Any Good Books to Read?

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Wow this thread is going a lot deeper than I thought it would. :)

Anyways, I'm reading Complications right now and it's really good! I also am waiting on like 6 other books to come in.
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suwaifo said:
If you have to be exposed to the world, you won't really fully understand the world, and you'll make inhabitants of the world really pissed off at what may come off as a mockery.
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This statement makes no sense. Of course I'm never going to fully understand the world. But I'd rather read about other people, events, and cultures than see the subject butchered on some 24-hour cable news program.
 
Carlin said:
This one is medicine-related, but Complications by Atul Gawande was really quite interesting.
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Better is also a good book by Gawande

If you're up for a scary read, try 1984 by Orwell.

I also read "The Language of God" by Francis Collins. If you're into religion, it's an interesting read on rationalizing it with science.
 
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TupacalipseT96 said:
I just never understood the appeal of reading. There are more enjoyable ways to gain exposure to the world, or whatever your perceived use for reading is beyond entertainment. And there are more entertaining things, too for that matter.

I've many times imagined my self being all intellectual and sitting with prescription glasses reading Moby Dick and laughin pretentiously to myself in quiet english chuckles.

But then after 20 minutes I remember how bored I am, and that I don't need glasses.

*shrugs*
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Maybe the problem is that you're laughing at Moby Dick in a pretentious English accent rather than a ridiculous Cape Cod accent. I yawned and rolled my eyes in a Colombian accent all the way through A 100 Years of Solitude this summer. More like 100 years of Snoritude.

But I digress. Not all reading is erudite any more than all TV is pedantic. 30 rock is the smartest, most hilarious show since Arrested Development, which is (was) the funniest show since South Park, etc. No medium has a monopoly on snobbery or lameness or genius. Sadly, most examples of any artform these days are pretty lame and uninspiring.
 
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A few quick recommendations, in no particular order:

  • The Natural - Bernard Malamud - classic summer novel about baeball
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond - can be a bit dry at times, but full of fascinating information about evolution and the development of human civilizations (if you're into that sort of thing).
  • Rocks of Ages - S.J. Gould - arguing that the conflict between religion and science isn't really a conflict at all.
 
ManualEvac said:
I yawned and rolled my eyes in a Colombian accent all the way through A 100 Years of Solitude this summer
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I wanna hear more about rolling eyes in a Colombian accent.

But you must admit the book has one of the best opening lines ever.
 
TupacalipseT96 said:
I just never understood the appeal of reading. There are more enjoyable ways to gain exposure to the world, or whatever your perceived use for reading is beyond entertainment. And there are more entertaining things, too for that matter.

I've many times imagined my self being all intellectual and sitting with prescription glasses reading Moby Dick and laughin pretentiously to myself in quiet english chuckles.
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Reading for the purpose of elitism boggles the mind. Why bother? Such intention is useless - nobody is half as impressed with what you have read as you are. Ultimately, reading is for learning about the world around you. You can tell me that there are better ways to get exposure, but to what? Good non-fiction teaches you about the world as it once was and as it will forever be, often in time periods far away from your own (or in areas of the world you could never access). If you want to learn about why we're in Afghanistan, or why 9/11 occurred, you pick up books on the subject. All of a sudden, you can gain a much better understanding of the situation than the "THEY HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOM" soundbytes. Good literature, on the other hand, transcends genres. It speaks of humanity. Of our unchangeable natures and philosophies. It exposes you to ideas you have never considered before and truths you would have never otherwise noticed.

Is it the only medium for enrichment? No. Someone mentioned South Park, and I'd agree with that. Parody is beautiful. Some hip hop is incredibly poignant as well (as long as you avoid the crap on the radio).

At the end of the day, all of these activities are entertainment through learning. Does this learning have a future use? Hard to say. But if you are ever in a position where you can institute change, I hope you are well-versed enough in humanity and the world to do it properly.

*shrug*


Manual, the first few hundred pages of 100 Years were gripping. Then all of my favorite characters died and it became yawn-worthy.
 
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jka0067 said:
I wanna hear more about rolling eyes in a Colombian accent.

But you must admit the book has one of the best opening lines ever.
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Kinda like the Mexican eye roll, but faster, and with a less vernacular flavor. Not as quick as the Cuban eye roll however.

The opening line to 100 years is ok, but the character development is weak throughout. I didn't care about anybody, and the multiplicity of Aurelianos was hard on my brain.
 
oh yeah, nobody would spend that much energy just doing something to impress people :rolleyes: medical school anyone? lol.
 
Brothers Karamazov and Crime and punishment - both by Dostoevsky
 
Brothers Karamazov is definately Dostoyevskii's best work, but Crime & Punishment gets all the attention. I am rereading War & Peace right now... that is another story altogether. Best novel of all time, anyone? I mean, I've read Don Quixote, and I've read James Joyce, but come on...
 
