Medical book recs for the holiday

[Garurumon]

I've already read "The Emperor of All Maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, "Complications" by Atul Gawande, and "Confessions of a Surgeon" by Paul Ruggieri. Feel free to suggest your own favorites, and a short summary of what it's about or why you like it.

Rest assured, I already have plenty of non-medical books to read and reread

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[NoDakDok]

This seems to be the "go-to" for medical student books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God

I've been strongly recommended to read it by several individuals. What I've read of it is quite good.

 

[Blue Blood]

Hot lights, cold steel.
Blue collar, blue scrubs.
Trauma
On call in hell.
Becoming dr.q

 

[LizzyM]

I haven't started many threads but I've started a few threads about books. Use the search function to look for them.

 

[allantois]

DSM-V

 

[GomersGoToGround]

Big Bird and friends.

If you read between the lines, you can attribute Big Bird's color to liver failure.

I'd drink, too, if my friend was blue, an addict, and lived in a trash can.

He's also got a severe growth issue.

 

[Garurumon]

Thank you very much for the suggestions so far! I'll look into them.

 

[Garurumon]

Big Bird and friends.

If you read between the lines, you can attribute Big Bird's color to liver failure.

I'd drink, too, if my friend was blue, an addict, and lived in a trash can.

He's also got a severe growth issue.

Ooh, sounds deep and compelling. I'll have to revisit my childhood.

 

[RTC19]

I second the previous post about Michael J. Collins's Hot Lights, Cold Steel and Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs. I could hardly put either of them down.

Some other good ones are...

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Philadelphia Gene by Jessica Wapner
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre
The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore
The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hagar
Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington
Anything authored by Atul Gawande
When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank Vertosik
Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavrs by Mary Roach

 

[tima]

Curious George: Goes to the Doctor and Lends a Helping Hand is a great book!!!!!!!

 

[Low Flow]

• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (as mentioned above) is an interesting read. Makes you appreciate some of the things we take for granted nowadays (patient consent, interracial respect, etc.)
• Intern: A Doctor's Initiation. Exactly what it sounds like. About the doctor's intern year in internal medicine and his subsequent pursuit of a cardiology subspecialty. Reading it made me never want to pursue internal medicine, but the author ends on a happy note and faith was restored.
• I'm just starting Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande. So far it's pretty interesting and really makes you question the quality of the end of a person's life.
• Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. Kind of medically-related, very interesting and written in an entertaining tone. Cadavers are used by more than just first-year medical students!
• Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. Written by a family physician addressing the efficacy (or lack thereof) of some drugs and the "research" behind them. The most interesting (and equally disturbing) topic addressed was how inapplicable some of the research conducted for drugs is to the respective patient population. For example, doing research on 30-year-olds, when the actual population requiring the drug are the elderly. It's really absurd how this goes unnoticed for some time.

These are just a few I've read in the recent past! Also, pick up Game of Thrones..

 

[Garurumon]

• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (as mentioned above) is an interesting read. Makes you appreciate some of the things we take for granted nowadays (patient consent, interracial respect, etc.)
• Intern: A Doctor's Initiation. Exactly what it sounds like. About the doctor's intern year in internal medicine and his subsequent pursuit of a cardiology subspecialty. Reading it made me never want to pursue internal medicine, but the author ends on a happy note and faith was restored.
• I'm just starting Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande. So far it's pretty interesting and really makes you question the quality of the end of a person's life.
• Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. Kind of medically-related, very interesting and written in an entertaining tone. Cadavers are used by more than just first-year medical students!
• Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. Written by a family physician addressing the efficacy (or lack thereof) of some drugs and the "research" behind them. The most interesting (and equally disturbing) topic addressed was how inapplicable some of the research conducted for drugs is to the respective patient population. For example, doing research on 30-year-olds, when the actual population requiring the drug are the elderly. It's really absurd how this goes unnoticed for some time.

These are just a few I've read in the recent past! Also, pick up Game of Thrones..

Thank you for your suggestions; they all sound very interesting, especially Stiff and Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I've already read all the ASOIAF books, and I love GRRM's writing style.

 

[DrOMG]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

[Garurumon]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

I have this on my Kindle, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I guess now would be a good time to start.

 

[DrOMG]

I have this on my Kindle, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I guess now would be a good time to start.

Honestly it is one of those hard to put down books. Let me know what you think once you've finished it

 

[Garurumon]

Honestly it is one of those hard to put down books. Let me know what you think once you've finished it

I certainly will! I love books that can keep me hooked from beginning to end (but not to the point of forgetting to eat or go to the bathroom of course )

 

[karayaa]

I certainly will! I love books that can keep me hooked from beginning to end (but not to the point of forgetting to eat or go to the bathroom of course )

But those are the best!

 

[CardiacLion]

Someone mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again.

Intern - Dr. Sandeep Jauhar
Doctored - Dr. Sandeep Jauhar

These are both fantastic books IMO, that will give you as close to real a sense of how onerous this field really is - while still bringing out the passion you have for medicine.

***Disclaimer : it may completely deter your from the field as well, but that's just the honest nature of Dr. Jauhar, for those who really love the field the book will make them want to pursue medicine even more, for those who don't really love it - you'll want to put down your MCAT book and rethink your life. lol ***

 

[ridethecliche]

Cutting for stone by verghese.

 

[Garurumon]

Someone mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again.

Intern - Dr. Sandeep Jauhar
Doctored - Dr. Sandeep Jauhar

These are both fantastic books IMO, that will give you as close to real a sense of how onerous this field really is - while still bringing out the passion you have for medicine.

***Disclaimer : it may completely deter your from the field as well, but that's just the honest nature of Dr. Jauhar, for those who really love the field the book will make them want to pursue medicine even more, for those who don't really love it - you'll want to put down your MCAT book and rethink your life. lol ***

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check these out and get back on here to let you know how I feel afterwards. XD