Summer Reading Recs (non-science)?

Started by medanthjoint
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medanthjoint

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Anyone have any recommendations of good med school-related (but not curriculum-based) reading material for the summer? I've found and noted tons of recommendations of study materials/review guides/textbooks to consider once I'm in medical school, but in the meantime I'm hoping to read some books that present the "big picture": e.g., residency guides, physician memoirs, or novels related to the medical field.

Thanks!
 
All these books have been recommended to me, and I've read them. they all in some way deal with medicine/doctoring/why we're actually doing all this.
Complications (about being a Surgeon, compliation of Atul Guwande's (sp?) articles in The New Yorker )
The House of God (about being a medical intern at Beth Israel in MA)
War Hospital (about being a MSF doc in Bosnia during the war)
 
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The Making of a Surgeon -- William A. Nolan

It's really good, and a fast read. About residency and stuff at Bellevue Hospital a long time ago (60s I think) -- way before the 80hr work week. My dad basically got it for me for Christmas, so I'd know what he had to go through as a resident.
 
You think you all would have lives outside of reading medicine-related books over the summer...

Not knowing your tastes, you should probably read the final Harry Potter book.
I can also recommend Into the Wild and Into Thin Air by Krakauer and A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet because those are the last books that I can remember reading before school killed my free time
 
LJDHC05 said:
You think you all would have lives outside of reading medicine-related books over the summer...

Not knowing your tastes, you should probably read the final Harry Potter book.
I can also recommend Into the Wild and Into Thin Air by Krakauer and A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet because those are the last books that I can remember reading before school killed my free time
Click to expand...

Into the Wild is an amazing book. If you like that, I'd also recommend A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Nothing to do with med school at all, but a great book anyway.
 
mules05 said:
Into the Wild is an amazing book. If you like that, I'd also recommend A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Nothing to do with med school at all, but a great book anyway.
Click to expand...

Great book
 
I wholeheartedly support "House of God" by Samuel Shem. While it may be a little over the top, it is the "punch in the stomach" that you need before you decide to keep going.
 
Some people like "Hot Lights, Cold Steel." It's a book about an orthopod during his residency at Mayo but I found it to be somewhat uninspired. It was OK I guess, but not exactly what I was hoping for.
 
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when the air hits your brain - the best neurosurgery book ive read so far, but nothing too special

another day in the frontal lobe - stupid; it's just her thoughts on...everything

hot lights, cold steel - seems to be a common favorite. not quite as good as air hits your brain, but its an interesting read

gifted hands - working on it now. seems like an uplifting book about persevering moreso than surgery so far
 
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