After reading the most recent book by Atul Gawande, a surgeon, as reported
here, I requested from the library his first two books.
In his first book,
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (2002), Gawande talks about fallability of doctors, who of course make human mistakes in their work. He next describes some anecdotal puzzling illnesses that he personally knows of. The last part of the book retells some cases he was personally involved in that had ambiguous symptoms, and doctors could easily take the wrong course of action.
In his second book,
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (2007), Gawande talks about how some doctors provide better care with their diligence and ingenuity. Near the end of the book, he describes how he is impressed with Indian surgeons who manage to treat impoverished patients with so little equipment, and who are able to perform many different operations that he would not dare to tackle.
In my younger days, I would not be too interested in books like these, but after seeing our parents through old age, illness and death, and myself at the age when maladies start to sneak up on you, and indeed having been through some major operations for a life-threatening disease, I appreciate these books on medicine subjects more. Gawande has many interesting stories to tell, and he knows how to write for laymen.
