Recommended Reading

[GPCR 4 life]

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I have free time in between work and school for leisure reading. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for "non textbook" reading prior to dental school enrollment?

Thanks.

 

[Ryltar]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 

[dudeman]

Lone Survivor. Easily one of the best books I have ever read, hands down. Its a true story about navy seal team 10. read it!

 

[yeodent]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 

[navneetdh]

check out this website --- i think it is called goodreads
it is pretty cool. They have books sorted by categories like -- best books of all time, wort books, horror books, space adventures etc etc. So you can go to the category you find interesting and choose a books.

Also the members have elaborate reviews about the books there.

I hope it helps you out. 🙂

 

[ohdearhopeipass]

harry potter

 

[americanpierg]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

That's a horrible read. The only exciting part was when the infinite improbibility drive was introduced.

The best book ever written is The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. I repeat, BEST BOOK EVER.

The movies totally ruined everything that was good about the Dr. Dolittle books. I hate you Eddie Murphy.

 

[kaDa]

Ender's Game. Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse 5. And yea, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance one of my all time favs too. Old stephen king like It, The Stand, Tommyknockers, or the gunslinger series. Freakonomics was a good read as well. Too many good books, too little time 🙁.

 

[flying rider]

I second Ender's Game. That book was awesome. I was supposed to be studying for midterms when I picked it up... and then I couldn't put it down.

 

[bigstix808]

On Call in Hell

or

Tweak

neither are anything alike, but i enjoyed them both.

 

[wwdaffodils]

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell (or anything else by Gladwell. Man's a genius.)
Stiff, Mary Roach
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
Anonymous Lawyer, Jeremy Blachman
Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale

Seriously, even people who hate reading will love these books. I don't know why people always recommend the boring, supposedly "smart" books-- in my spare time, the last thing I want to read is a canonized book. I've literally read each of these books on a single flight. Yes, they're that good; you don't want to put them down, even if you have to read in a cramped, stuffy airplane cabin with a tiny airplane light.

 

[Dakren12]

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell (or anything else by Gladwell. Man's a genius.)
Stiff, Mary Roach
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
Anonymous Lawyer, Jeremy Blachman
Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale

Seriously, even people who hate reading will love these books. I don't know why people always recommend the boring, supposedly "smart" books-- in my spare time, the last thing I want to read is a canonized book. I've literally read each of these books on a single flight. Yes, they're that good; you don't want to put them down, even if you have to read in a cramped, stuffy airplane cabin with a tiny airplane light.

 

[americanpierg]

War and Peace. have fun

 

[Stacker]

The Bible.

 

[americanpierg]

The Bible.

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

 

[Ryltar]

Anything by John Steinbeck is good.

 

[gentile1225]

Anything from James Patterson is BETTER! Hahaha J/K. If you look "twisted stories" try some of these... kiss the girls, cross, double cross, along came a spider, mary mary, etc.

 

[ckmonster]

I agree!

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

I agree! it doesnt get any better than this! 😉

 

[Svart Aske]

I am currently reading The Journey of Man by Spencer Wells, a book on genetic and human biodiversity. Quite a good read if you have some interest in biology, history or anthropology.

Anything from James Patterson is BETTER! Hahaha J/K. If you look "twisted stories" try some of these... kiss the girls, cross, double cross, along came a spider, mary mary, etc.

I'm not trying to be a douche but I've read one book by Patterson and it's god-awful. I don't even remember the title of the book but I remember how much I thought it sucked (and I was around 17 then, before I could even confidently critique writing). He's a very, very bad writer; his prose is no more sophisticated than a generic college application essay. I don't even read much genre fiction but as far as thrillers go Jeffery Deaver is probably a better alternative.

Just look at this gem:

There might be a luckier man somewhere on the planet, David Brandt thought as he wrapped his arms around Melanie, his new bride. Somewhere in Yemen, maybe - some Allah-worshipping farmer with a second goat. But certainly not in all of San Francisco.

 

[karrotcake]

Harry Potter! 😀

 

[DrKumar43210]

I enjoyed The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

 

[armorshell]

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell (or anything else by Gladwell. Man's a genius.)

Or for a further better read,try Think by LeGault, and learn why Blink is a load of pop-pseudo-science supermarket garbage literature.

