I actually managed to read a couple of books recently, for the first time since 2006. Two major projects have gobbled up most of my spare time this year:
and
The latter will -- inshallah!-- be done if not exactly dusted by September.
The book I read on the plane last week was recommended by my colleague Javier Rojas (who has several of the little critters and still manages to read a book a week!). Complications takes the reader into the hearts and minds of surgeons in their everyday existence. Atul Gawande is a doctor and writer who questions our most basic assumptions about what doctors know and how they use it. This is a book about the fallibility of surgeons, and also about a healthcare system (and culture) that is often at odds with patients' best interests. It's not a new book (here's a review from when it first appeared, in 2002).
Told through real stories of familiar situations (pregnancy nausea, deep vein thrombosis) and extreme conditions (chronic flushing, necrotizing fasciitis), Complications makes for a gripping but sobering read. Gawande's has an amazing ability to write effortlessly and totally without pretension, tackling the difficult topic of doctor-patient relations in a way both can understand and learn from. The stories are human, riveting, sometimes tragic and sometimes uplifting, and all have implications worth thinking about. You won't interact with doctors the same way again.
As Max will probably not post this himself, I'm taking the liberty of doing so.
"Maximilian Bleyleben is promoted to Partner at Kennet Partners"
http://www.kennet.com/230707.html
Congratulations Max!
Posted by: Eileen Tanghal | July 23, 2007 at 12:46