The New York Times bestselling author of Complications examines, in riveting accounts of medical failure and triumph, how success...
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May 20, 2007
David Singerman
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Not nearly as good as his first, in a number of ways.
What made Complications so exhilarating was that we were learning about being a doctor just as Gawande was learning about being a doctor. Literally: he wrote most of those essays while still a resident. The humility this brought to Gawande's essays makes all the difference. We were forced to consider the ethical implications of a healthcare system that has to deploy inexperienced doctors so that they can be trained and become bett More...
What made Complications so exhilarating was that we were learning about being a doctor just as Gawande was learning about being a doctor. Literally: he wrote most of those essays while still a resident. The humility this brought to Gawande's essays makes all the difference. We were forced to consider the ethical implications of a healthcare system that has to deploy inexperienced doctors so that they can be trained and become bett More...
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Nov 07, 2008
Robert
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"Better" collects surgeon Atul Gawande's recent essays on medicine in three categories--Diligence, Doing Right, and Ingenuity. Each essay, on topics as diverse as washing hands to minimize infections in hospitals and doctors participating in executions, is a marvel of case study and comparative assessment, shifting back and forth between the particular and the general.
The simplicity and directness of Gawande's prose mirrors his mode of thought: always looking for the basic More...
The simplicity and directness of Gawande's prose mirrors his mode of thought: always looking for the basic More...
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Aug 07, 2008
Rebecca
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This is a great book. From it's title, I thought it was about how doctors figure out how to make their patients better. But instead, it is about how the medical profession makes itself and its performance better. Gawande classifies the methods he sees in several ways. First, there is diligence, doing right, and ingenuity. He explores these ideals while discussing the campaign to get doctors and nurses to wash their hands in hospitals, improving the field of obstetrics, saving the lives of m
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Dec 16, 2009
Sanjay
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With 'Complications', Boston-based surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande joined the ranks of Doctors Who Can Write. (Speaking of which, whatever happened to Abraham Verghese?)
In his next work, 'Better', Gawande continues his Montaigne-like ruminations on his profession. The essays here are centred on the theme of improving medical performance, and the book is structured around the three ways to do this: diligence, doing right and ingenuity.
In prose that’s limpid and More...
In his next work, 'Better', Gawande continues his Montaigne-like ruminations on his profession. The essays here are centred on the theme of improving medical performance, and the book is structured around the three ways to do this: diligence, doing right and ingenuity.
In prose that’s limpid and More...
Dec 27, 2008
Ann
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A lot of improvements in healthcare can be attributed to tweaking processes, procedures, and organizations. Gawande addresses simple things like how to get hospital employees to wash their hands properly, and more global issues like the eradication of certain infectious diseases. Why are some cystic fibrosis centers so much more successful than others? How do we all become "better" at what we do? Ingenuity, education, and teamwork are all factors. Really interesting stuff.
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Dec 14, 2008
Gail
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If I had to pick just one of Gawande's books to read, it would be Complications. But this is still a great collection of stories on fascinating fields of and issues related to medicine.
What I admire so much about Gawande is his ability to wrap his analytical mind so effortlessly around storytelling. His writing is conversational, straightforward and thoughtful. Medicine isn't a topic that would necessarily appeal to me, but with Gawande at the helm, it's fascinating.
In th More...
What I admire so much about Gawande is his ability to wrap his analytical mind so effortlessly around storytelling. His writing is conversational, straightforward and thoughtful. Medicine isn't a topic that would necessarily appeal to me, but with Gawande at the helm, it's fascinating.
In th More...
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Nov 12, 2008
Patricia
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Atul Gwande's Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance is a collection of essays that probe skillfully and poignantly into the depths of medical ethics and the performance of doctors. He is a fine researcher and an astute observer who carefully delineates many facets of each issue that he explores, be it washing hands, malpractice concerns, or the Apgar score.
As a non-fiction writer, I was acutely aware of how adept Gawande is at using narrative to illustrate and discuss complex mora More...
As a non-fiction writer, I was acutely aware of how adept Gawande is at using narrative to illustrate and discuss complex mora More...
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Jun 06, 2008
Raghu
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This book by Dr.Atul Gawande is about ' performance' - about what it takes to grow from 'good' to better or great. Being a surgeon, the incidents relate to the practice of medicine. It is a fascinating and compassionate book and takes a very balanced view as he discusses diverse issues such as the ethics of doctors in administering lethal injections on people in death row, on the question of doctors being sued for making mistakes in doing a proper diagnosis on a patient which lead to life long n
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Jan 14, 2008
Christy
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I read a couple intriguing reviews of this book, and then I realized that I have been reading Gawande's pieces in The New Yorker for some time, which made me more intrigued. What finally tipped the scales was that one of our favorite bookstores was having a going-out-of-business sale and they had this book in stock. (I'll miss you, Liberty Books!)
Gawande is very skilled at writing for the layperson and putting an interesting face on medicine. In another person's hands, most of the More...
Gawande is very skilled at writing for the layperson and putting an interesting face on medicine. In another person's hands, most of the More...
