This winter, publishers are on a health-and-medicine roll. No less than ten March, April, or May titles by my count have recently rocked and socked my very discerning reviewers. Among these winners are Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance (Metropolitan: Holt) by Atul Gawande, a Harvard-trained endocrine surgeon. So taken was reviewer James Swanton of the Harlem Hospital Library that I suggested he conduct an email interview with the author.

After taking a few days last week to formulate some top-shelf questions, James sent them to me, and I then forwarded to Gawande’s publicist, Claire McKinney, who passed them on to the author. There ensued a hushed waiting period, during which editor and reviewer hoped it would all be worth the trouble. (Sometimes authors of note are flat-out awful about being thoughtful or timely.)

I’m happy to announce that Gawande delivered the goods. His response to James’s question about technology and libraries made this cynical edi-hagstress light up at his generosity. For the full monty, don’t miss LJ 3/15/07—Gawande writes for The New Yorker, and his pedigree even comes across in our abbreviated format (see also our chats with D.S. Lliteras and Mirabai Starr, among other writers).

In the meantime, here are some other forthcoming hits in health and medicine that are being reviewed in the March 1 and March 15 issues:

• Sherwin B. Nuland’s The Art of Aging: A Doctor’s Prescription for Well-Being (Random)
• Kathy Kastan’s From the Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease (Da Capo Lifelong)
• Joyce Venis and Suzanne McCloskey’s Postpartum Depression Demystified (Marlowe & Co.)
• Sidney Wanzer and Joseph Glenmullen’s To Die Well: Your Right to Comfort, Calm, and Choice in the Last Days of Life (Da Capo Lifelong)
• Kathy Kaehler’s Fit and Sexy for Life (Broadway)
• Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morris’s From the Hips: A Comprehensive, Open-Minded, Uncensored, Totally Honest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Becoming a Parent (Three Rivers)
• Morton Meyers’s Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs (Arcade)
• Sanjay Gupta’s Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality To Help You Age Less Today (Warner Wellness)
• Nischala Joy Devi’s The Secret Power of Yoga (Three Rivers)