Great history of the checklist as well as importance of and how to best utilize checklists. Don't look for a checklist to follow to implement them though, this is purely informational with a few guidelines laid out by an aircraft checklist specialist that one can use as guidance. Still, the stories were fascinating and the research gathered by Gawande very pertinent, thorough, and entertaining. ( )

The majority of the book is filled with detailed stories. While entertaining, the meat of checklist importance, utilization, and creation is limited. ( )

This subject matter seems like it would be dry, checklists were the bane of my existence as a child with a checklist happy mother. But the circumstances they are implemented in are fascinating and anxiety inducing, from the emergency medicine and the operating room to engineering skyscrapers and flying planes. I loved the medical chapters, and was especially glad that the central line kit with all necessary items was invented and being used when my daughter had a med port for a few years. I remember those kits well, and the fact that they are relatively recent in the scope of things is eye opening. Maybe I better make a checklist for cleaning the house now.... ( )

Interesting read

I got this book on a whim and then found it so fascinating. I was so surprised by a book about checklists and how revolutionary they are in life. I couldn’t believe how much they changed the safety of surgery and flight. I really enjoyed this book. ( )

Dr. Gawande's reputation proceeded him, meaning that much of the medical community had already read the NEJM article on the same topic, considered how it applied to subfields of medicine, personal practices, etc. and the reforms espoused had largely been adopted, at least by the American medical community by the time of publication.

Nonetheless, Dr. Gawande's journey to discover why checklists matter, the subtle ways in which they matter and the fields that have instituted them was an interesting, if slightly shallow read. ( )