Good books

[TheBoneDoctah]

So I am planning on buying a book to read an hour a day to get me in the "reading" mood. I am bad at verbal, so I feel as though reading a good book will get me tracking better because I honestly never read. Does anyone have any recommendations on good reading material?

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[mehc012]

Do you like Fantasy? Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss, Green Rider, Kristen Britain, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Game of Thrones by GRR Martin, and so so many more
SciFi? Ender's Game, Enders game, Enders Game.
Dystopian? Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Games, etc.
Realistic fiction: Anything by John Green, My Sister's Keeper, etc.
Med-related: Cutting remarks (try reading Surgeonsblog for a sense of his style), things by Gawande, Blue Collar Blue Scrubs, etc.

It really all comes down to what YOU enjoy and what you want to get out of it.

Personally, I think Name of the Wind is a good start...it's long but well-written, with no boring bits. The character is awesome, the world is well built, and there is very little 'oh hey that magically worked out'. It's a fun read without being, necessarily, a simplistic one.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Do you like Fantasy? Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss, Green Rider, Kristen Britain, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Game of Thrones by GRR Martin, and so so many more
SciFi? Ender's Game, Enders game, Enders Game.
Dystopian? Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Games, etc.
Realistic fiction: Anything by John Green, My Sister's Keeper, etc.
Med-related: Cutting remarks (try reading Surgeonsblog for a sense of his style), things by Gawande, Blue Collar Blue Scrubs, etc.

It really all comes down to what YOU enjoy and what you want to get out of it.

Personally, I think Name of the Wind is a good start...it's long but well-written, with no boring bits. The character is awesome, the world is well built, and there is very little 'oh hey that magically worked out'. It's a fun read without being, necessarily, a simplistic one.

Thank you so much. Which one is most similar to the humanities passages on the Mcat verbal. I'm trying to get more familiar with that kind of writing.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Anyone?

 

[Rhino1000]

The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund Freud - I am reading it now for the same purpose. Although I don't agree with some of the literal interpretations of dreams that he lays out in that book - I still think that his ideas of 1) the dream as a window into the unconscious, 2) the presence of repressed childhood memories in psychoneuroses, and 3) the unconscious having an influence on our thoughts/actions -- are very interesting. The book (for me, a person who has not read a ton in these recent years) is very challenging to comprehend. Freud has very roundabout arguments, and interpolates all kinds of long, only loosely relevant stories/anecdotes in between his propositions and the ideas supporting them. Many people have a tough time reading his books because of their scientific denseness. You can check a couple pages of goodreads comments/reviews to verify. The lexile score is about 1300, I believe (moderately difficult). I recommend this book.

The Wealth of Nations is another nonfiction book, specifically known to be a tough read. The lexile rating on this book is ~1500, which means that this book is statistically likely to be a very challenging book. In the real world, many people do not make it very far through this one. It will probably be somewhat boring; at least the reading will be highly educational, in a field that isn't totally obscure (economics). This is the book I will be reading after I complete the former, which will be in about 160 pages.

Novels that have a high lexile rating (which means it is statistically likely to be difficult, as mentioned) include A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce, as well as A Fable by William Faulkner. A Fable has a lexile rating of 1500, Portrait has a rating of about 1200 (if my memory serves correctly). Yes, A Fable is rated to be much more difficult. If you look at ratings by actual humans on sites such as goodreads or Amazon, you will verify that A Fable is considered a very difficult read.

Other good (and challenging) books to read (from my research):
The Republic by Plato
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Various philosophy books
Many classic nonfiction books, a list of the top 100 nonfiction includes On the Interpretation of Dreams as one of the top books. Check it out:
http://thegreatestbooks.org/nonfiction

I would speculate that reading challenging material will help you more than reading at an easier level.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund Freud - I am reading it now for the same purpose. Although I don't agree with some of the literal interpretations of dreams that he lays out in that book - I still think that his ideas of 1) the dream as a window into the unconscious, 2) the presence of repressed childhood memories in psychoneuroses, and 3) the unconscious having an influence on our thoughts/actions -- are very interesting. The book (for me, a person who has not read a ton in these recent years) is very challenging to comprehend. Freud has very roundabout arguments, and interpolates all kinds of long, only loosely relevant stories/anecdotes in between his propositions and the ideas supporting them. Many people have a tough time reading his books because of their scientific denseness. You can check a couple pages of goodreads comments/reviews to verify. The lexile score is about 1300, I believe (moderately difficult). I recommend this book.

The Wealth of Nations is another nonfiction book, specifically known to be a tough read. The lexile rating on this book is ~1500, which means that this book is statistically likely to be a very challenging book. In the real world, many people do not make it very far through this one. It will probably be somewhat boring; at least the reading will be highly educational, in a field that isn't totally obscure (economics). This is the book I will be reading after I complete the former, which will be in about 160 pages.

