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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
a decent book that portrays the humanness and uncertainty of medicine/surgery in contrast to the belief sets, confidence, and expectations that we as a society have held to these fields and their players
Doctors are human and as humans, they’re imperfect. Many years worth of training (and bigger paychecks than many of us can imagine) doesn’t change that. I loved how this book talked about the imperfections of medicine - something that a lot of patients are blind to. Doctors are just like us.
So far, the best book of the year I read. Despite this being released in 2002 and the inevitable changes to the world of medicine that have occurred since then, this author can tell a story about a patient that is still relatable. I felt like I was in the room with him. fabulous !
There's not much that I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. I bought it as a gift for my husband, as he's entering the medical profession and is very interested in surgery. He really liked it, and wanted me to read it.
I'm not as much in the medical profession, and surgery is not a particular interest of mine, but I still really enjoyed this. I thought it was really engaging, a nice mix of anecdote and introspection. I liked the way he would use a story to introduce a topic and then branch into this own thoughts and general behind-the-scenes practices. It is a little dated, as he talks about some things as being new which aren't really, and doesn't talk about some other medical topics that would be very pertinent to the present day. Still, I found most of his thoughts to be insightful, and his anecdotes to be amusing.
It does slow down toward the middle of the book, which I think was a consequence of the lack of structure. Each chapter is episodic and deals with a different topic, and I think that makes it hard to maintain interest at times. I don't really know how he could have connected his topics better, though, without being less broad than desired, so I guess it's a necessary thing. Thankfully, the last part picked right back up, and I ended up reading this quite quickly for a nonfiction offering.
I'm not as much in the medical profession, and surgery is not a particular interest of mine, but I still really enjoyed this. I thought it was really engaging, a nice mix of anecdote and introspection. I liked the way he would use a story to introduce a topic and then branch into this own thoughts and general behind-the-scenes practices. It is a little dated, as he talks about some things as being new which aren't really, and doesn't talk about some other medical topics that would be very pertinent to the present day. Still, I found most of his thoughts to be insightful, and his anecdotes to be amusing.
It does slow down toward the middle of the book, which I think was a consequence of the lack of structure. Each chapter is episodic and deals with a different topic, and I think that makes it hard to maintain interest at times. I don't really know how he could have connected his topics better, though, without being less broad than desired, so I guess it's a necessary thing. Thankfully, the last part picked right back up, and I ended up reading this quite quickly for a nonfiction offering.
It only took me a month to read this because I kept having to go to work and read 4-6 novels a week for class. Rude. Anyway, this is absolutely awesome and wonderfully written and so interesting. Win.
I'm a big fan of Gawande's writing for The New Yorker, as he writes succinctly and gives you the background in medicine you need to understand what he's talking about, plus, he takes a really interesting insider's view of medicine from both a patient's and a doctor's perspective, including when mistakes happen. This book is really a more fleshed out version of many of his New Yorker articles, and I really think it makes you think about medicine slightly differently when you're done reading it.
starting reading in january and picked it back up a few days ago (so it quite literally took me the whole year to read) but damn atul you are one cool dude
emotional
informative
fast-paced
As someone who knows very little about surgery I was expecting this book to be hard to read. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to digest. Medical terms were well explained, and generally the writing style was easy, yet factual and full of interesting anecdotes and commentary about a variety of topics.
This book will be an interesting read for anyone interested in medicine, surgery or fans of Gawande.
This book will be an interesting read for anyone interested in medicine, surgery or fans of Gawande.