He's the guy who writes the articles about surgery and death and whether doctors are good for you for the New Yorker. He's a surgeon at a hospital in Boston, an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, a MacArthur "genius," a writer of books (Complications and the just-published Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance), and a staff writer at the best magazine in America. I want him to cut me open. (Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 386-4636. 7 pm, free.)