Favorite "pass-time" books

[Frictionbaby]

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Wanted to start a post to see if anyone has particular favorite "pleasure-reading" books. I hated reading all through high school and college...more of a cliff notes, skim the surface kind of guy...just the essentials.

One thing I've developed since almost finishing medical school is I can't keep a book out of my hands. Since the end of my fourth year has provided me with ample free time, I've been looking to read a lot of good books that I may not have time for once internship starts.

Though I prefer to read books on surgical history, science and math related topics, I also like biographies, fiction, classics, etc.

Some of my own personal favorites I'd highly recommend:

1) "When the air hits your brain" by Frank Vertosick. One of my favorites. Have read more than once. About a neurosurgeon's training and the perils of neurosurgical residency and patient failures. I'm in no way interested in neurosurgery, yet this author's style of writing is great. He's hilarious and has a quirky sense of humor.

2) "This ain't ER" by Patrick Murrah. Diary style account of a resident's training from college through CT fellowship training at a "malignant old-school program" of Bayview General (Though I'm told this is actually UAB during the pre Kirby Bland days). Concerns the struggles he had trying to keep his humanity throughout the difficult training process.

3) "Complications" by Atul Gawande. Another account of a surgery resident's training ups and downs.

4) "Genius: The life and science of Richard Feynman" by James Gleick. Excellent account of one of the rare physics and mathematics minds of the century. He was not as well known to the physics world as Einstein, Oppenheimer, etc. but was known for his expose of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. A must read for those physics enthusiasts.

5) "King of Hearts" by Wayne Miller. History of the "mavericks who pioneered open heart surgery." Details the life of Walt Lillihei, a renegade Minnesota surgeon, less well known in the field of open heart surgery, but who made some of the first discoveries that paved the way for Barnard's heart transplant and the invention of the heart-lung machine. Excellent read.

6) Any Michael Crichton book (Sphere, Timeline, Prey, Terminal Man...)

If you have some personal favorites (on any topic) post them so I can get some cheap buys off of amazon, ebay, etc. Times running out, match is swiftly approaching!!! Good luck.

 

[ajimd]

If you like reading classics, I would highly recommend some Hemingway books:
1. To have and have not
2. For whom the bell tolls
3. A moveable feast
4. Islands in the stream
These are all pretty good and will definitely keep you entertained.

Another excellent classic is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye"

Some more contemporary stuff I'm reading now is "Memoires of my melancholy ******" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know, the title is pretty odd, but the story is really about carpe diem and all that jazz. If you got time, and I know you do as a 4th year, you should read it.

 

[geekgirl]

i'm a nerdy non-fiction reader. like concepts. like unifying themes. like history. here are recent(ish) goodies:

1. the knife man - hx/story of john hunter (the UK one, not the oregon one)
2. feakonomics
3. blink and/or tipping point
4. complexity - story of the people and ideas behind the santa fe institute
5. fatal sequence - story of ICU doc and studies on sepsis
6. an anthropologist on mars - oliver sachs vignettes on pts w neuro probs
7. animals in translation - perspective of woman with asperger's who got her phd in animal behaviour and designs humane slaughterhouses (sounds weird, actually very good)
8. linked - about networks at all scales
9. synch - about syncrony in biologic systems (small scale and large scale)
10. wisdom of the crowd - book about group dynamics
11. critical mass - philip ball

fiction (read less often) but like:

any haruki murakami (like wild sheep chase myself)
david foster wallace - broom of the system
saramago - blindness

also agree catcher in the rye is great. kafka metamorphosis good. hesse steppenwolf. vonnegut. oldies are also goodies.

 

[ExtraCrispy]

My favorite book of all time is The Waves by Virginia Woolf. To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway are also good.

I'd definitely second the above poster's recommendations re: Hemingway. A Moveable Feast is my second favorite book of all time, followed by For Whom the Bell Tolls .

I just finished Pat Barker's Regeneration , which I'd also recommend - amazing character development.

I also enjoyed Uncle Tom's Cabin, and anything by Dickens if I have time on my hands - except Bleak House , man oh man I just couldn't get into that one.

 

[Plastikos]

I took reading up again on the interview trail by reading a book on my flight home, and was very glad i did.

Crichton-State of Fear, lots of Dean Koontz. I want to read a few of the ones on GG's list.

 

[surg]

If you like Richard Feynman, you definitely can't miss his two books,
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman
and
What do you care what other people think?

They comprise some amusing stories of his life over the years.

One of my favorite leisure reading books for the slightly sci-fi oriented is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's an easy read, probably at about a high school level. The companion books Ender's Shadow is also worth the read.

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

I too am a big fan of Hemingway, so I would add The Sun Also Rises, it is one my my current favorites. It is a quick and entertaining read, especially if you like fishing, drinking, or Hemingway.
Another book that I love is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. A little bit slower read, but it is a deep novel.

 

[RichL025]

Somehow I managed to get on a classical greece kick a few years back.

