One of the world's most distinguished doctors, he is a staff writer on the New Yorker, advised President Clinton on health policies, teaches surgery at Harvard Medical School and practises it in Boston. He has lectured in the UK and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.
I found I had been gripping the book so hard that my fingers hurt ... it calls to mind one of the great classics of medical literature, Mikhail Bulgakov's A Country Doctor's Notebook. Few modern authors can stand that comparison, but Gawande can. Sunday Times A fascinating study. Irish Tatler This wise and often profound book should be an inspiration to doctors all over the world Sunday Times His book is riveting: packed with insights, its luminous prose lifting effortlessly off the page ... It is essential reading for doctors and should be handed out with the antibiotics to all users of the NHS. It has already been described as a modern masterpiece - and so it is. Independent It seems unfair that a surgeon should be able to write so beautifully ... Better is perfect bedside reading - although it might keep you awake - for doctors as well as patients ... All will learn something of value from this infinitely wise and humane surgeon Daily Mail