Book Review: "The Checklist Manifesto"

"The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right" by Atul Gawande is a timeless and important book for anyone working in a complex and technical field. The book follows the introduction of simple checklists to various professions, such as pilots, engineers, doctors, and even stock brokers, and how these simple checklists have transformed their respective outcomes. Not only does the book highlight checklists, but my favorite theme is communication and teamwork surrounding the checklists. The checklists serve their basic intended purpose but also have subtle ancillary effects such as synchronizing teams around the objectives. The book includes a riveting amount of detail regarding medical technology and several of Dr.Gawande's surgeries, making it an exciting read. The content of the book is thrilling and captivating, as Atul vividly describes many harrowing flights and first-hand surgeries where lives hang in the balance, and details both success stories and unfortunate fatalities. I listened to the book on Audible in a single day for about 6hrs at ~$22. Overall I give the book 9 / 10 stars, for presenting such timeless, simple, and impactful knowledge in a captivating and verifiable way. I recommend the book to anyone who's job is highly technical or involves a large degree of complexity.

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Problem of Extreme Complexity
Chapter 2: The Checklist
Chapter 3: The End of the Master Builder
Chapter 4: The Idea
Chapter 5: The First Try
Chapter 6: The Checklist Factory
Chapter 7: The Test
Chapter 8: The Hero in the Age of Checklists
Chapter 9: The Save
Appendix: Example Checklists
Notes on Sources
Acknowledgements

This book is internationally renowned and has been reviewed all over The Internet, so feel to Google some other reviews as well. As some of the critics say, if your smart you can honestly pick up the lessons in only a few paragraphs, however I found the entire book to be captivating and a fun read. Not only that, I think these lessons are especially important to hackers, as I've found checklists all throughout my career. Be it vulnerability scanners, compliance checks, signature databases, methodologies, or even project management meetings, checklists and the theories espoused in this book can be found all throughout modern computer security / computer science. That said, I've found through my own career there are many smart hackers that reject checklists, saying their knowledge can't be distilled to such simple checks. Dr. Gawande covers this phenomenon in detail as one of the major obstacles to the introduction of checklists and shows how expertise is actually critical to making a succinct checklist possible. The communications themes throughout the book were possibly my favorite lessons. Atul repeatedly introduces a type of checklist that promotes meetings and communication among the professionals involved. Ultimately, it's an important book in the world of scientific and technical operations; I urge individuals to pick it up!