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bodonid said:
Brothers Karamazov is definately Dostoyevskii's best work, but Crime & Punishment gets all the attention. I am rereading War & Peace right now... that is another story altogether. Best novel of all time, anyone? I mean, I've read Don Quixote, and I've read James Joyce, but come on...
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C&P has the better story, Karamazov the philosophical rants. I think C&P is way better.

I've recently been reading Jared Diamond's books, which I am enjoying (however that's on hold until MCATs finish).
 
So I just finished reading Better and Complications, and wow, that's a fresh change from HP. =)

I even managed to get my mom hooked on them. :)
 
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's several thousand pages split into seven books so it should keep you occupied and entertained for a while.
 
WilliamsF1 said:
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's several thousand pages split into seven books so it should keep you occupied and entertained for a while.
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I second the Dark Tower series. Amazing books; I just finished Wizard and Glass a few weeks ago and will be starting Wolves of the Calla shortly.
 
muffinman853 said:
I second the Dark Tower series. Amazing books; I just finished Wizard and Glass a few weeks ago and will be starting Wolves of the Calla shortly.
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I'm on pg 421 of Wizard and the Glass and trying to plow through it since it's my least favorite (Roland's childhood doesn't really interest me to be honest). Maybe I can just finish it off tomorrow because I hear the rest are great. :)
 
WilliamsF1 said:
I'm on pg 421 of Wizard and the Glass and trying to plow through it since it's my least favorite (Roland's childhood doesn't really interest me to be honest). Maybe I can just finish it off tomorrow because I hear the rest are great. :)
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Wizard and Glass is my favorite in the series so far, but yeah, towards the end it started to drag a little. If you're into comics, you should pick up The Gunslinger Born, as it's basically a Wizard and Glass adaptation. Great artwork; it made me appreciate the novel more.
 
Don't know if someone already mentioned it... but Catch-22 is my fav....
 
No one has mentioned "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder?
I know so many pre meds that have read that book... it's awesome.
 
"The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids" by Madeline Levine

should be a must read for this crowd, with most of us headed for affluence and most likely parenthood. it's always been kind of a head scratcher to me that so many bright people neglect educating themselves on relationships and raising kids and such.... a little sad really. I work with too many divorced and unhappy docs with miserable children. bright people with good hearts who have just put no effort into these areas.
 
I'm coming out with a book next quarter, if you still have time to read then then...I could send you one of the first printed copies or something.
 
I know people have already posted rants about recommending difficult or exceedingly long material, but I'm going to recommend the Jowett translation of the Republic. Not only is it a great book, the translation is great. I'm not much of a reader, in general, but I loved it and it made me think.

I'd also recommend my favorite book of all time, the Great Gatsby. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
I am a big fan of anything by Michael Crichton. One of his lesser-known books is Five Patients. It was written before he became a famous writer and is a non-fiction about some patients he saw during his medical training. It will get you thinking.
 
Bump for all the free time to come. =)
 
TheElement said:
Bump for all the free time to come. =)
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Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth.
Percival Everett's God's Country.

And for some non-fiction, Clive Cussler's The Sea Hunters. One of the chapters covers his discovery of the Hunley, pretty cool stuff.
 
Michael Crichton is a great author. I highly recommend The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Timeline was also a cool, fun book.

Personally, right now I'm reading a lot of Science Fiction, particularly Dystopian Fiction and a little bit of Cyberpunk. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is great, and often considered a classic. There's also A Clockwork Orange, another classic.

My favorite recent read, though the book isn't very recent itself, is Neuromancer, by William Gibson. Written in 1984, and often considered the founding work of the Cyberpunk sub-genre of Science Fiction, it foreshadowed a more advanced version of the internet and speculates a lot about really, really cool biomedical technologies. :thumbup:
 
TheElement said:
My internship at the hospital just ended and now I'm left with a lot of free time. I been awhile since I've read a really good book, the latest ones I've read aside from HP have been Dan Brown's books. (Yeah, I don't read very much, well if you don't count sport related articles). :)

Does anyone know of any really good books lately? it doesn't have to be medically related.
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The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. The sequal just came out, its called The Gate House.

All the books by Vince Flynn, starting with Term Limits are great too.
 
betheltim said:
I know people have already posted rants about recommending difficult or exceedingly long material, but I'm going to recommend the Jowett translation of the Republic. Not only is it a great book, the translation is great. I'm not much of a reader, in general, but I loved it and it made me think.

I'd also recommend my favorite book of all time, the Great Gatsby. :thumbup::thumbup:
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funny I read that after I wrote my recommendation.

The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille has been described as a modern version of The Great Gatsby.
 
I'm more into reading "classics" than the NY bestseller list; here are some I thought were great:

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
--My favorite book, many (and I mean many) parts had me laughing out loud.
East of Eden by Joseph Steinbeck
--Great story of Steinbeck's ancestry with Book of Genesis undertones. Makes you consider morality and good & evil. Don't be discouraged by the first couple of chapters on his ancestry, the real story begins shortly after.
1984 by George Orwell
--Story of a futuristic (written in 1949 i think) dystopian society. Everyone says this story is more alive today than ever, which it very well may be, but still gives me a haunting feeling that the future will be even more like this. Words can't describe the feeling the ending (Part III) gave me.

