Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande

Rating: 8 out of 10
Summary: More like a biography first: A rock n’ roll loving surgeon who writes for The New Yorker, Atul Gawande has a gift for describing both medical mishaps and awe-inspiring surgical techniques with authoritative ease. Gawande’s gift was recognized when his first collection of essays, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, was nominated for a 2002 National Book Award (from bn.com).

Complications is a “distinguished debut essay collection by a surgical resident and staff writer for the New Yorker” (from bn.com).

Commentary: I finished reading this on August 10th… about 3 weeks ago and never got around to writing the review, so my memories on it are a little hazy.

Suffice to say that it was a great and fascinating read. Some highlights:

-necrotizing fasciitis (or flesh-eating bacteria)
-pain experiments (female dancers, especially ballet dancers, have the highest pain tolerance)
-morbid obesity
-anxiety and burnout for doctors
-medical conventions (I thought this one particularly humorous)

Highly recommended.