Good Books to read

[Sherif]

Any Suggestions? Any type of book will be good as long as its good. Med or Not med

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[clevertooth]

Complications

 

[SoCalOrBust]

Something medicine related?- I read "Mountains beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. It's about a Harvard doc that tries to improve healthcare in other countries like Haiti. I actually talked about it at a few interviews- really interesting if you wanna hear about one man's perspective on the medical career and what motivated this man to do what he does.

 

[Mr Reddly]

Any Suggestions? Any type of book will be good as long as its good

My sis got this one for me for my B-day.

barnesandnoble


From the Publisher
"From a long line of liars, there's non higher upper

So begins the cautionary tale of a liar so amazing, so outrageous, so talented, that no one is spared. Edwurd Fudwupper spends all his time cooking up fibs full of phooey and letting them rip. But one day, Edwurd tells such a world-class lie, such a humdinger, that the army, the air force, and the dog catcher are called to try to reverse the damage Edwurd's lie has wrought--with little success! But just when fingers are pointing at Edwurd and he about to be punished, an unlikely heroine comes to his rescue.

Berkeley Breathed's contemporary fable proves that unless you have a devoted little sister, it's best to stick to the truth."

"Berkeley Breathed, one of America's most popular illustrators, has won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial cartooning. His comic strip "Bloom County" ran for years in newspapers around the world, and his books of the collected cartoons include the bestsellers 'Toons for Our Times and Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things. His highly acclaimed picture books, A Wish for Wings That Work, The Last Basselope, Goodnight, Opus, and Red Ranger Came Calling, have been hits with children and adults alike.

Berkeley Breathed lives, surfs, and collects vintage ray guns with his wife, Jody, in southern California."

 

[Sherif]

Come on Peeps, Voice your book

 

[SolidGold]

There are a million threads like this.

I would suggest House of God. I think at least half of everyone on SDN has read it.

 

[Syranope2]

i'm currently reading Arthur C. Clarke's RAMA series. Sooooo incredibly good. Another great scifi series is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It sounds like I'm a scifi junkie, but these are the only two series in the genre i've ever read. you'll love them

 

[CalBeE]

Dan Brown's 4 books. Just treat them as fictions and realize that although the interpretation of some symbols are controversial, the books still are enjoyable.

 

[Nike]

Complications

diddo. Great book . . . I couldn't put it down. Although everyone seems to suggest House of God, I wasn't a fan and never finished it. Nature vs. Nurture by Matt Ridley was really interesting. In terms of non science/med books . . . I loved reading A Civil Action. I think it's nonfiction but it reads like a fiction book. Into Thin Air was another great book. If you do a search, you'll find other threads with many good book suggestions.

 

[Peachy720]

Are you sure that you want me to answer this one?

Med:
already read:
1)A Not Entirely Benign Procedure
2)White Coat
3)Intern Blues

On the Way:
1)Peterson's Game Plan for Getting Into Med School
2)Peterson's Guide to Medical School: Interviews with Current Students to See what their schools are REALLY like
3)House of God
4)Mount Misery

Wish List:
1)101 Biggest Mistakes Residents Make
2)Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
3)Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor

Non-Medical:
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Chris Fuhrman
The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire
Princess Bride, William Goldman
Neverending Story, Michael Ende
IT, Stephen King (or the Shining, Pet Semetary--IT is best, though)
any of the Harry Potters
Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
Rainmaker or Time to Kill, John Grisham

 

[Baditude]

Anything by:
Janet Evanovich
Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Jeffery Deaver
Johnathan or Faye Kellerman
John Saul
and many many more

 

[jlee9531]

Nickel and Dimed. On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich

 

[exmike]

The Fountainhead, Atlas Struggled - Ayn Rand
A Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
Where I'm Coming From, misc short stories - Raymond Carver
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl

 

[4 Ever]

THE DA VINCI CODE - awesome book... definitely a must read

 

[mdsadler]

I am about to finish Junkfood Nation and I have really enjoyed it to this point.

