Book recomendations

[kopitar]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

according to current medical students it is a waist of time to try and get a leg up on medical school curriculum and to just relax for your "final" summer. So instead I have read some great books like House of GOd and Complications, currently on Better. With plenty of time left in the summer I was hoping to get some recommendations on other books worth reading from my fellow medical scholars.....holler back 😀

By the way anybody that read House of God and Complications what did you think?

 

[JaggerPlate]

I want to read this and this (among other non-medical(ish) books). I also want a kindle ... though I'm thinking an iPad may be better all around.

 

[FutureDoc1988]

I just finished the DO's Osteopathic Medicine in America. It is really good if you are applying this cycle and are having to write all the why DO essays. Plus I liked that it gave this history on how osteopathic medicine got started and became what it is today. Some of the parts are kind of boring but overall good

 

[dancingDO14]

I just read "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" by Dr. Collins; it details his 4 year ortho residency at Mayo. Pretty good, and he has a good sense of humor. Has some interesting cases, but I wish he put a bit more about how he juggled family life. During his residency his poor wife was rarely NOT pregnant apparently and they eventually wound up with 12 children! 😱

I also recently read "Orange is the New Black", a woman's memoir of a year of life in prison for a 10 year old charge. It was fascinating.

I read that ^ and Dear John (don't judge- needed an easy read for my post-surgery haze) on my Dad's Kindle. I really liked it, think it might be on my bday list this year. The discounts are awesome- I got 2 books for $20! I haven't checked out iPads at all yet.

 

[KTownGT]

- The Greatest show on Earth-- Evidence for evolution.(Dawkins)
- Finding Darwin's God(Miller)
- Only a Theory:Evoltion and the battle for America's soul (Miller)
- God Delusion(Dawkins)
- The Selfish Gene(Dawkins)
- I hope they serve beer in Hell

That's my list of books for Summer. 😴

 

[drctother]

DO's Osteopathic Medicine in America.

I literally just ordered this book after reading your post😛 I hope your right. As of now, I really dont have too much for secondary essays seeing as how the only experience I have with a DO is one day of shadowing. Also, seeing as how Canada doesnt have much Osteopathic medicine, its pretty much unheard of, I need to really pitch my reason for DO.

Thanks

 

[drctother]

- I hope they serve beer in Hell

Absolutely brilliant book. I heard the movie was crap though

 

[illegallysmooth]

Middlesex.

 

[Cheshyre]

I enjoyed reading up on medical ethics cases, public health, and Victor Fuchs' "Who Shall Live", which is about healthcare policy & economics. Fuchs is an econ prof from Stanford. It's from the 70s but I think the points are still quite valid.

Also, I love David Foster Wallace. It's non-medical, but his short essays are pure gold. RIP.

 

[KTownGT]

Absolutely brilliant book. I heard the movie was crap though

Really?

I've had it for around two years and haven't touched it yet. Guess it'll be my next book after Greatest show on Earth.

 

[MossPoh]

Absolutely brilliant book. I heard the movie was crap though

It is just all his website stories and a few extras compiled into the book. They are funny though.

I've got so many books loaded onto my Nook it is ridiculous. I have so many in fact, I can't remember most of them but I've got a solid 6000 pages to read. 😛

 

[JaggerPlate]

The "I hope they serve beer in hell" movie was awful. Simply awful. The worst part too was how bad Tucker hyped it up (going to out perform the hangover, sell millions on DVDs, define the genre etc) and how badly it failed.

I used to love Tucker Max. I was shown his site my Freshman year of college, read all his stories, got the book, hilarious. A few years later I met him at a private party ... complete ass. Like not in a funny, lol, way in his book ... like a creepy, not-cool, UGH way. My best friend then dragged me along to his beer in hell premiere tour, and he was so fake and lame. I absolutely cannot stand him now.

 

[drctother]

I almost feel like his stories arent even real at times, they are that extreme. Still, they were funny to read. Ya i heard the acting in the movie was atrocious and it wasn't even very funny

I can see him being an ass. He probably got super cocky from his book success and how much of a "player" people think he is

 

[ruiner]

I'm currently reading Children of Men and loving it. I also want to read On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story.