Novels that have a high lexile rating (which means it is statistically likely to be difficult, as mentioned) include A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce, as well as A Fable by William Faulkner. A Fable has a lexile rating of 1500, Portrait has a rating of about 1200 (if my memory serves correctly). Yes, A Fable is rated to be much more difficult. If you look at ratings by actual humans on sites such as goodreads or Amazon, you will verify that A Fable is considered a very difficult read.

Other good books to read (from my research):
The Republic by Plato
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Various philosophy books
Many classic nonfiction books, a list of the top 100 nonfiction includes On the Interpretation of Dreams as one of the top books. Check it out:
http://thegreatestbooks.org/nonfiction

I would speculate that reading challenging material will help you more than reading at an easier level.

When is your exam?

 

[C.S. Peirce]

Here are some personal recommendations, arranged by category and difficulty:

Medical/clinical narrative:
Easy: Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason
Medium: The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (or anything by O. Sacks...)
Hard: Illness as Metaphor & AIDS and its Metaphors by Susan Sontag@

History:
Easy: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson*
Medium: Men to Match my Mountains by Irving Stone
Hard: Postwar by Tony Judt

Philosophy/ethics:
Easy: Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics by Simon Blackburn
Medium: Evil in Modern Thought by Susan Neiman*
Hard: Essays on Moral Realism edited by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord@

Essays:
Easy: Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris (comic)
Medium: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace (comic & serious)
Hard: The Proper Study of Mankind by Issiah Berlin (serious)

Just amazing and cool science-y related stuff:
Medium: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson*
Hard: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn@

*=personal favorites, which I think are gripping, accessible to non-experts, and well worth the time spent reading them (MCAT prep or not)
@=could be boring without prior exposure or a strong interest, but exceptional books once these barriers are overcome.

Easy, medium and hard are based on the reading level and vocab, not the level of interest or attention they might require.

Disclaimer: all recommendations are subjective
Additional disclaimer: I'm a pale nerd who reads too much.

 

[BeachBlondie]

These are just awesome books that I personally recommend, off the top of my head. Hopefully they help inspire you to rediscover the sense of wonder in reading
Simply for reading:
If you're into space and theoretical physics: Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan (his writing is beautiful)
If you're into political/social statements (and, obviously, classics): 1984 or Animal Farm, George Orwell
If you're into dark Russian literature (and one of my favorites): Crime and Punishment, Fyoder Dostoevsky

Science:
(Some of my favorites)
The Little Book of String Theory, Steven Gubser
Physics of the Impossible, Michio Kaku
A Brief History of Time, Steven Hawking (he's actually quite funny)

Medical:
(More of my personal favorites)
The House of God, Samuel Shem
Complications or Better or anything by Atul Gawande (he's a fantastic author/general surgeon; provides amazing insight into American medicine's current pitfalls)
Stiff, Mary Roach (an account of everything we use cadavers for; ends up being darkly hilarious)

If your intent is never really to read for pleasure, and you're just looking for something to bolster your verbal score

Frankly? If you want to get exposure to as many different author styles as possible, while finding a method to confirm the answers for author intent, meaning, thesis statements (ad nauseum), I can think of no better option than poetry. Sampling from one book until your exam date is not going to provide you with the stark difference in structure and content that you will see in VR. Poetry, however, is short and complex and allows you to sample from many artists before test day. Plus, you have the ability to potentially find SpakNotes on many pieces of work. This will allow you to cross-check what you thought was the main idea, the role of the characters, etc.

(Note: a couple of these may straddle the line between short story and poetry, but that is of no consequence)

Here are some of my suggestions (many of which you can probably read online).

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", T.S. Eliot
"Never Bet the Devil Your Head", Edgar Allan Poe
"The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe
"The Little Prince", Antione de Saint-Exupery (a bit longer, but WOW... very moving little piece)

...bah. I'm running low on brain power, at the moment. Can't remember most of the stuff I've read! At any rate, here's a link to some popular work:

http://100.best-poems.net/

 

[BeachBlondie]

Here are some personal recommendations, arranged by category and difficulty:

Medical/clinical narrative:
Easy: Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason
Medium: The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (or anything by O. Sacks...)
Hard: Illness as Metaphor & AIDS and its Metaphors by Susan Sontag@

History:
Easy: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson*
Medium: Men to Match my Mountains by Irving Stone
Hard: Postwar by Tony Judt

Philosophy/ethics:
Easy: Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics by Simon Blackburn
Medium: Evil in Modern Thought by Susan Neiman*
Hard: Essays on Moral Realism edited by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord@

Essays:
Easy: Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris (comic)
Medium: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace (comic & serious)
Hard: The Proper Study of Mankind by Issiah Berlin (serious)

Just amazing and cool science-y related stuff:
Medium: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson*
Hard: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn@

*=personal favorites, which I think are gripping, accessible to non-experts, and well worth the time spent reading them (MCAT prep or not)
@=could be boring without prior exposure or a strong interest, but exceptional books once these barriers are overcome.

