Books like Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
12 books with a reading profile close to Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande. Clear-cut; a moderate read.
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1
The Third Plate
by Dan Barber
practical, analytical
Chef Dan Barber argues that the current farm-to-table movement is insufficient because it forces the environment to produce specific, popular ingredients rather than eating what the soil requires to stay healthy.
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2
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
Also clear-cut · analytical, narrative
Maureen Callahan recounts the investigation into Israel Keyes, a predator who functioned outside the typical behavioral patterns identified by the FBI.
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3
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
Also clear-cut · analytical, narrative
Mary Roach examines the practical applications of human remains in scientific research and historical experimentation.
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4
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Also clear-cut · analytical, narrative
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue that the systematic subordination of women is the central moral challenge of the modern era.
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5
Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
by John Grisham
Also clear-cut · analytical, narrative
John Grisham and Jim McCloskey chronicle ten specific legal cases where the American justice system failed, leading to the imprisonment of innocent individuals.
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6
LONDON FALLING
analytical, narrative
Patrick Radden Keefe reconstructs the investigation into the unexplained death of a nineteen-year-old Londoner whose public identity masked a complex private existence.
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7
This Is Your Mind on Plants
analytical, narrative
Michael Pollan examines the human relationship with three distinct plant-derived psychoactive substances: opium, caffeine, and mescaline.
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8
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Also clear-cut · practical, analytical
In Michael Pollan’s analysis of the Western diet, he identifies the rise of nutritionism—the ideology that views food merely as a collection of nutrients rather than a whole substance.
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9
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ
Also clear-cut · practical, narrative
Giulia Enders examines the digestive system as a sophisticated sensory organ that influences neurological and immune health.
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10
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures
analytical, narrative
Malcolm Gladwell’s collection compiles his journalism from The New Yorker, focusing on how minor peculiarities in behavior or design dictate large-scale outcomes.
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11
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Also clear-cut · practical, narrative
Christopher McDougall begins with a simple question about his own chronic foot pain and ends up in Mexico’s Copper Canyons searching for the Tarahumara Indians.
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12
Seven Days in the Art World
analytical, narrative
Sarah Thornton’s narrative provides an ethnographic study of the contemporary art market during its mid-2000s peak.
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