Did this thread make anybody else put some books on their Christmas lists?
 
not sure if anyone posted these yet but:

The alchemist - Paulo Coelho
A classic book about a Sheppard who goes on a journey to find the pyramids and learns a lot of life's lessons

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
This book is just awesome. Easy read and funny. Palahniuk does write in a similar style in his books, but this one is my favorite of them all.

If you like non-fiction...
I just read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, its a memoir about a drug addict who goes through rehab. There are some points to the book that are under dispute but if you just read it for what its worth, its a really good book
 
Anything Kurt Vonnegut, Oscar Wilde, or Franz Kafka (especially The Metamorphosis).

If you're looking for a book about medicine, Mark Twain and Medicine: Any Mummery Will Cure is an AWESOME book.

Enjoy!
__________________________________________________
"Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly,
Man got to sit and wonder why, why, why?
Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land,
Man got to tell himself he understand."
-K.V.Jr
 
bcat85 said:
If you're up for a scary read, try 1984 by Orwell.
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:thumbup::thumbup:

bcat85 said:
I also read "The Language of God" by Francis Collins. If you're into religion, it's an interesting read on rationalizing it with science.
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I caved and bought this one out of curiosity the other day. It should prove interesting (and either superficial or flawed).
 
Crb717 said:
War and Peace by leo tolstoy! its long, but amazing. I couldn't put it down.
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I tried this in 9th grade. I got about 900 pages in before I started forgetting what happened 200 pages prior... :D

But I think I'd be a lot more into it now considering I've learned a lot more about the history behind the book and time it portrays. That and I admittedly chose to read it initially because of the weight the title carried..., but come on, I was 14!
 
Laundry List of Books

A Brief History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
- Bryson realized he hardly knew anything about why the world is the way that it is and he spent several years learning everything he could. The book is essentially his journey from the Big Bang to evolution to relativity.

What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity - Bernard Lewis
- Great insight into the historical roots of modern tensions.

Flags of our Fathers - James Bradley
- Movie was good but the book is much better.

Longitude - Dana Sobel
- Biopic of the inventor who created the first means of determining longitude at sea.

Reservation Blues - Sherman Alexie
- Great story that focuses on the trials of a Native American rock band. A lot of great insight into the realities of the Native American experience.

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
- A simple yet elegant defense of the most basic tenets of Christianity by a brilliant scholar who was himself converted from atheism.


Biographies (All are well written and IMO very interesting)
RFK: His Life - Evan Thomas
John Paul Jones - Evan Thomas
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson
Einstein: His Life and Universe - Walter Isaacson
An Unfinished Life: JFK - Robert Dallek
Lincoln's Melancholy - Joshua Shenk
His Excellency: George Washington - Joseph Ellis
FDR - Jean Edward Smith
Revolutionary Characters - Gordon Wood


Short Stories
Those Who Walk Away from Omelas - Ursula K. LeGuin
- One of the most powerful stories I have ever read. Interesting to consider whether you would also choose to walk away.

The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
- Criticism of how society propagates destructive behaviors for the sole reason that they have been around for so long.

Leaf by Niggle - JRR Tolkien
- Beautiful story and Tolkien's only avowed allegory.
 
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The Grapes of Wrath is amazing. John Steinbeck is a wonderful author.
 
I second the recommendation on 1984- it is a short read and quite engaging. I read the book about a week after watching Terry Gilliam's Brazil, and the similarities between the two works are surprising.

If you are up for something more substantial, I would recommend Lolita.

For something medically related, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, is a great read (very engaging).
 
Here's a basket-list of medically related books that I found interesting:

1. House of God, Samual Shem
2. Becoming a Doctor, Melvin Kooner
3. Complications, Atul Gwanade
4. Cunning Man, Robertson Davies
5. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadimen
 
Books=great Christmas presents! :)
 
If you want a good guilty pleasure, but also something that will make you think, try any Jodi Picoult novel. For pre-meds I would suggest "My Sisters Keeper," as it is probably the most applicable. (Sorry to the fellas.. I would say these are generally thought of as "chick books," but personally I think anyone could enjoy them.)

And as someone already mentioned, Mountains Beyond Mountains is a must!

And A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of my favorites!! (of course The Kite Runner, as well)
 
A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson. Anyone who has ever been just interesting in science will love this book. Bryson is a great (an pretty funny) author and he writes very clearly. A fast read, I loved every minute of it.

Also, I'd like to second (or third?) the suggestion of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The first book is called A Game of Thrones. The series is amazing.
 
Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc...a true story about family and their friends growing up in the drug and crime-ridden Bronx of the early 90s
 
if you like Chuck Palahniuk, then check out tom robbins.
 
I am currently reading The Great War for Civilisation: The conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk.

The book is very long, but it's very entertaining. He talks about things like meeting Osama Bin Laden, the Arab-Israeli problem, Iran, etc.; couldn't be more interesting. If you want to know the whole background of the ME conflict, just read the book.
 
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