The international bestseller from the author of Being Mortal
In these gripping accounts of true cases, bestselling author Atul Gawande performs exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealised form, but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing and profoundly human.
This is a stunningly well-written account of the life of a surgeon: what it is like to cut into people's bodies and the terrifying - literally life and death - decisions that have to be made: operations that go wrong; of doctors who go to the bad; why autopsies are necessary; what it feels like to insert your knife into someone.
'Written as tautly as a thriller' Observer
Industry Reviews
I don't know if Atul Gawande was born to be a surgeon - I very much suspect so - but he was certainly born to write.This wise and exciting account of life as a surgical resident ... perfectly captures the wonder and fearful responsibility that come with cutting people open in the hope of making them whole again.
