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Amazon.co.uk Review
Amazon Exclusive: Malcolm Gladwell Reviews The Checklist Manifesto
Malcolm Gladwell was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2005. He is most recently the author of What the Dog Saw (a collection of his writing from The New Yorker) as well as the bestsellers Outliers, The Tipping Point, and Blink. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of The Checklist Manifesto:
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Malcolm Gladwell was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2005. He is most recently the author of What the Dog Saw (a collection of his writing from The New Yorker) as well as the bestsellers Outliers, The Tipping Point, and Blink. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of The Checklist Manifesto:
Over the past decade, through his writing in The New Yorker magazine and his books Complications and Better, Atul Gawande has made a name for himself as a writer of exquisitely crafted meditations on the problems and challenges of modern medicine. His latest book, The Checklist Manifesto, begins on familiar ground, with his experiences as a surgeon. But before long it becomes clear that he is really interested in a problem that afflicts virtually every aspect of the modern world--and that is how professionals deal with the increasing complexity of their responsibilities. It has been years since I read a book so powerful and so thought-provoking.
Gawande begins by making a distinction between errors of ignorance (mistakes we make because we don't know enough), and errors of ineptitude (mistakes we made because we don’t make proper use of what we know). Failure in the modern world, he writes, is really about the second of these errors, and he walks us through a series of examples from medicine showing how the routine tasks of surgeons have now become so incredibly complicated that mistakes of one kind or another are virtually inevitable: it's just too easy for an otherwise competent doctor to miss a step, or forget to ask a key question or, in the stress and pressure of the moment, to fail to plan properly for every eventuality. Gawande then visits with pilots and the people who build skyscrapers and comes back with a solution. Experts need checklists--literally--written guides that walk them through the key steps in any complex procedure. In the last section of the book, Gawande shows how his research team has taken this idea, developed a safe surgery checklist, and applied it around the world, with staggering success.
The danger, in a review as short as this, is that it makes Gawande’s book seem narrow in focus or prosaic in its conclusions. It is neither. Gawande is a gorgeous writer and storyteller, and the aims of this book are ambitious. Gawande thinks that the modern world requires us to revisit what we mean by expertise: that experts need help, and that progress depends on experts having the humility to concede that they need help. --Malcolm Gladwell
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"'It has been years since I read a book so powerful and so thought-provoking... Gawande is a gorgeous writer and storyteller, and the aims of this book are ambitious' - Malcolm Gladwell 'Riveting and thought-provoking' - David Aaronovitch, The Times 'A welcome book... packed with vivid writing, heart-stopping anecdotes and statistical surprises' - Financial Times"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right has come close on the heels of Umberto Eco's The Infinity of Lists. Both are about lists and both admit to the ability of lists to bring about order and control. Both books attracted me because I am a consummate checklist-maker. Despite my prejudicial preference for lists and reading about lists, it is a credit to the quality of Atul Gawande's writing that the book kept me absorbed for the 3 hours it took to read all 193 pages of it.
The author proposes "checklists" as a functional tool to deal with the limitations of human knowledge and the possibility of making mistakes in the face of complex problems. Using stories from construction management, airline piloting and disaster management, and surgery, he shows how checklists can be used to break down complex tasks into simpler steps, thus helping prevent expensive mistakes. The author delves further into two kinds of lists (Do-Confirm or Read-Do) using a story from how the airline manufacturing industry writes their "user manuals".
Early on, he points out that checklists are not some silver bullet, and that there is judgement involved. Some situations may benefit from checklists, while others may not need any. Later in the book, he also admits that to many, lists are protocols and embody rigidity. He then proceeds to illustrate why this needn't be so and to demonstrate the importance of team work and how checklists enable that discipline, especially in disasters.
I found Chapters 7 and 8 most fascinating. The stories told so far describe the complexity of the work/ task itself but these two chapters introduce another layer, that of institutional complexity.
