Best book to read with SO before starting the medical education adventure?

[surftheiop]

I know this isnt completely psych related, but you all are the most insightful forum on here so figured I would come her rather than pre-allo.

I'm starting med school in the fall and my fiance and I thought it might be good to read a medical related book together before I start so maybe she ( and I!) will have a little more insight into the next 8-10 years (and beyond) of our lives.

I know "House of God" and "Intern Blues" are kind of considered the "classics", but I am slightly afraid they might be overly pessimistic and instead of making her more informed, will just make her terrified.

Any thoughts on those books or any other ideas?

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[DrYoda]

Atul Gawande's books are pretty popular and not so negative. I recommend his first book (complications) over the second, book two was kind of unfocused IMO.

 

[surftheiop]

ugh sadly my sucking up to the psych forum couldnt keep the moderators from doing their job 🙁

 

[the duck]

Atul Gawande's books are pretty popular and not so negative. I recommend his first book (complications) over the second, book two was kind of unfocused IMO.

👍 These have been my favorite medical related books, and neither of them are really pessimistic.

 

[rhesuspieces]

I liked Match Day by Brian Eule. It's a SO's perspective on the last years of medical school/first years of residency. It focuses on three couples and the effect of this time period on their relationships. Good read.

 

[sideways]

 

[CaptainSSO]

👍 These have been my favorite medical related books, and neither of them are really pessimistic.

Agreed.

Also, Hot Lights, Cold Steel.

There are even some more too just check out Amazon.

 

[MCAT guy]

I made a thread about good books, the list is pretty decent...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=752061&page=2

UPDATE

The LIST

• House of God
• The Art of War
• Everybody Poops
• Forgive and Remember by Charles Bosk
• The Making of a Surgeon by Dr. William Nolen
• Intern by Doctor X (Alan Nourse)
• Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy
• Complications
• Clinical Pathophysiology Made Ridiculously Simple
• How Doctors Think, by Groopman
• The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness, by Groopman
• INTERNAL BLEEDING: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes, by Wachter and Shojania
• Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives, by Ruhlman
• Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, by Gawande
• King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, by Miller
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
• Lost In America: A Journey with My Father
• Hot Lights, Cold Steel
• Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs
• Another Day In the Frontal Lobe
• Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality
• When the Air Hits Your Brain
• Eleven Blue Men
• America's Social Health by Marque-Luisa Miringgoff
• The Checklist Manifesto
• Body of Work - Meditations on Mortality from The Human Anatomy Lab
• Every Patient Tells a Story - Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis
• The Diagnosis of Acute Abdomen in Rhyme
• A Case of Need
• Walking out on the Boys by Francis Conley
• The Wisdom of the Body by Sherwin B. Nuland
• How We Die by Sherwin B. Nuland
• The Man who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks
• The Strange Case of The Walking Cadaver by Nancy Butcher
• Timeline by Michael Crichton
• The Intern Blues by Rober Marion
• Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives
• The Scalpel and the SIlver Bear
• Health and Healing by Andrew Weil
• A Map of the Child by Darshak Sangavi
• Terminal by Robin Cook
• The Lost Art of Healing: Practicing Compassion in Medicine
• The Elegant Universe by Brain Greene
• Walk on Water: INside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit
• The Language of Cells: A Doctor and His Patients by Spencer Nadler
• Becoming a Doctor by melivin Konner
• The Ditchdigger's Daughters
• The Dressing Station by Jonathan Kaplan
• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest for Dr. Paul Farmer
• Delivering Doctor Amelia: The Story of a Gifted Young Obstetrician's Mistake and the Psychologist who Helped Her
• Surviing the Extremes, A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance
• Travels and/or Five Patients by Michael Crichton
• Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti
• On Doctoring by Richard Reynolds
• The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
• The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Speciality by Brain Freeman
• Letters to a Young Doctor by Richard Selzer
• Pathologies of Power
• Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Remen
• Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Christiane Northrup
• Tuesdays With Morrie
• King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery
• A Not Entirely Benign Procedure: Four Years as a Medical Student
• Young "what my Patients Taught Me"
• Forgive and Remember, Managing Medical Failure
• The Lassa Ward
• The Lazarus Case Life and Death Issues in Neonatal Intensive Care
• The Knife Man, The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter
• Not All of Us are Saints, A Doctor's Journey with the Poor
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• A Way of Life by William Osler
• Classic Cases in Medical Ethics, Gregory Pence
• A PhD is Not Enough, Peter Feibelman
• Doctor Stories, Carlos Williams
• Who Shall Live?, Victor Fuchs
• My Own Country, Abraham Verghese
• Confessions of a Knife, Richard Selzer
• When the Air Hits Your Brain, Frank Vertosick
• The Hot Zone, Richard Preston
• Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling
• Hot Viruses Around the World, CJ Peters
• The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager
• The Great Influenza, John Barry
• The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson
• The Coming Plague, Laurie Garret
• The Constant Gardener, John LeCarre
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• My stroke of insight by Jill Bolt
• movie "Something the Lord Made"
• The Short Guide to a Happy Life (Anna Quindlen)
• Worried Sick by Nortin Hadle
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
• Sick by Jonathan Cohn
• the last lecture
• Improving your Bedside Manner by Jacquelyn Small
• Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

