Better: A Surgeon's Notes On Performance [Paperback]

National Bestseller

The struggle to perform well is universal: each 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 may be on the line with any decision.

Atul Gawande, theNew York Timesbestselling author of Complications, examines, in riveting accounts of medical failure and triumph, how success is achieved in this complex and risk-filled profession. At once unflinching and compassionate,Betteris an exhilarating journey, narrated by arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around (Salon.com).

Betteris 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 Blink

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

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