One of my favorite authors is Chuck Palahniuk. He is the author of Fight Club. Out of his books my favorites are Invisible Monsters and Choke. Choke is somewhat medically related. The main character is a med school drop out sex addict who makes money by fake choking at fancy restaurants. Definitely a great read.

 

[Zweihander]

i'm currently reading Arthur C. Clarke's RAMA series. Sooooo incredibly good. Another great scifi series is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It sounds like I'm a scifi junkie, but these are the only two series in the genre i've ever read. you'll love them

You fool!! You foolish fool!!! You haven't read Dune?

Go read! Now!! GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!!!!!!!!


Ender's Game rocks by the way.

 

[modelcitizen]

I am about to finish Junkfood Nation and I have really enjoyed it to this point.

i heard this one was really good. it's my next read.

 

[chopper]

If you like historical fiction: The Aubrey/Maturin "Master and Commander" Series. Just watch out - it can suck you in and there are 20 of the books.

 

[flighterdoc]

the great influenza. Pretty good read.

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

"Damages" by Barry Werth. This book truly changed my opinion regarding medicine. It is required reading at many law schools. I *HIGHLY* recommend it.

 

[Premedtomed]

" House of God" you might read this one in medical school.
If you are into finance/business like me then read J B Fuqua

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel ( I shall be reading this one in summer hopefully)
I think it's about a young boy's struggle with faith systems

 

[Premedtomed]

Nickel and Dimed. On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich

Terrible book I had to read it for my Behavior in Administration class. C'mon, she's a communist and what was up with her not wanting to work in the Latino dominated area - racist perhaps.

 

[Offear]

I think Pride and Prejudice is always a good read, but I would most assuredly recommend Angela's Ashes and it's sequel, 'Tis. They are both absouletly amazing books. The Princess Bride is always a good read, as well.

I sometimes like to re-read the books I read when I was younger, like Roll of Thuder Hear My Cry, The Giver and Where the Red Fern grows. Now that summer is here, I'll have time to read again!

 

[chigirl78]

I have been reading voraciously lately due to the fact that in 3 months I'll be lucky to glance at the paper every day. Some of my favorites are Crime and Punishment (seriously), Moneyball, and The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay. All different, but all incredibly wonderful. My next book is Middlesex, I hear it's fantastic.

 

[CaptainZero]

Medical:
I've read Body of Knowledge and House of God, and I'll second votes for those - But I haven't heard anyone mention Travels by Michael Crichton. Part of it is describing his time at Harvard Med, where he got his MD degree from.

Non Medical - Some Favs:
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
Anything by Bret Easton Ellis
To Have and Have Not, A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises all by Hemingway.

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about the guy that wrote Fight Club...as someone else mentioned. His books are next on my list.

 

[Trekkie963]

Dan Brown's 4 books. Just treat them as fictions and realize that although the interpretation of some symbols are controversial, the books still are enjoyable.

I love all of Dan Brown's books. Never took me more than three days to read a single one...real page-turners. I can't wait for the first movie to come out.

 

[angstrom55]

I think Pride and Prejudice is always a good read, but I would most assuredly recommend Angela's Ashes and it's sequel, 'Tis. They are both absouletly amazing books. The Princess Bride is always a good read, as well.

I sometimes like to re-read the books I read when I was younger, like Roll of Thuder Hear My Cry, The Giver and Where the Red Fern grows. Now that summer is here, I'll have time to read again!

Angela's Ashes is definately a great book!

 

[Reimat]

Some good popular non-fiction are "The quantum brain", and "A shortcut through time: the path to the quantum computer". Both good if you're interested in quantum mechanics without significant backround in that area of physics.
In terms of fiction, most of Dickens is fantastic if you have the time to get through it.

 

[LionInTheDark]

Some of my favorites:

'Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco (and 'Foucault's Pendulum' for the portraits of revolutionary Italy and Brazil)

'Things Fall Apart' and 'No Longer at Ease' by Chinua Achebe

Jorge Borges' collected short fiction

'The War of the End of the World' by Mario Vargas Llosa

I agree with someone (Zweilander?) on Dune- the 1st, 3rd, and 5th books in the series are the best. Rama series was great too...

 

[LionInTheDark]

Oh, and 'Dracula.' Great book.