Easy, medium and hard are based on the reading level and vocab, not the level of interest or attention they might require.

Disclaimer: all recommendations are subjective
Additional disclaimer: I'm a pale nerd who reads too much.

No worries, my man. The first thing I did after the MCAT was come home with 5 new books :3

 

[christinalouise]

You could always figure out what books the universities are touting now for first year English. I still have the book of short stories and poems I had to buy for that course and will read through it every now and again. There is so much style, language, and theme variation. Additionally they usually have comprehension-type questions or discussion points afterwards.

If you want a full-on book I would read something written in the early 1900's (Fitzgerald, Austin, Hemingway etc). I am also a member of the pale nerd society (Hi, my name is Christina and I am addicted to fantasy novels and comic books) and when I pick up a book with some age in the ink I can feel the gears turning a bit differently in my head. So maybe give those a go!

 

[BeachBlondie]

You could always figure out what books the universities are touting now for first year English. I still have the book of short stories and poems I had to buy for that course and will read through it every now and again. There is so much style, language, and theme variation. Additionally they usually have comprehension-type questions or discussion points afterwards.

If you want a full-on book I would read something written in the early 1900's (Fitzgerald, Austin, Hemingway etc). I am also a member of the pale nerd society (Hi, my name is Christina and I am addicted to fantasy novels and comic books) and when I pick up a book with some age in the ink I can feel the gears turning a bit differently in my head. So maybe give those a go!

*unison* "Hi, Christina..."

 

[Rhino1000]

When is your exam?

My exam is in late August.

 

[mehc012]

Thank you so much. Which one is most similar to the humanities passages on the Mcat verbal. I'm trying to get more familiar with that kind of writing.

Dunno, I read for fun.

 

[TurkTurkleton92]

Personally, I really like Malcolm Gladwell's books.

 

[TheAnonymous]

if I postpone I might end up reading these

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Here are some personal recommendations, arranged by category and difficulty:

Medical/clinical narrative:
Easy: Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason
Medium: The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (or anything by O. Sacks...)
Hard: Illness as Metaphor & AIDS and its Metaphors by Susan Sontag@

History:
Easy: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson*
Medium: Men to Match my Mountains by Irving Stone
Hard: Postwar by Tony Judt

Philosophy/ethics:
Easy: Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics by Simon Blackburn
Medium: Evil in Modern Thought by Susan Neiman*
Hard: Essays on Moral Realism edited by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord@

Essays:
Easy: Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris (comic)
Medium: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace (comic & serious)
Hard: The Proper Study of Mankind by Issiah Berlin (serious)

Just amazing and cool science-y related stuff:
Medium: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson*
Hard: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn@

*=personal favorites, which I think are gripping, accessible to non-experts, and well worth the time spent reading them (MCAT prep or not)
@=could be boring without prior exposure or a strong interest, but exceptional books once these barriers are overcome.

Easy, medium and hard are based on the reading level and vocab, not the level of interest or attention they might require.

Disclaimer: all recommendations are subjective
Additional disclaimer: I'm a pale nerd who reads too much.

I am trying to read Evil in modern thought. It is really difficult for me to understand. :/

 

[christinalouise]

I am trying to read Evil in modern thought. It is really difficult for me to understand. :/

Interesting read though?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Interesting read though?

I don't understand it haha. I've never read a philosophy book before so it's so different.

 

[MedOldAge]

You could always figure out what books the universities are touting now for first year English. I still have the book of short stories and poems I had to buy for that course and will read through it every now and again. There is so much style, language, and theme variation. Additionally they usually have comprehension-type questions or discussion points afterwards.

If you want a full-on book I would read something written in the early 1900's (Fitzgerald, Austin, Hemingway etc). I am also a member of the pale nerd society (Hi, my name is Christina and I am addicted to fantasy novels and comic books) and when I pick up a book with some age in the ink I can feel the gears turning a bit differently in my head. So maybe give those a go!

Pale nerd society?

You and BeachBlondie live in the world I have never been and probably would not in the future as I only know one and zero.

