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Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
by Atul Gawande
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Metropolitan Books (2007-04-03)
ISBN: 0805082115
EAN: 9780805082111
Dewey Decimal #: 616
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 288 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 2007-04-03
SKU: 1D-47090714007
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: This First Edition, First Printing copy is in good condition. There's a few pages to the back of copy with neat reference marks/underlining. No visible highlights, tears to text. Tight spine. Side foredge has a faded stain. Clean Hard Cover and Dust Jacket with light shelf/edge wear. Very interesting copy, worth having at an affordable price. (1D-47)
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The New York Times bestselling author of Complications examines, in riveting accounts of medical failure and triumph, how success is achieved in a complex and risk-filled profession The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.
Gawande's gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand washing. And as in all his writing, Gawande gives us an inside look at his own life as a practicing surgeon, offering a searingly honest firsthand account of work in a field where mistakes are both unavoidable and unthinkable.
At once unflinching and compassionate, Better is an exhilarating journey narrated by "arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around" (Salon). Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor.
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Customer Reviews
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A different take on questions that confront a doctor
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-08-21
I had the impression that a doctor is akin to a Sherlock Holmes fighting microbes. This book dispelled that notion. Through 13 well-chosen stories, Gawande highlights questions doctors are confronted with on a daily basis that are rarely seen by the outside world. The stories are split into three categories: (1) how doing simple things in a diligent manner solves many problems; (2) ethical questions that doctors need to face; and, (3) how being ingenious - and he takes pains to point out that it is different from being a genius - and doing the best one can, saves many lives. He comes across as an introspective person, willing to look inwards and recognize the flaws in his noble profession. Most importantly, many of these introspections lead to constructive suggestions and all of them are directed towards making healthcare better. Overall, a highly recommended read for anybody.
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Interesting book
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-08-03
Would recommend for anyone that likes books based on a medical theme. There is no great storytelling theme here, just a collection of stories that relate to one person's journey down the medical trail. Filled with interesting insights, my favorite part was the afterword that listed five steps to becoming what the author terms "a positive deviant."
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Gawande Strikes Again
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-07-21
If you've never read Atul Gawande's novels before, don't start here. First read his Complications, then come back to this book. If you watch Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Boston Medical, ER, or any of those hospital drama shows, Gawande's insight on hospitals, medical care, and health bureaucracy is for you. Don't take my word for it; go read.
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A humble and thought-provoking account of performance
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-06-08
Gawande has a skill at communicating his quest to become a better surgeon, in a way that is inspiring to those of us in non-surgical pursuits. The stories are as interesting as a good fiction, and the message is as relevant as a properly applied fable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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Becoming Better
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-03-11
This book is a compliation of authentic stories that elucidates the importance of enhancing or becoming better at what you do. The book is categorized into three parts. They are dilligence, doing it right and ingenuity. In each case, he lucidly supports his propositions with pragmatic examples that motivates the reader to apply those lessson's to his or a her own personal life. It amazes me how Dr. Gwande find time to write these books as a busy general surgeon. But when does find time and write these books, he surely hit it out of the pack. If you are a person wanting to enhancing your aptitude at work or any part of your life, this is the book to read.
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