 

[SimplySmile]

I agree that Complications is a great book.

I'd also recommend Med School Confidential, it does a good job explaining the whole premed to med student process and beyond. It starts with the steps to take as a premed and ends with talking about residency and life as a physician. I think this would give both you and your fiancee good insight as to what you will be going through over the next few years.

 

[SFGuy2011]

I just finished How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, MD, and I strongly recommend it. His utilization of stories is very effective in outlining some of the more common errors in thinking made by physicians. Obviously it's a great book for anyone involved in medicine, but it's also excellent information for all potential patients. It was so good that it only took me two days to read it, and I'm planning on reading it again before medical school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I liked Match Day by Brian Eule.

I'd also recommend Med School Confidential

I second both of these. I seriously doubt any of Gawande's books, House of God, or any of the rest will be terribly useful for informing you SO of what you'll be going through, but they're decent reads.

 

[ischemic2]

Any book that says 2 things:

1. Med school is very time consuming
2. There ain't gonna be too much time available to hang out with the SO so they better understand that.

 

[Geekchick921]

I liked Match Day by Brian Eule. It's a SO's perspective on the last years of medical school/first years of residency. It focuses on three couples and the effect of this time period on their relationships. Good read.

I just texted this to my husband and told him to put it on my Christmas list. 🙂

 

[surftheiop]

I second both of these. I seriously doubt any of Gawande's books, House of God, or any of the rest will be terribly useful for informing you SO of what you'll be going through, but they're decent reads.

Yeah thats sort of what I was thinking, I'll look into those

 

[FlowRate]

Noble Vision by Gen LaGreca

 

[XeReX]

I know this isnt completely psych related, but you all are the most insightful forum on here so figured I would come her rather than pre-allo.

I'm starting med school in the fall and my fiance and I thought it might be good to read a medical related book together before I start so maybe she ( and I!) will have a little more insight into the next 8-10 years (and beyond) of our lives.

I know "House of God" and "Intern Blues" are kind of considered the "classics", but I am slightly afraid they might be overly pessimistic and instead of making her more informed, will just make her terrified.

Any thoughts on those books or any other ideas?

Med School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Medical School Experience: By Students, for Students


Robert H. Miller (Author), Dan Bissell M.D. Harold M. Friedman (Author)


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[2050vlsb]

Definitely second (or third? or fourth) anything by Atul Gawande .. he's a really cogent and articulate writer and his books are fast reads .. I'm doing an internship with the dept of surgery at a major academic hospital, and it was really interesting that I could relate to many of the things he talks about to some of my own experiences. If you're only going to read one, I found I liked Better more than Complications just because it had more anecdotes from his residency .. though you can't go wrong with either!

 

[XeReX]

I know this isnt completely psych related, but you all are the most insightful forum on here so figured I would come her rather than pre-allo.

I'm starting med school in the fall and my fiance and I thought it might be good to read a medical related book together before I start so maybe she ( and I!) will have a little more insight into the next 8-10 years (and beyond) of our lives.

I know "House of God" and "Intern Blues" are kind of considered the "classics", but I am slightly afraid they might be overly pessimistic and instead of making her more informed, will just make her terrified.

Any thoughts on those books or any other ideas?

This is not a book but is a really good article about what medical school is really like. I hope it helps:
http://www.studentdoctor.net/2010/01/medical-school-101-what-medical-school-is-really-like/