Started w/ fiction: "Gates of Fire" by Stephen Pressfield - histori-fiction about the stand at Thermopylae. Great read that was required reading in my prior army unit. Movie coming out soon I think, but get the book!

Branched into non-fiction - latest was Robert Fagles translation of the Odyssey (never thought I would actually read that book, but I rather enoyed it).

"A war like no other" - by Victor Hanson about the Peloponnesian War.

For a medical bent: "The Healing Hand" by Guido Majno - a pathologist who decided to write a "definitive" history of the wound & wound treatment. Starts with the Babylonians & Egyptians, includes ancient greeks & romans, chinese, indians. He conducted his own experiemnts about the antiseptic power of wine, etc. A must-read historical book for surgeons!

Yah, you can see I majored in History in school, huh?

 

[Entei]

If you like Richard Feynman, you definitely can't miss his two books,
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman
and
What do you care what other people think?

They comprise some amusing stories of his life over the years.

I was going to recommend these this morning when I first saw this thread, but was running too late to post. So now I'll second Surg's recommendation.

I've got an oddball book I'd like to recommend: Autumn Lightning: The Education of an American Samurai by Dave Lowry. It's an autobiography/historical novel that alternates between Lowry's experiences training in the Yagyu Shinkage ryu style and some history about the Yagyu Shinkage ryu. It's really a fascinating read, and there are some (I think) interesting parallels that can be drawn between Lowry's training and the system of medical education. Here's an excerpt.

I'm about to start reading Blink. It seems like everyone has been recommending this book, so I hope it's good.

 

[Frictionbaby]

--Gesundheit by Hunter "Patch" Adams. We've probably all seen the movie, but the book is even more moving.

--The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. True account of the famous hemorrhagic viruses of Africa and the outbreaks that have occured including Marburg, Ebola and HIV.

--The Fourth Dimension by Rudy Rucker. A rather comical and "layperson" description of understanding higher dimensions. If you've heard of or read "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott, this is similar. Very cool book with cool pictures.

--Faster Than the Speed of Light by Joao Magueijo. Challenges Einstein's relativity and finite speed of light theories to try to solve some of the world's most pervasive cosmological problems.

--The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner somewhat difficult read, but good. Told through multiple narrators.

Similar to the post from above (Odyssey) I just got through reading the entire Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradisio) by Dante. One of those I managed to not read in high school/college when I was supposed to. I hesitate to say that I actually enjoyed it. I'm such a dork now, I was never like this before...I mean other than deriving great pleasure from sitting around working complex calculus problems in my spare time.

Thanks for all of the recommendations. Some I've read and some I look forward to reading. Keep em coming.

 

[Smoke This]

Gotta side with the Hemingway fans here. I also enjoyed and would recommend A Farewell to Arms, The Dangerous Summer, The Nick Adams Stories, and of course The Old Man and the Sea.

 

[Endzone]

This is the closest I've ever been to belonging in a book club.

Favorite Fiction:
-The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. Daunting in size but worth every page.

Favorite Nonfiction:
-The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Greatly popularized by the press and surprisingly good for all the hype.
-John Adams by David McCullough.

Currently Reading:
-Miles Gone By by William F. Buckley, Jr.
-The Illustrated History of Surgery by Knut Haeger. A fascinating journey from the earliest trepanners to the modern era. Impressively detailed, this book just makes you feel smarter reading it.

Next on the shelf:
-American Surgery: An Illustrated History by Ira M. Rutkow. Yes, I do like pictures.
-1776 by David McCullough. After interviewing in Boston, I'm very much looking forward to this one.
-Art of War by Sun Tzu. Something I've wanted to read for a very long time.
-Truman by David McCullough. This guy can make anyone interested in American history with his writing.

If anyone has read any of these, feel free to share you thoughts.

 

[RichL025]

I have Rutkow's "American Surgery" on my short list, from thumbing thru it so far it looks good.

1776 by McCullogh was _excellent_, I read it this last fall. Couldn't put it down - it's really surprising how close we came to losing the war.

If you like 1776, get "Washington's Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer - concentrates mainly on the battle of trenton, but an excellent first few chapters explaining how the Americans, British, and Hessian troops were trained, brought up, thought and how that influenced how they reacted. Can't recommend it enough for that first section alone.

 

[John K. Toole]

I absolutely echo the earlier post that suggested Blink and/or The Tipping Point. These Gladwell books were recent finds for me and are AMAZING. Everyone who interviewed for residency and just got a "good feeling" should read Blink---it will help you to understand why and convince you that it is OK to trust just such an inspiration....

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

As we seem to be on a biography/history kick, I would recommend "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. It is an account of the Battle of Gettysburg from both the Union and Confederate sides. The movie Gettsburg was based on the book. It is a quick read, but it is a great book, especially if you like war/history books.

 

[John K. Toole]

And, of course, from my quote, I must recommend "A Confederacy of Dunces," which is the funniest novel I have ever read.