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Jan 06, 2008
Amy
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Complications by Atul Gawande made my top ten list last year, and I've had my eye on this book for awhile now. Since it is still only available in hardback I'd resigned myself to waiting until the paperback version came out, but I found it at the public library right before I left for the break and thought it might make a good airplane read.
I think Complications is still my favorite of the two, but I still thought Better was very interesting. It is a little like a collection of essa More...
I think Complications is still my favorite of the two, but I still thought Better was very interesting. It is a little like a collection of essa More...
Oct 12, 2007
Cassie
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I really like Gawande's writing style, and for the most part feel like he gives a very rational, nuanced look at medical care in the US. The only exception to this is the essay "The Score." Although his main point in this essay, that a concrete, replicable measurement of baby health led to great improvements in infant mortality in the US, is well-taken, his description of the history of obstetric care and the near inevitability of an increasing c-section rate in the US is shockingly u
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Dec 17, 2009
Cecelia
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I loved Atul Gawande's first book, Complications, so I was excited to get my hands on this one. I thought it was good, not great, but still makes some very thought-provoking arguments. It's written for the general public (he thoroughly explains all the medical details) but I think it would be of most interest to those with a vested interest in health care. The malpractice chapter was scary (at least for me) and the capital punishment chapter was a little confusing (not Gawande's writing, just
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Sep 30, 2010
Jason
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This book is far less engaging than his first, and espouses a mildly distasteful and shockingly simplistic message about doing better in the medical profession. Since David's review of this book describes my sentiments well, I won't rehash all of his comments. Don't look for a enlightened analysis in Gawande's small-minded views here. In each chapter, Gawande examines the complexities of the topic and then tops it off with a conclusion that ignores all the subtleties of the issues at hand.
If More...
If More...
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Dec 08, 2008
Jan
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If Atul Gawande were a cobbler, he'd be writing for the New Yorker about how to make a better shoe. That's because Gawande is a storyteller and a craftsman. His essays appear deceptively simple and ingenuous, but it takes a great deal of art and craft to make them that way. No matter how earnest and idealistic a physician he may seem, he is actually a writer's writer.
That said, as a physician who left the profession, I am buoyed and reassured by Gawande's insights and exhortations. H More...
That said, as a physician who left the profession, I am buoyed and reassured by Gawande's insights and exhortations. H More...
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Mar 27, 2009
Brian
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An outstanding examination of medical malpractice, doctor compensation, and a defense of C-sections.
Dr. Atul Gawande is a 2nd generation doctor, son of a urologist. I decided to read this book after watching two excellent presentations at NIH, the Art of Failure, and the Science of Failure, where he discusses the errors doctors can make in the rush of healing.
The book doesn't focus solely on those issues, but looks at the whole of the healthcare system and how it might be More...
Dr. Atul Gawande is a 2nd generation doctor, son of a urologist. I decided to read this book after watching two excellent presentations at NIH, the Art of Failure, and the Science of Failure, where he discusses the errors doctors can make in the rush of healing.
The book doesn't focus solely on those issues, but looks at the whole of the healthcare system and how it might be More...
Feb 21, 2009
Brigitte
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The point of this book, as the title indicates, is to detail how to make the medical profession better, how to save more lives. Dr. Gawande makes a convensing argument that it is not research science that will accomplish this, but more diligent care of the mundane (but necessary) variety. He makes this point best when he talks of his experiences with the Indian health care system. It is easy for them to get expensive, cutting-edge equipment, yet they don't have enough basic supplies like scap
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Dec 22, 2011
Josh
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I went into reading Better with a healthy antipathy towards the medical profession, and while I retain that attitude I was impressed Gawande personally.
Much of the book is essentially a defense of what might be called "boring virtues." These are things like diligence, and persistence and Gawande argues that they are among the most important factors in succeeding as a doctor (or just about anything else). This is the hospital as McDonald's view - the difference is that inste More...
Much of the book is essentially a defense of what might be called "boring virtues." These are things like diligence, and persistence and Gawande argues that they are among the most important factors in succeeding as a doctor (or just about anything else). This is the hospital as McDonald's view - the difference is that inste More...
Nov 26, 2011
Shauna
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A good presentation of humans in the art of medicine. There are things that medicine must change and only through sharing these stories will society as a whole help us answer them. Favorite quotes:
“To do right: I puzzle over how we know when we should keep fighting for a sick patient and when we should stop.”
"But if mortality is low, the human cost remains high. The airman lost one leg above the knee, the other at the hip, his right hand, and part of his More...
“To do right: I puzzle over how we know when we should keep fighting for a sick patient and when we should stop.”
"But if mortality is low, the human cost remains high. The airman lost one leg above the knee, the other at the hip, his right hand, and part of his More...
Sep 02, 2011
Amy
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Better is the second book written by Atul Gawande, a general surgeon in Boston. His goal for this book was, by giving different scenarios, to explain how the medical system could be better. Gawande explains how the simple act of a doctor washing his hands can prevent the spread of disease within a hospital, how countries like India combat outbreaks of polio, and how doctors and nurses today are faced with the ethical question of participating in lethal injections for those on death row.