 

[JaggerPlate]

I almost feel like his stories arent even real at times, they are that extreme. Still, they were funny to read. Ya i heard the acting in the movie was atrocious and it wasn't even very funny

I can see him being an ass. He probably got super cocky from his book success and how much of a "player" people think he is

I'm really not a Tucker Max "hater," but I've read some things about his stories that disprove quite a few of them. It wasn't the crazy cocky-ness (which he does possess) that bothered me ... it was the fact that he acted like this creepy 35 year old man child. He seriously reminded me of every only child, spoiled, annoying, entitled d-bag I've ever met ... but he was 35 and aggressive and odd. He was just like creepy and weird ... even my friend (who is a huge, huge fan) thought he was just like weird and nothing, nothing like he seems in the books. Lol, it bothers me to even talk about him on here ... I really don't want to validate him in any way.

 

[radiodoc99]

The DO's, Osteopathic Medicine in America is a must read. AT Still's Autobiography is a good read.

 

[divajazzerina]

+1 Hot Lights, Cold Steel
How We Die by Sherwin Nuland

 

[kopitar]

Hot Lights, Cold Steel, and I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell seem to be the most popular in this tread, think ill try those (but apparently not the movie 🙂)
thanks

c/o 2014

 

[kopitar]

but seriously, Atul Gawande is a saint, you all should read one of his books, preferably complications. ready set go 😀

c/o 2014

 

[Hextra]

I just finished up "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. It's a pretty quick read, starts a little slow then picks up and takes you for a ride. If you have any interest at all in a murder mystery I highly recommend it.

 

[loveoforganic]

Man's search for meaning

 

[PeachyPhd]

I recently finished DOs: Osteo... In America and really liked it. I learned a lot from it.

Other medical-ish suggestions:

Stiff
Poisoner's Handbook
Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain
Pharmakon

 

[gorlokdoc]

but seriously, Atul Gawande is a saint, you all should read one of his books, preferably complications. ready set go 😀

c/o 2014

I was actually a bigger fan of Better. Both were very good though.

Autism's False Prophets by Paul Offit was also very interesting

 

[PeachyPhd]

Autism's False Prophets by Paul Offit was also very interesting

Look Me In The Eyes--very enlightening about Asperger's Syndrome.

This thread + Amazon one click ordering on the iPhone are a toxic combo right now

 

[Atom bum]

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman was pretty good.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_ath...arch-alias=books&field-author=Jerome Groopman

 

[SamScribe]

I second "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman.

I´ll add "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. An excellent book.

For fiction try the classic "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. Yes it´s a book about rabbits, but it has some great lessons on leadership on top of being a highly enjoyable read.

 

[judasreznor]

House of God
How Doctors Think
Nothing is the Same When the Air Hits Your Brain
A Day In the Frontal Lobe
Phantoms in the Brain
The Richard Jadick book about his time as an Army surgeon.
Hot Lights, Cold Steel (my favorite of Collins' books)

Other books:
Infinite Jest
As I Lay Dying
The Brothers Karamazov
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

 

[PeachyPhd]

The Brothers Karamazov

👍

 

[christina30]

I just finished up "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. It's a pretty quick read, starts a little slow then picks up and takes you for a ride. If you have any interest at all in a murder mystery I highly recommend it.

👍

Also suggest: In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta Ahmed.

Very interesting.

 

[dancingDO14]

Thanks for the all the suggestions! Another: "Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality" by Dr. Pauline Chen. Really good.

+2 How Doctors Think

 

[kopitar]

I was actually a bigger fan of Better. Both were very good though.

Autism's False Prophets by Paul Offit was also very interesting

Haven't finished Better yet but it seems pretty awesome so far

This thread + Amazon one click ordering on the iPhone are a toxic combo right now

yeah this one click amazon ordering is like itunes for books, no good- think i just spent my life savings- like 23 bucks 😀

 

[ScottMontgomery]

How about Foundations For Osteopathic Medicine by Robert Ward. Its pretty heavy on the reading end at almost 1500 pages, but its quite fulfilling I think!

 

[dogenthusiaist]

I wanted to take a break from medical stiff and I read all of chelsea handler's books they were hilarious. I swear to god I totally laughed out loud at work while reading them and everyone looked at me like I was insane 😉 The best was her first one

My Horizontal Life, its a series of essays about her one night stands try it and you wont be disappointed

 

[lokiperson]

I'll throw in another shout out to Hot Lights, Cold Steel. I really, really enjoyed reading it and liked his writing style.

