BookBrowse Reviews Better: Gawande’s investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor

It was inevitable that Better and How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman would be widely compared by reviewers when they published in hardcover just weeks apart last year. While both share a similar premise, that the performance of physicians is less than perfect and can be improved by close scrutiny, the scope of Better is wider, from a medical, geographical and ethical point of view which, in this reader's opinion, makes it the more interesting book.

Following on from his 2002 collection of essays, Complications, Gawande's latest book consists of 12 essays, some original and some previously published, in which he whisks the reader around the world from medical facilities on the cutting edge of science to doctors performing miracles with the barest of supplies. Five of...