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Jul 08, 2011
A.
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This is a pretty good book if you like to read about medicine. He discusses many different situations he has been in as a surgeon. I am amazed at how much he has seen and done. The dilemnas he discusses are primarily how far to go to save a life. He talks about quality of a person's life. For example if you are in a war situation and lose limbs what will your quality of life actually be once your life is saved? Or if you are battling cancer is it worth a year of discomfort even if you die at
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May 19, 2011
Barbara
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This is essentially, a book on performance - what impacts it, what its consequences are, and options for improving it. Since the author is a surgeon, the examples given are drawn from medicine, but the messages are loud and clear for everyone. The first section is devoted to diligence and the difference that attention to detail can make in halting the spread of infection, containing the threatened resurgence of a nearly eradicated disease, or improving the survival chances for military personn
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Mar 18, 2011
Giancarlo
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I had previously read Atul Gawandes first book, "Complications", and I must say that "Better" was at least its equal, if not superior. The two books have slightly different focuses. Complications is more about the "gray" areas of medicine, fields and procedures where things sometimes go mysteriously wrong and doctors are forced to improvise. "Better" feels like an obvious sequel, because Gawande seems intent on making some of the errors he talked about in
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Mar 11, 2011
Katie
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Another fascinating read from this doctor-slash-author. This book focused on ways to improve medical performance, using concepts such as keeping and sharing statistics on performance data, and better ways of evaluating tricky topics like how hard to try to save someone's life (even if they are severely suffering). He mentioned something which seems so simple today--the Apgar test, of newborn's health--which you can't believe somebody didn't come up with earlier, but they didn't. Such a simple r
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Feb 28, 2011
Drew
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While it is focused around medicine and probably written with a physician in mind, I found it to be accessible and one of the best books I have read. Dr. Gawande hits on a number of issues that are becoming more relevant especially here in the US. The title of the book articulates arguably the greatest challenge that most humans face, how to become better. More people today worry less about merely surviving than at any time in our history. As countries have overcome the diseases and afflictions
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Feb 03, 2011
Leigh
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First of all, if you have any major medical procedures coming up, you might want to forego this one; it might be a little scary. Otherwise, unless you're squeamish about gaping wound, execution, tumors the size of baseball caps, incisions through the rectus adbdominus muscle, or all the things that can and do go wrong in the medical professions--I'd say go for it. Gawanda has an easy-going, open style that makes this book a pleasure to read. He's good at melding disparate ideas into convincin
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Jan 30, 2011
dtjunkie
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This book definitely lived up to my expectations. It's around 250 pages and I picked it up around 7 today and here I am writing my review already. It is a page turner. Gawande's writing is crisp, clear, and very thought provoking. The question he poses is simple, How can we (referring to the medical industry) be better? The solution for him is through diligence, doing the right thing, and ingenuity. The book is divided into 3 sections that discuss various case studies of how those 3 traits (or l
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Oct 11, 2010
Ruth
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I liked Complications better, maybe because it was more personal, or maybe just because it blew my mind a little, being the first time I'd learned about some of these things. This one was OK, but not quite as interesting. I think my favorite chapter was the one about handwashing and how doctors don't do it enough and how fixing that simple problem could make a big difference in how many people get more sick at the hospital! (Maybe favorite is not the best word to use here b/c it was a little
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Sep 29, 2010
Kirsti
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Atul Gawande is a surgeon and Harvard professor who writes for The New Yorker in his spare time. And yet he seems like a really humble guy.
Gawande points out that we overvalue dramatic discoveries and undervalue everyday diligence. Of course a new treatment can save lives. But making sure that doctors and nurses wash their hands as often as they should saves many more lives--and costs very little.
Somehow Gawande makes hand-washing interesting to read about. But to me the More...
Gawande points out that we overvalue dramatic discoveries and undervalue everyday diligence. Of course a new treatment can save lives. But making sure that doctors and nurses wash their hands as often as they should saves many more lives--and costs very little.
Somehow Gawande makes hand-washing interesting to read about. But to me the More...
Aug 02, 2010
Neil
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Gawande comes off very appealingly in his books: he seems evidently brilliant but very humble and insatiably curious. His style is somewhat Gladwellian, though Gawande employs his anecdotes in support of three rather self-evident virtues: diligence, doing right and ingenuity. The first and third need no case made for them; though the back cover has a blurb from Gladwell about the supposedly unexpected universality of the book ("a series of stories set inside the four walls of a hospital th
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Mar 11, 2010
Jillian
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"What is troubling is not just being average but settling for it. Everyone knows that averageness is, for most of us, our fate. And in certain matters--looks, money, tennis--we would do well to accept this. But in your surgeon, your child's pediatrician, your police department, your local high school? When the stakes are our lives and the lives of our children, we want no one to settle for average" (Atul Gawande in Better).
This book is about why some doctors fall into that More...
This book is about why some doctors fall into that More...