 

[zbeam]

Joseph Campell - The Power of Myth
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason

 

[zbeam]

- The Greatest show on Earth-- Evidence for evolution.(Dawkins)
- Finding Darwin's God(Miller)
- Only a Theory:Evoltion and the battle for America's soul (Miller)
- God Delusion(Dawkins)
- The Selfish Gene(Dawkins)
- I hope they serve beer in Hell

That's my list of books for Summer. 😴

Joseph Campell - The Power of Myth
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason

Those would be a good addition to your list. I have read / am reading most of those same books this summer.

 

[katarina90]

Thought that "My Lobotomy" was good (its a memoir of a man who got a lobotomy mainly due to the actions of his overbearing family, and a doctor in need of test subjects)

Currently reading: Listening to Prozac (about the ethics of prescribing psychotropic drugs in particular situations) and A Mood Apart (eloquently written book about mood disorders).

Non-medical books on my reading list: House of Mirth, Kremlin Rising, Post-Soviet Russia

 

[christina30]

I wanted to take a break from medical stiff and I read all of chelsea handler's books they were hilarious. I swear to god I totally laughed out loud at work while reading them and everyone looked at me like I was insane 😉 The best was her first one

My Horizontal Life, its a series of essays about her one night stands try it and you wont be disappointed

LOVE her books!! 👍

 

[ruiner]

I finished Children of Men and started Intern: a doctor's initiation by sandeep jauhar. It's pretty interesting, lots of stories about his time as an intern/resident in the ICU. its 300 pages but big print, prob will have it done pretty quick. next on list is hot lights, cold steel.

 

[YoungGregory]

I finished Children of Men and started Intern: a doctor's initiation by sandeep jauhar. It's pretty interesting, lots of stories about his time as an intern/resident in the ICU. its 300 pages but big print, prob will have it done pretty quick. next on list is hot lights, cold steel.

quoted so i remember to check it out next time i'm at borders.

 

[kopitar]

Thought that "My Lobotomy" was good (its a memoir of a man who got a lobotomy mainly due to the actions of his overbearing family, and a doctor in need of test subjects)

Currently reading: Listening to Prozac (about the ethics of prescribing psychotropic drugs in particular situations) and A Mood Apart (eloquently written book about mood disorders).

Non-medical books on my reading list: House of Mirth, Kremlin Rising, Post-Soviet Russia

Sounds like you are going into psychiatry?



Also has anyone read "Intern Blues", i got through the intro and dont see any reason to go on, anybody beg to differ?

Oh and how is "The Checklist Manifesto", that any good?

"Seriously, Who Farted?" by nick swardson, not a book but damn hilarious😀

 

[Bigdog2330]

+1 to Better.
+1 to Finding Darwin's god

I'm on a book called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. It is pretty much a book about all of the things human cadavers have been used for in the past. Very funny book and pretty interesting to read about since we are going to be dealing with cadavers in med school.

Up next for me is House of God. I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[The Poet Sings]

+1 for stiff. my boyfriend got it for me for valentine's day and i finished it in a few days (plane rides for an interview, so i had nothing else to do). definitely an interesting book.

i'm going to have to look on craigslist or something for some of these books. the shipping costs more than the book itself in most cases on amazon, and all that shipping adds up pretty quickly. i guess there is always the library, but i like to have my own personal library.

 

[KTownGT]

Joseph Campell - The Power of Myth
Thomas Paine - The Age of Reason

Those would be a good addition to your list. I have read / am reading most of those same books this summer.

Very nice.

I'll look into that. I've heard of Paine's book before. Campell's book has an interesting title..

hmm

 

[YoungGregory]

quoted so i remember to check it out next time i'm at borders.

I actually ended up getting Hot Lights, Cold Steel yesterday at Borders. I finished all 300 pages today.. What a great book!

 

[christina30]

Look Me In The Eyes--very enlightening about Asperger's Syndrome.

This thread + Amazon one click ordering on the iPhone are a toxic combo right now

Also aside from the John Elder Robison book - anything by Augusten Burroughs (Robison's brother, actually) and David Sedaris. Really dark humor, it's really great stuff.

 

[kopitar]

The Great Influenza- John Barry

 

[Neuron14]

Phantoms in the Brain : Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S. Ramachandran - for any future neurologists/psychiatrists.

 

[YoungGregory]

What are some other books like Hot Lights, Cold Steel guys?

 

[kopitar]

What are some other books like Hot Lights, Cold Steel guys?

Better and Complications. More general surgery though, and analysis, not "orthopods" and hockey haha😀