How We Learn

How we learn is a theme that Gawande focuses on to demonstrate the journey of a surgical resident. Gawande dedicates much of the book to discussing how medicine is an imperfect science teeming with uncertainties. One way to reduce uncertainties is to reduce what is unknown through knowledge and learning. Although surgical residents have already gone through four years of medical school, their education is far from complete once they enter residency.

Gawande focuses on several ways in which knowledge is acquired. The most obvious way is through practice. After surgical residents witness a medical procedure, they are expected to do it themselves pretty soon thereafter. Gwande talks about how innately gifted surgeons do not really exist—just determined surgeons who know how to practice. Along with practice they accept another important part of learning—making mistakes. Gawande discusses not just human error, but...