in the area of aging and dying. this program is about an hour. >> it's great to see you again.

dr. marty makary a surgeon at johns hopkins hospital and professor of health policy. this week dr. atul gawande in his latest book "being mortal" medicine and what matters in the end. and at the award-winning author argues with all the medical science in the modern era it still deficient in the area of aging and dying. this program is about an hour. >> it's great to see you again. congratulations on your book "being mortal." >> guest: thank you. >> host: the front cover i love it. it's got a piece of grass on the cover and it's got so much potential symbolism. i immediately thought of walt whitman and his book leaves of grass. he is a famous quote i bequeath myself to the dirt to grow in the graph that i love. what does a leaf of grass mean to you and why did you decide to put on the cover? >> guest: cover? >> guest: it's a biblical reference actually and it refers to the idea that on the one hand we all come from something fertile but also the idea that grass is temperate. in the process of writing this book "being mortal" which i think is terrific by the way, it's one of the few