Reading to Write
Most writers recognize the value of reading extensively as a means of honing one’s writing skill. I find that I read with two parts of my brain working simultaneously. One part is enjoying and/or learning from the piece I am reading while another part of my brain is studying style, structure, and language.
These processes were heavily at work when I read Atul Gwande’sBetter: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. Gawande has written a collection of essays that probe skillfully and poignantly into the depths of medical ethics and the performance of doctors. He is a fine researcher and an astute observer who carefully delineates many facets of each issue that he explores, be it washing hands, malpractice concerns, or the Apgar score.
As a non-fiction writer, I was acutely aware of how adept Gawande is at using narrative to illustrate and discuss complex moral and ethical issues. He does not avoid considering controversial notions such as what happens to the soldiers who have been saved from grave injury on the battlefield and come home limbless and with horribly scared faces? Or why hospitals avoid publicizing the results of their effectiveness in treating certain conditions? Gawande’s work is a marvel to read.
At the end of his book, he makes five suggestions about how doctors might make a worthy difference. All of these suggestions make sense for anyone wanting to make a difference. I’m only going to include one in this post with the hope that you’ll get his book and read the others for yourself.
However, one of Gwande’s suggestions hits close to home, so I’m going to quote him. He says, “write something. . . it makes no difference if you write five paragraphs for a blog, a paper for a professional journal, or a poem for a reading group. Just write.”
To this suggestion, I add: Just read!
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