Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

Gripping. Really recommend this one if you are interested case studies. Not too technical either.

Intriguing. Gawande covers aspects of complexity that make medicine so much more an art than a science, against doctors' self-image and certainly, against patient expectation.

In the end, the book is an interesting collection of essays, not slow enough to bore me and make me stop reading, but also not enough of a page turner to keep me fired up for more, except the prospect of reaching the end and moving on to another book. Go figure.

Key takeaways:

- I really enjoyed the chapter about hernias, and how computers tend to be better than doctors at diagnosing conditions. It's easy to think that my experience makes me better in most cases than a computer or algorithm could be, but that isn't the case. I expect this would be true outside of diagnosing disease, and should apply in other fields as well.
- The hernia chapter also discussed the success of a hospital that only repairs hernias. They are significantly more efficient and have a much higher success rate. Again, this could likely be extrapolated to other areas of life as well.