Books to read (that aren't textbooks)...

[GenghisKant]

Hi team,

I'm a voracious reader, I generally read around 100 books a year, I really enjoy it. As such I'd love some suggestions around good books to read during my pre-med years. They don't have to be medically related, but I'd appreciate those too.

Many thanks,

GK

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[Dresdenfan]

Not sure what kind of books you like, but here is a few I really enjoyed. If you like fantasy the Dresden files is a fun series. A good sci-fi series that is a bit older now is the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. For non-fiction Antifragile by Nassim Taleb was a very interesting read. If you like history the Byzantium set by John Julius Norwich is fantastic.

 

[GenghisKant]

Not sure what kind of books you like, but here is a few I really enjoyed. If you like fantasy the Dresden files is a fun series. A good sci-fi series that is a bit older now is the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. For non-fiction Antifragile by Nassim Taleb was a very interesting read. If you like history the Byzantium set by John Julius Norwich is fantastic.

These sound great! I've added them to my list.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

I also enjoy reading (~50/yr), and these three would have to be the top novels I have ever read.

 

[GenghisKant]

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Maus by Art Spiegelman
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

I also enjoy reading (~50/yr), and these three would have to be the top novels I have ever read.

Awesome, these sound very interesting! My "to-read" list is about to hit 2700...crazy!

 

[Moko]

You've probably already read these, but for the less literarily-inclined among us (< 1 book/year ), definitely "When Breath Becomes Air", and "The Last Lecture".

 

[drdking]

Assuming you mean non-fiction:

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Accidental Mind by David J. Linden

 

[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

Medically related, anything by Paul Offit is gold. Do You Believe in Magic is a great analysis about the pseudoscience behind alternative medicine and Deadly Choices is about the anti-vaccination movement. I'm currently reading Bad Faith, which is about how religion has negatively impacted medicine.

 

[Bergamot]

If you're looking for an escape, check out All the Light We Cannot See. Anthony Doerr's ability to create such a detailed visual world with his words is incredible.

 

[sharkbyte]

Does anyone have any humor books they'd recommend, fiction or non-fiction?

 

[Spinach Dip]

Does anyone have any humor books they'd recommend, fiction or non-fiction?

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

 

[morgoanie]

which is about how religion has negatively impacted medicine.

 

[LizzyM]

Here's a good thread from a year ago with a link within it to an even older thread that contains a summary list.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/good-books-to-read.1138018/

I am currently enjoying The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

 

[DRsmartypants]

I would say a couple of medically relevant(but non-textbook) novels I read were Better and the rest of his series and Mountains beyond Mountains. I also really liked Monday Mornings but that is more fictional of course.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Please, everyone, take a moment to read something which is not "medically relevant".

You will spend the next 40 years working in hospitals. Pick up a book which takes place outside the sterile field.

 

[kiwifriend]

I really enjoyed "The Demon Under the Microscope" and "The Alchemy of Air" by Thomas Hager. They are also pretty great as audiobooks! They are a really cool combination of science, history, and human interest!

 

[LizzyM]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/some-worthwhile-summer-reading.293681/page-4

LizzyM recommended, nonfiction:
Forgive and Remember Managing Medical Failure*by Charles L. Bosk. It is an oldie but very good, a sociologist's field report of a year (or so) following surgical teams. Very readable.
The Lazarus Case Life and Death Issues in Neonatal Intensive Care*by John D. Lantos, MD.*
Letters to a Young Doctor*by Richard Selzer, MD (his other books of essays & short stories are good, too)
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918*by Alfred W. Crosby
The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs on the World's Poorest Patients*by Sonia Shah
Death Foretold by Nicholas A. Christakis
Knife Man by Wendy Moore
The Emperor of All Maladies*by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care*by Augustus A. White, III
"The Cost of Hope" by Amanda Bennett
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert

