Related category
Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
In How We Die, surgeon and medical educator Sherwin B. Nuland examines what happens to the human body during common forms of death. Moving through heart disease, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, violence, accidents, suicide, AIDS, and cancer, he combines physiological explanation with clinical observation and personal stories. His purpose is not to offer reassurance through euphemism, but to replace frightening uncertainty with a clearer understanding of dying as a biological process. The book also challenges idealized images of a peaceful, fully controlled death. Nuland argues that medicine’s power to prolong life can become harmful when treatment continues without a realistic appraisal of its burdens and prospects. The result is both an anatomy of bodily decline and a reflection on hope, dignity, physician responsibility, and the difficult choices faced by patients and families near the end of life.
View book
Related category
How to Get Things Right
Modern professionals possess extraordinary knowledge, yet serious mistakes persist because knowledge must be applied amid expanding complexity, time pressure, specialization, and imperfect communication. In The Checklist Manifesto, surgeon and writer Atul Gawande argues that well-designed checklists can make demanding work more reliable without replacing judgment or expertise. Drawing on medicine, aviation, construction, disaster response, and investment, he examines how brief prompts help teams remember essential steps, exchange critical information, and prepare for predictable trouble. The book gives particular attention to hospital infections and the development and testing of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist. Its larger argument concerns professional culture: experts often resist simple procedural aids because they appear to diminish autonomy, but disciplined coordination can be as important as individual brilliance. Gawande presents the checklist not as a u…
View book