 

[C.S. Peirce]

I am trying to read Evil in modern thought. It is really difficult for me to understand. :/

PM Sent

 

[txlonghorn2314]

Metaphysics of Morals - Immanuel Kant

 

[siffster]

game of thrones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm a huge fan of the tv show, and I just got the books to see how it all plays out there. It's hard to follow along with the first book if you haven't watched the series first since there are so many characters in the book, but i'm sure you will be fine

 

[mehc012]

game of thrones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm a huge fan of the tv show, and I just got the books to see how it all plays out there. It's hard to follow along with the first book if you haven't watched the series first since there are so many characters in the book, but i'm sure you will be fine

I was the opposite...couldn't deal with the show after reading the books because the pace was so slow on the TV!
I think you're always partial to whichever you experience first.

 

[C.S. Peirce]

Metaphysics of Morals - Immanuel Kant

/sarc? If it's not sarcasm, you need some serious mental help if that's what you consider 'fun' reading. I'd rather read the repair manuals for Portuguese industrial appliances, run through Google Translate.

 

[txlonghorn2314]

/sarc? If it's not sarcasm, you need some serious mental help if that's what you consider 'fun' reading. I'd rather read the repair manuals for Portuguese industrial appliances, run through Google Translate.

I forced myself to think it was interesting/awesome and my verbal score went up. Hmm maybe repair manuals for Portuguese industrial appliances will be my next challenge

 

[Rhino1000]

I forced myself to think it was interesting/awesome and my verbal score went up. Hmm maybe repair manuals for Portuguese industrial appliances will be my next challenge

Really? What do you mean, your verbal score went up?

 

[Thoroughbred_Med]

game of thrones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm a huge fan of the tv show, and I just got the books to see how it all plays out there. It's hard to follow along with the first book if you haven't watched the series first since there are so many characters in the book, but i'm sure you will be fine

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I watched the first season and the first season only.......... I quit after that and said I have to read the books instead! So I got the whole collection... and I can't put A Game of Thrones down.

 

[txlonghorn2314]

Really? What do you mean, your verbal score went up?

Whenever I spent my free time reading that book and forcing myself to try and understand it, instead of watching Mad Men, I noticed about a 1-2 point jump in my verbal score within about a week or so.

Immanuel Kant makes even the hardest AAMC verbal passage look like the freaking "Cat in the Hat"

 

[Rhino1000]

Whenever I spent my free time reading that book and forcing myself to try and understand it, instead of watching Mad Men, I noticed about a 1-2 point jump in my verbal score within about a week or so.

Immanuel Kant makes even the hardest AAMC verbal passage look like the freaking "Cat in the Hat"

Wow! Good for you, man. Hopefully this same thing occurs in my experience as a result of my own difficult-reading endeavors (probably none as difficult as Kant).

 

[mehc012]

I finally broke down and read Ayn Rand so I'd know what everyone was talking about.
I'm so, so glad that I will never again have to read that brick. It was good to do, because it comes up a LOT, but it's oh so much better to be done with it forever.

 

[ridethecliche]

I finally broke down and read Ayn Rand so I'd know what everyone was talking about.
I'm so, so glad that I will never again have to read that brick. It was good to do, because it comes up a LOT, but it's oh so much better to be done with it forever.

I've been meaning to do this forever, but just can't bring myself to because I have immensely disliked the political/social philosophy of anyone that has claimed that she was their inspiration (gag!).

 

[mehc012]

I've been meaning to do this forever, but just can't bring myself to because I have immensely disliked the political/social philosophy of anyone that has claimed that she was their inspiration (gag!).

I tend to read things which I have a feeling I will disagree with, simply so that if there is ever a discussion, I can't be (justifiably) shut down by the simple "have you even read it" argument. On that front, I have read all of Twilight, Shades of Grey, and Ayn Rand so that when people start going on about it I can actually have an educated opinion on why, in fact, those things are horrifying in many ways.

If you don't like the philosophy of Ayn Rand fans, you'll hate the book, as it's essentially a poorly-shrouded, overly long metaphor on her philosophy, except for the part where she clearly gave up on barely-a-metaphor-ing things and instead just had a character monologue her beliefs on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Then it went back to the barely-metaphor.
However, I am now able to hold an intelligent discussion of why I think her philosophy is a) a poor foundation for most things and b) generally not actually well represented by her supposed fans (there is a lot of cherry-picking and citing Ayn Rand for ideas which, due to their utter disregard for like, half of her philosophy, don't mesh well at ALL with her actual work.)

 

[altitudinarian]

To help out with VR, check out How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. It teaches one how to actively read various types of literatures. And in one of the newer additions, they added a list of books that one can practice actively reading on, as well as short reading passages that they can quiz you on the content later, based on the level of activity and engagement requested of you to have to read the passage. I'm rereading it again, because I've lost that edge of actively reading.