Chapter 7 details the WHO sponsored study to examine if checklists made any difference to safety, infections, post-surgery deaths in 8 quite disparate hospitals around the world. The results, from using the checklist, regarding reduction in technical problems, complications, infections and deaths were encouraging, for all cultural settings and even allowing for the Hawthorne Effect.
In Chapter 8, much mainstream media coverage of Jan 2009's "Miracle on the Hudson River" is debunked while the author tells the story of the pilots Sullenberger and Stiles and their calm use of appropriate procedures, while their cabin crew prepared passengers for and then monitored safe evacuation, to strengthen his thesis. The other half of Chapter 8 particularly resonated with me because I work with investors and entrepreneurs. I was fascinated by the stories of the 3 investors who have incorporated checklists into their investment decisions, favouring dispassionate analysis over irrational exuberance, so to speak.
The title is deceptively simple for this is a profound book, written accessibly and clearly. It is a defence of rational, systems-thinking approach to solving complex problems, to creating team work and collegiality amongst narrow specialists while ensuring desirable outcomes, no matter what the setting. Managers, entrepreneurs, investors as well as professional project managers such as event planners would do well to read, ponder and practise the idea proposed by the book.
The author proposes "checklists" as a functional tool to deal with the limitations of human knowledge and the possibility of making mistakes in the face of complex problems. Using stories from construction management, airline piloting and disaster management, and surgery, he shows how checklists can be used to break down complex tasks into simpler steps, thus helping prevent expensive mistakes. The author delves further into two kinds of lists (Do-Confirm or Read-Do) using a story from how the airline manufacturing industry writes their "user manuals".
Early on, he points out that checklists are not some silver bullet, and that there is judgement involved. Some situations may benefit from checklists, while others may not need any. Later in the book, he also admits that to many, lists are protocols and embody rigidity. He then proceeds to illustrate why this needn't be so and to demonstrate the importance of team work and how checklists enable that discipline, especially in disasters.
I found Chapters 7 and 8 most fascinating. The stories told so far describe the complexity of the work/ task itself but these two chapters introduce another layer, that of institutional complexity.
Chapter 7 details the WHO sponsored study to examine if checklists made any difference to safety, infections, post-surgery deaths in 8 quite disparate hospitals around the world. The results, from using the checklist, regarding reduction in technical problems, complications, infections and deaths were encouraging, for all cultural settings and even allowing for the Hawthorne Effect.
In Chapter 8, much mainstream media coverage of Jan 2009's "Miracle on the Hudson River" is debunked while the author tells the story of the pilots Sullenberger and Stiles and their calm use of appropriate procedures, while their cabin crew prepared passengers for and then monitored safe evacuation, to strengthen his thesis. The other half of Chapter 8 particularly resonated with me because I work with investors and entrepreneurs. I was fascinated by the stories of the 3 investors who have incorporated checklists into their investment decisions, favouring dispassionate analysis over irrational exuberance, so to speak.
The title is deceptively simple for this is a profound book, written accessibly and clearly. It is a defence of rational, systems-thinking approach to solving complex problems, to creating team work and collegiality amongst narrow specialists while ensuring desirable outcomes, no matter what the setting. Managers, entrepreneurs, investors as well as professional project managers such as event planners would do well to read, ponder and practise the idea proposed by the book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book puts forward a very compelling case for the use of simple check lists to assist in healthcare. These check lists should not be the controlling factor but should act as an aid to helping improve the levels of care given. This is an idea which has been received quite well in the healthcare profession in the U.K. With checklists for bothe Pre and post operative procedures being part of Lord Darzi's recommendations.
I first came across this book after Atul Gawande appeared on the Daily Show with John Stewart, and the common sense arguments that he put forward for the use of checklists were very compelling. Their use in scenarios such as Pre-flight have been invaluable and saved counless lives, and not by being monotonous list that dumb down procedures but provide an aide memoir to a skilled individual which helps ensure no critical element of a procedure is overlooked.