 

[geekgirl]

And, of course, from my quote, I must recommend "A Confederacy of Dunces," which is the funniest novel I have ever read.

ah yes, sad but good. he committed suicide pre-publication....

 

[John K. Toole]

ah yes, sad but good. he committed suicide pre-publication....

He actually never submitted the manuscript. After he committed suicide, his mother found the novel when they were cleaning out his desk and submitted it to the publisher of his other novel. Subsequently, it won the Pulitzer Prize.

 

[geekgirl]

He actually never submitted the manuscript. After he committed suicide, his mother found the novel when they were cleaning out his desk and submitted it to the publisher of his other novel. Subsequently, it won the Pulitzer Prize.

i know. i heard the story. but still sad. sad. sad.....

 

[CANES2006]

Personally, I liked Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

 

[drrouz]

John Steinbeck: Tortilla Flats, East of Eden
If you are considering reading Blink you might also read a rebuttal:Think by Michael LeGault
Also, I just finished reading The Complete Adventures of Curious Character, the complete collection of Richard Feynman's stories. I also heartily recommend this book for physics enthusiasts.

 

[Ergo]

Ive been on a Jared Diamond kick. He is the UCLA evolutionary biologist who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning Guns Germs and Steel, a book describing the effect of geography and environment on advancement and military might of societies, which I found to be a fabulous brain food.

Recently I enjoyed Collapse, a look at the cycles of human civilization and their relationship to the environment.

Now reading Why Sex is Fun, a look at the evolution of human sexuality. Fascinating, and a quick read. Just purchased The Third Chimpanzee.

 

[NineSixteen]

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
EXCELLENT - one of my favorites of all time. A story told by the five perspectives of mother and four daughters on a missionary trip to Africa in 1959, during the Independence of the Congo. Amazing commentary on so many things - family, race, love, religion, global politics...incredible

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Beautifully written story of a young girl in a very Greek family in Detroit who turns out to have 5-alpha reductase deficiency (for anyone who hasn't studied for the boards in a while like me - that means that young Calliope Helen grows up to be strapping and handsome Cal). Also a great book

The Great Influenza, John Barry
About the Flu Pandemic of 1919 - fascinating public health and medical history

 

[quidnunc]

I personally have enjoyed non-fiction/popular science, like

-Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel", "the Third Chimpanzee,"
-Gould's "the Mismeasure of man"
-Dawkin's "the selfish Gene"
...others I can't remember right now

Other than this, I like my SI, FHM, USNW, and all that other good stuff for fluff.

-Q

 

[Lioness]

Yay, a book thread! Thanks to everyone else for the replies so far, I've padded my wish list.

Classics
I agree with the previous mention of Dante's Inferno. Haven't read the Purgatorio \ Paradisio yet (in the big pile of books owned but not read - I'm still an MS3!) but I greatly enjoyed the first. I personally like the John Ciardi translation, he does a good job explaining references to people \ events that were prominent at the time but have not made it into our current knowledge of history.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. About a British butler re-thinking the course and meaning of his life. Moving, depressing, and soooo good.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. An aristocrat who does not age exploring morality and whether or not he has a conscience. The only novel Wilde wrote (his plays are excellent as well, especially The Importance of Being Earnest.)

Other Fiction
The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas. A forewarning that this book is very odd and fairly graphic (was part of my Psychiatry in Literature elective). Starts as a woman recounting a dream to Freud, first as a poem then as a story, followed by his analysis and then the story of the rest of her life. You won't forget the ending.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Recent Pulitzer winner. I can't escribe it adquately, so look it up on Amazon

SciFi
Anything by Neal Stephenson For the more SciFi oriented, try Snow Crash (who doesn't love ninja pizza delivery men mixed with Sumerian mythology?). For historical fiction, go with Cryptonomicon (cryptology now and during WWII) or the Baroque Cycle trilogy. Either way, I just love his writing style.
Anything by Vernor Vinge particularly A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Fantastic stories about initial meetings and conflicts with other cultures.

That's probably enough for now 😉

 

[mysophobe]

Complications was a great book. My two favorite authors are Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis, so just about anything by them will do me good. I enjoy reading classics too, e.g., Plato, Thoreau, etc.

 

[Chris's patient]

If you like reading classics, I would highly recommend some Hemingway books:
1. To have and have not
2. For whom the bell tolls
3. A moveable feast
4. Islands in the stream
These are all pretty good and will definitely keep you entertained.

Another excellent classic is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye"

Some more contemporary stuff I'm reading now is "Memoires of my melancholy ******" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I know, the title is pretty odd, but the story is really about carpe diem and all that jazz. If you got time, and I know you do as a 4th year, you should read it.

You're leaving off his best work - The sun also rises

come on guy

 

[Chris's patient]

You're leaving off his best work - The sun also rises

come on guy

"All day and all night the Fiesta kept on"


maybe he was referring to residency