The director of Fairview-University Children's Hospital's cystic fibrosis center for almost forty years has been none other than Warren Warwick, the pediatrician who had conducted the study of LeRoy Matthews's suspiciously high success rate. But it took a MacArthur 'genius' fellowship in 2006 for some of his surgical colleagues to see his writing as more than a hobby. It was a National Book Award finalist in 2002. He published his first book, Complications, on how doctors learn an imperfect and ever-changing craft, while he was still a resident. In the end, though, the tales Gawande tells are not about the medical system but the individuals who make it up not so much about science as small but essential acts of humanity.Ī staff writer for The New Yorker and a contributor to The New England Journal of Medicine, Gawande often picks up his pen between operations. One way to get to excellence, he says, is to measure performance along the way. The essays in this book are knit together by Gawande's view that 'good enough' is far short of where we should be - in medicine and in life. Each week we present leading authors of fiction and nonfiction as they read from and discuss their work.Ītul Gawande describes Better - in characteristic understatement - as 'just a book of medical stories.' What Gawande doesn't say is that his 'medical stories' are those of an accomplished surgeon and supremely insightful guide to the arcane world of medical practice. Book Tour is a new Web feature and podcast.

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