LizzyM recommended, fiction:
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Tinkers by Paul Harding

others recommend, medical related:
Mountains beyond mountains, tracy kidder
The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, laurie garrett
When the Air hits your brain
A Not Entirely Benign Procedure by Perri Klass
Delivering Doctor Amelia*by Dan Shapiro
Healing the Wounds*by David Hilfiker(lizzym endorsement too)
spirit catches you and you fall down, anne fadiman
Second Opinions by Jerome Groopman
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, Abraham Verghese
The Tennis Partner, Abraham Verghese
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Calling, by Blair Grubb MD
Out of Poverty -Paul Polak
The Healing of America -T.R. Reid
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers*by Mary Roach
"The Ghost Map" by steven johnson
The Least of these My Brethren: A Doctor's Story of Hope and Miracles in an Inner-City AIDS Ward, Daniel Baxter

fiction:
House of God
A Case of Need: A Novel, Michael Crichton
Travels, Michael Crichton
Five Patients, Michael Crichton
Doctors, Erich Segal
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
jonathan livingston seagull, bach, richard bach

non-medical:
Late Night Thoughts While Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony
Biophilia by Edward O. Wilson
The Third Chimpanzee -Jared Diamond
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruse by Piot, Peter
Surely, You're Joking Mr. Feynman
The Warmth of Other Suns The Epic Story of the America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

 

[GenghisKant]

You've probably already read these, but for the less literarily-inclined among us (< 1 book/year ), definitely "When Breath Becomes Air", and "The Last Lecture".

These are on my list but I haven't read either of them! Glad to hear they are worth it!

 

[EaglesontheWarpath]

I'm with you-I've been spending a ton of time during my gap year reading.

Non-Medical:
Ready Player One by Earnest Cline
Wool by Hugh Howey
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany Maclean
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Boys In the Boat by Daniel James Brown
World War Z by Max Brooks

Medical:
any book by Atul Gawande
The Philadelphia Chromosome by Jessica Wapner
The Great Influenza by John Barry
Brain On Fire by Susannah Cahalan (Highly Recommend)
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Traci Kidder

 

[Doctor Strange]

Currently reading 11/20/63 by Stephen King. It's good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using SDN mobile

 

[Styrene]

Sexus

 

[To be MD]

Hi team,

I'm a voracious reader, I generally read around 100 books a year, I really enjoy it. As such I'd love some suggestions around good books to read during my pre-med years. They don't have to be medically related, but I'd appreciate those too.

Many thanks,

GK

Hey Kant (never thought I'd ever get to write that),

Though I read all genres, my six favorite books I've read as a young man are, in order:

1. The Brothers Karamazov by F. Dostoyevsky [Approaches the 19th century moral dilemma "if God does not exist, everything is permitted" & splits the Romantic, Intellectual, and Religious parts of Dostoyevsky into the three brothers.]
2. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy [There is no greater work exploring the human condition.]
3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote [1st true crime novel ever written. Absolutely explosive.]
4. Silence by Shusaku Endo [Looks in depth at the question of whether or not a benevolent God can exist in the midst of suffering.]
5. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller [Modern warfare and military bureaucracy is f*(&ed. Truly hilarious & utterly exhausting to read. LizzyM mentioned House of God which is in some ways a hospital spin off of this novel. It is also good.]
6. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand [Describes Rand's philosophy of 'Objectivity' through an architect, Howard Roark. This novel sincerely undermines the morality of selflessness.]


Thanks for asking .

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

.

 

[Mad Jack]

I also enjoy reading (~50/yr), and these three would have to be the top novels I have ever read.

Your interest in anesthesiology suddenly makes far more sense

 

[mimelim]

www.hpmor.com

 

[Spector1]

watership down

 

[RuggerMD]

Does anyone have any humor books they'd recommend, fiction or non-fiction?

"Let's Pretend This Never Happened" is hysterical. I also find Terry Pratchett effortlessly funny.

 

[Silmaril]

Intense & Exciting
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe (a nonfiction journalistic story about the first astronauts. It's incredible.)
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, by John Krakauer

Serious/Historical:
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, By Alexander Solzhenitsyn (About life in a soviet gulag, recounted by a survivor. He's written many other accounts, as well.)
Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi

Purely Funny/Entertaining Read:
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, by Matthew Polly (This nonfiction is about a wimpy ivy leaguer who decided to drop everything to pursue his dream of training with Shaolin monks in China. Read at your own risk. It is hilarious.)

Medical/Science Books:
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Everything written by Atul Gawande
Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (a fiction drama and medical novel)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures , by Anne Fadiman (nonfiction)
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge (an engaging nonfiction about the promising science of neuroplasticity)
The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution, by James Hannam