Good books every premed should read?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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dahmsom

dahmsom

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Hello,
Im just taking a couple of months off and looking for more inspiration before going through the whole application cycle. Im just looking for recommendation for books to read that are inspirational.. I went to barnes and nobles today and tried to find a book but I wanted to know what you guys think..

lol
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I enjoyed This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine. It's a collection of memoirs so it's good for people with short attention spans (me) or little time to squeeze in reading.
 
Second the Anne Fadiman book.

Also, Attending Children: a doctor's education--a deeply moving and insightful book by my incredibly wise and wonderful mentor.
 
I love reading biographies of doctors who are missionaries in third world nations, and their stories are very inspiring and thought-provoking. I recommend reading about David Livingstone, Ida Scudder, Paul Brand, and Hudson Taylor. I also just read a book about Katie Davis, who went to Africa as a missionary straight out of high school and started her own non-profit organization. Just my two cents...
 
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Maus by Art Spiegelman

When you get tired of books by doctors and about doctors, give these 3 masterpieces a spin.
 
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In Stitches by Anthony Youn, entertaining and interesting read.
 
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink, MD, PhD.

Oh whoops, you asked for inspirational. This is not an inspirational book. Although it may inspire you not to act as those portrayed in the book did.

I highly recommend it when you aren't looking for something uplifting.
 
I have a couple of books I really liked to recommend and an opinion.

I enjoyed Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives by Michael Ruhlman. Just a exciting book by a good author.
For inspiring and good food for reflections, I recommend God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet. It's about Laguna Honda Hospital, a US almshouse - I think the last one.

For opinion, I'm not sure why Atul Gawande is really popular. I know he's well liked so I must be missing something. It might be that I've seen death and lack of humanity growing up but he seems hard to relate with. That's just my bias and me liking to hear myself talk.
 
You have plenty of medically related recommendations, so how about something a bit different. You should check out The Martian if you're at all inclined to reading sci-fi.
 
House of God by Samuel Shem
Short White Coat by James Fenstein
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verhese

edit: typos are fixed
 
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Anything by Oliver Sacks is also a great read. To break it up a bit there are several excellent medically-related documentaries on PBS frontline that are available free of charge online and are highly relevant topics. Being mortal is on of the more recent ones aired.
 
How to Make Friends and Influence People by Carnegie
 
Learned Optimism by Martin E. Seligman, Ph.D.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, M.D.

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
 
HAVOK121121 said:
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Click to expand...

That is just cruel.

And if you are going to suggest Kafka to one about to endure a Kafkaesque interaction with a distant, unfeeling bureaucracy which will pass final judgment upon them for reasons that are obscured and somewhat arbitrary, then you should be recommending The Trial.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7849
 
jagster92 said:
i'm not sure about inspiring but the spirit catches you and you fall down by Anne Fadiman is a good and relevant read.
Click to expand...

ugh...

nothing WRONG with the book really, but I found the chapters on the history of the Hmong far more interesting than her writing on any of the medical parts. I kind of left the book thinking "ok Fadiman, what was your point?"
 
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I just re-read Intern by Dr. Jauhar. It's an amazing book, with such vivid imagery.

Probably going to start his second book: Doctored, this week.

And then planning on reading "Being Mortal" by Dr. Gawande thereafter.
 
I would highly recommend any of Abraham Verghese's books.

The Tennis Partner

My Own Country

Cutting for Stone
 
Probably anything that affirms your own identitiy, goals, and aspirations. I read most of the recommendations of the above posters. I also recommend Richard Selzer books... (The Exact Location of the Soul, etc). He has a way with words that made the medicine resonate within me.
 
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