Atul Gawande is the author of four bestselling books: Complications, a finalist for the National Book Award; Better; The Checklist Manifesto; and Being Mortal. He is also a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, a MacArthur Fellowship, and two National Magazine Awards. In his work in public health, he is Founder and Chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. He is also chair of Haven, where he was CEO from 2018-2020. He and his wife have three children and live in Newton, Massachusetts.
"Better is a masterpiece, a series of stories set inside the four
walls of a hospital that end up telling us something unforgettable
about the world outside." --Malcolm Gladwell, author of Talking to
Strangers "Atul Gawande's insightful book illuminates the
challenging choices members of the profession face every day."
--Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Remarkably honest and
human accounts . . . describing professional moments of fear,
guilt, embarrassment, and humor . . . Rich in fascinating detail."
--The Economist "It's hard to think of a writer working today who
makes such good use of man's quest to avoid pain and death. Atul
Gawande is not only adding to the small shelf of books by doctors
that every layman should read. He's using medicine to help anyone
who hopes to do anything better." --Michael Lewis, author of The
Blind Side "Gawande . . . manages to capture medicine in all of its
complex and chaotic glory, and to put it, still squirming with
life, down on the page. . . . With this book Gawande inspires all
of us, doctor or not, to be better." --Pauline W. Chen, The New
York Times Book Review "Gawande is unassuming in every way, and yet
his prose is infused with steadfast determination and hope. If
society is the patient here, I can't think of a better guy to have
our back." --Gail Caldwell, The Boston Globe "This is a book about
failure: how it happens, how we learn from it, how we can do
better. Although its focus is medicine, its message is for
everybody. . . . It has already been described as a modern
masterpiece--and so it is." --Jeremy Lawrence, The Independent
(UK)
"Better is a mesmerizing book with fascinations on every page, told
with mastery, insight, compassion, and humility by a surgeon who
doesn't flinch from taboo subjects or self-examination. . . . On
every page, one meets a candid and thoughtful man, who pays close
attention, and who somehow manages to find the right balance
between intimacy and respectfulness, in a world that can be
inhospitable to both." --Diane Ackerman, author of An Alchemy of
Mind "I found I had been gripping the book so hard that my fingers
hurt. . . . It calls to mind one of the great classics of medical
literature, Mikhail Bulgakov's A Country Doctor's Notebook. Few
modern authors could stand that comparison, but Gawande can."
--John Carey, The Sunday Times (UK)
Gawande, a Harvard-trained endocrine surgeon, contributor to The New Yorker, best-selling author (Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science), and 2006 MacArthur fellow, examines the nature of how success and excellence are achieved in medicine and how diligence, doing right, and ingenuity can combine to do better-in not only medicine but also all other human endeavors. In a narrative style reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, Sherwin B. Nuland, and Abraham Verghese, Gawande candidly weaves a tapestry of essays on topics as varied as hospital hand washing, polio in India, surgical tents in the Iraq war, physicians' salaries, malpractice insurance, and doctors' roles in lethal injections. The essays are united, as they highlight opportunities for improvement within the medical community, which serves as a successful framework for Gawande's study of a profession predicated on betterment. These revealing, humanistic essays are highly recommended for all libraries. Gawande's varied accomplishments have been publicized, and this book is certain to be a best seller [For a Q&A with Gawande, see LJ 3/15/07.-Ed.]-James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Better is a masterpiece, a series of stories set inside the four
walls of a hospital that end up telling us something unforgettable
about the world outside." --Malcolm Gladwell, author of Talking
to Strangers "Atul Gawande's insightful book illuminates the
challenging choices members of the profession face every day."
--Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Remarkably
honest and human accounts . . . describing professional moments of
fear, guilt, embarrassment, and humor . . . Rich in fascinating
detail." --The Economist "It's hard to think of a writer
working today who makes such good use of man's quest to avoid pain
and death. Atul Gawande is not only adding to the small shelf of
books by doctors that every layman should read. He's using medicine
to help anyone who hopes to do anything better." --Michael Lewis,
author of The Blind Side "Gawande . . . manages to capture
medicine in all of its complex and chaotic glory, and to put it,
still squirming with life, down on the page. . . . With this book
Gawande inspires all of us, doctor or not, to be better." --Pauline
W. Chen, The New York Times Book Review "Gawande is
unassuming in every way, and yet his prose is infused with
steadfast determination and hope. If society is the patient here, I
can't think of a better guy to have our back." --Gail Caldwell,
The Boston Globe "This is a book about failure: how it
happens, how we learn from it, how we can do better. Although its
focus is medicine, its message is for everybody. . . . It has
already been described as a modern masterpiece--and so it is."
--Jeremy Lawrence, The Independent (UK)
"Better is a mesmerizing book with fascinations on every
page, told with mastery, insight, compassion, and humility by a
surgeon who doesn't flinch from taboo subjects or self-examination.
. . . On every page, one meets a candid and thoughtful man, who
pays close attention, and who somehow manages to find the right
balance between intimacy and respectfulness, in a world that can be
inhospitable to both." --Diane Ackerman, author of An Alchemy of
Mind "I found I had been gripping the book so hard that my
fingers hurt. . . . It calls to mind one of the great classics of
medical literature, Mikhail Bulgakov's A Country Doctor's
Notebook. Few modern authors could stand that comparison, but
Gawande can." --John Carey, The Sunday Times (UK)
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