Better

I'm a big fan of Atul Gawande's writing; he has a very readable manner, approaches difficult topics, and offers insights into those tough issues. His writing is clear and his arguments are solid. He's inspiring. His book Better addresses the problem of how to improve medicine, a field where mistakes cannot be tolerated and yet unforeseen complications crop up all the time. How do we reconcile these two conflicting aspects of medicine? "This is a book about performance in medicine [...] in medicine, as in any profession, we must grapple with systems, resources, circumstances, people - and our own shortcomings, as well. We face obstacles of seemingly unending variety. Yet somehow we must advance, we must refine, we must improve." He approaches this problem by looking at diligence, ethics, and ingenuity. By analyzing the washing of hands, eradication of polio, delivery of medicine in war, he shows how monumental changes in health care have happened. In any case, I really enjoyed this book. Unfortunately, a lot of the chapters are essays previously published in The New Yorker, so I had read a few of them. But if you're new to his writing, this is a good book to start with.

Image from npr.org, shown under fair use.