I first came across this book after Atul Gawande appeared on the Daily Show with John Stewart, and the common sense arguments that he put forward for the use of checklists were very compelling. Their use in scenarios such as Pre-flight have been invaluable and saved counless lives, and not by being monotonous list that dumb down procedures but provide an aide memoir to a skilled individual which helps ensure no critical element of a procedure is overlooked.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
October 30th, 1935. It doesn't seem that special a date until you realise that the consequences of a plane crash that day which raised the comment "too much airplane for one man to fly" resulted in the creation of a pilot's checklist to ensure that all the correct elements of the plane were checked and set in accordance with safe flight.
And so what you may ask? Well a number of years later the acclaimed surgeon Atul Gawande used the checklist to reduce death, injury and hospital re-admittance by dramatic amounts as his book ably testifies. But it's not just the medical profession that have benefitted from the humble checklist. Atul found checklists developed, used and refined by restaurateurs (if you don't follow the recipe then things change over time), builders, business investors (the checklist helps them keep their head, and their money) and even rock bands (there's truth in the M&M story after all!).
Within his book, Atul describes example after example where the simple checklist saves lives, increases profits and maintains quality.
This is an exceptionally well-written book with simple messages that can be translated into all walks of life. Excellent!
And so what you may ask? Well a number of years later the acclaimed surgeon Atul Gawande used the checklist to reduce death, injury and hospital re-admittance by dramatic amounts as his book ably testifies. But it's not just the medical profession that have benefitted from the humble checklist. Atul found checklists developed, used and refined by restaurateurs (if you don't follow the recipe then things change over time), builders, business investors (the checklist helps them keep their head, and their money) and even rock bands (there's truth in the M&M story after all!).
Within his book, Atul describes example after example where the simple checklist saves lives, increases profits and maintains quality.
This is an exceptionally well-written book with simple messages that can be translated into all walks of life. Excellent!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Simple solutions are often the most effective
This book discusses how a simple productivity tool, I.e. the check list can substantially improve the output quality of a process as well as identifying problems during the... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Rainmaker
Thought provoking
No it's not your standard Health & Safety book but promotes serious though and discussion of safety matters. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Mr. M. Halliday
Very good management book
Atul Gawande has researched and adapted management control techniques from aviation and civil engineering to the field of surgery, and he promotes their use in all other fields in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by wanderkunstler
If you've already bought into checklists and aren't interested in...
If you're into medicine, you'll probably enjoy this.
If you've had any exposure to systems thinking or the use of checklists, or any professional experience in dealing... Read more
If you've had any exposure to systems thinking or the use of checklists, or any professional experience in dealing... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Bobgates
Nice read
Enjoyed this book. Really interesting to see how checklists apply to all sorts of things. Would have been nice a section on how to develop your own checklist
Published 6 months ago by Stemin
Insightful
A very insightful read, more than just a How to guide. A great deal of history of the humble Checklist and how it can be used in all walks of life. Read more
Published 9 months ago by David P
Better than sliced
The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right
Thought provoking and yet so simple and logical it is very hard to take a contrary view, the concept that Gawande via the W H... Read more
Thought provoking and yet so simple and logical it is very hard to take a contrary view, the concept that Gawande via the W H... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kerensky
Guaranteed to induce behavourial changes
I'm in medicine and reading this book had a substantial impact on various areas in my work.
Atul Gawande is an extremely gifted writer, able to present complex problems... Read more
Atul Gawande is an extremely gifted writer, able to present complex problems... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Martin Hojgaard
Insightful and inspirational book
Gawande is a fantastic writer and through his book he demonstrated his journey on how he researched, developed and introduced the World Health Organisation (WHO) surgical... Read more
Published 10 months ago by alixshett
Is this book worth reading? Check
Gawande in his passionate and well-ordered advocacy of the importance of the checklist does for that topic what in "Bounce" Matthew Syed has done in support of the need for... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. S. Miller
Listmania!
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