 

[coldchemist]

I've been looking around for some practical books on medical school survival, study strategies, etc. I found one that I decided to order...it's not widely available, but you can find it on amazon.com. It's called "Success Types for Medical Students". If interested, I suggest you look for it on the Texas Tech website (do a search for the title and you'll find it) as it costs much less when ordered from TT rather than Amazon.

 

[jeremyh42]

So I guess I'm the only one on this thread that hasn't read "House of God"...
I've spent the past two years trying to read as much as I can before I start med school and have to hold off on my ever-expanding reading list for awhile (as in the next 8-10 years).
I'm suprised that nobody mentioned Roald Dahl or William Gibson, two of my favorites. I'd also recommend anything by Vonnegut- Welcome to the Monkey House might be the best collection of 20th century American short stories- certainly the best I've encountered. Who here thinks that reading too much as a child may have contributed to their development of myopia?
For my money, the primo Arthur C Clarke isn't the Rama series, but the 2001 series, and Childhood's End is definitely the best single novel he wrote.

 

[camstah]

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin or anything by Orson Scott Card...

 

[seev99]

"The Ten Things You Can't Say in America" by Larry Elder...liberals beware...holla!

 

[seev99]

Nickel and Dimed. On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich

Nikel and Dimed is a really interesting book, even though you may not agree with its perspective...it's actually hard to put down once you start reading it!

 

[flighterdoc]

"The Ten Things You Can't Say in America" by Larry Elder...liberals beware...holla!

Vision of the annointed, by Thomas Sowell, too. Both good.

 

[RU2003]

For Medically related books, i have to strongly recommend both:

COMPLICATIONS by Atul Gawande and THE ART OF MEDICINE by Kevin Soden

Great reads

 

[ForensicPath]

I am about to finish Junkfood Nation and I have really enjoyed it to this point.

One of my favorite authors is Chuck Palahniuk. He is the author of Fight Club. Out of his books my favorites are Invisible Monsters and Choke. Choke is somewhat medically related. The main character is a med school drop out sex addict who makes money by fake choking at fancy restaurants. Definitely a great read.

I second the Palahniuk nomination. I just finished Invisible Monsters and I have already read Choke, Fight Club, and Survivor. Lullaby is next on my list.

Here is a short story by him that was published in Playboy recently:
http://www.seizureandy.com/stuff/guts.html (warning: this story is not for everyone)

 

[2112_rush]

The Fountainhead, Atlas Struggled - Ayn Rand

Have to second this opinion, especially The Fountainhead. I also recommend anything by Phillip Dick.

 

[jlee9531]

Terrible book I had to read it for my Behavior in Administration class. C'mon, she's a communist and what was up with her not wanting to work in the Latino dominated area - racist perhaps.

a communist that loves to use money? haha.

but anyways she did not want to work there because when employers get used to one type of ethnic group dominating the workforce there...and then they see a white woman...they are gonna think something is up.
for the needs of her book, she needed to find some type of work in a place where she wouldnt be questioned as to why she is in that area to work - hence Key West, Maine and Minnesota.

 

[jlee9531]

oh yeah another reason is that i was intrigued by the idea that someone would want to live a life of a poor person (me) even if it was only for a short period of time.

she struggled even though she kinda cheated in some areas...which says a lot of how tough the poor really do have it.
im just fortunate to have found a sense of stability right now.

 

[Peachy720]

I second the Palahniuk nomination. I just finished Invisible Monsters and I have already read Choke, Fight Club, and Survivor. Lullaby is next on my list.

Here is a short story by him that was published in Playboy recently:
http://www.seizureandy.com/stuff/guts.html (warning: this story is not for everyone)

Wow.

That story seriously has left me speechless.

I've had Fight Club and Choke on my Amazon Wish List for years--guess it's about time I finally buy them...

 

[franklinthedog]

I apologize in advance if someone else already listed this, I didn't read pages 1 and 2 of this thread.

"Dry, A Memoir" by Augusten Burroughs....a recovering alcoholic in his mid-twenties dealing with love, life, and Manhattan....awesome book!!