My favorite author is H.P.Lovecraft, but that definitely not for everyone. He's the 1920's version of Steven King, but better. If you have a ton of time and like Sci-Fi/Fantasy, A Song of Fire and Ice is one of the best series of books out there. For poppy interest driven type books, Mary Roach's are quick fun reads(Stiff, Spook, Bonk), and An Excruciating History of Dentistry is pretty funny and interesting (and topical!).

 

[armorshell]

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

 

[armorshell]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

You are now on my list of awesome people. Congrats.

That's a horrible read. The only exciting part was when the infinite improbibility drive was introduced.

This right here just proves that you fail at life. It's not supposed to be exciting. It's British humor. It's supposed to be dry, witty and funny to the point where you crack a smile but don't quite actually laugh.

42 for life, don't forget your towel dog.

 

[Oracle DMD]

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

👍👍

 

[Oracle DMD]

"the fountainhead" or "atlas shrugged" by ayn rand. you'll thank me later.

 

[yuppers]

Books by Dan Brown and Michael Crichton (most, some are just weird) are good.
Interesting thread. At first I thought is was going to be a recommended readings to prepare for the RC. Anyway, I'll be sure to read some of these books. I think that movie versions of some of the books have made me shy away such as: the Dr. Dolittles and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

 

[shloopy]

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science , by Atul Gawande

An accessible and entertaining book (National Book Award finalist) by a young surgeon about his experiences as a student, resident and surgeon. Interesting behind-the-scenes type stuff about the medical world, much of which seemed, to me, to be directly relevant to dentistry.

Not your average, dry, non-fiction read. Check it out! 👍

 

[Azndocter]

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell (or anything else by Gladwell. Man's a genius.)
Stiff, Mary Roach
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
Anonymous Lawyer, Jeremy Blachman
Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale

Seriously, even people who hate reading will love these books. I don't know why people always recommend the boring, supposedly "smart" books-- in my spare time, the last thing I want to read is a canonized book. I've literally read each of these books on a single flight. Yes, they're that good; you don't want to put them down, even if you have to read in a cramped, stuffy airplane cabin with a tiny airplane light.

i 2nd stiff by mary roach

 

[xsynaesthesianx]

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

 

[redchesus]

"the fountainhead" or "atlas shrugged" by ayn rand. you'll thank me later.

Ayn Rand's writing is the literary equivalent of being tied down and force fed the same piece of cake over and over... and over... and over...

... and that, err, cake is really only insightful if you're like 16.

 

[darkwalk]

The art of war - Sunzi

 

[nunnya]

science fictionnnnn

Hyperion (an awesome read if you had to pick between the two)
Neuromancer

 

[armorshell]

science fictionnnnn

Hyperion (an awesome read if you had to pick between the two)
Neuromancer

Classic. For some newer Gibson-esque reads look to Paolo Bacigalupi. Windup Girl won a Nebula and a Hugo and is a great read.

I like China Mieville too. Perdido Street Station is like sci-fi/steampunk/murder mystery, a good read for airplane rides on the way to interviews.

 

[NotPennysBoat]

I really enjoyed Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. After reading this story, you think twice about complaining when something small doesn't go your way.

 

[Habbas]

Janeway's immunobiology 7th edition

 

[pinhi]

I enjoyed The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

wow.....i havnt heard anyone speak of elizabeth moon in a loooooong time bro....."the deed of paksenarrion" is an awesome trilogy

 

[Cofo]

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

Fiction it is, but I don't know...I mean, there sure are a lot of contradictions in it, so can the bible really be called "good" fiction?

 

[persenmi]

The Road To Serfdom - F.A. Hayek
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
1984 - George Orwell
The Kingdom of God is Within You - Leo Tolstoy

 

[yappy]

The Count of Monte Christo - I really enjoyed that one.

 

[jmt1984]

I 2nd this. Its good to get some fictional reading in to get away from all those science books.

lol...but I second those that suggested Malcolm Gladwell, Orson Scott Card, or Frank Herbert

 

[MusicJunkie]

I love to read a lot of Fantasy novels. I like "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan and the Christopher Paolini's "Inheritance Cycle" series.

 

[dentalgrrl]

If you are more of a mainstream reader, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series is very well written. The Hunger Games series is also wonderful...I couldn't put it down once I started. Also check out Water for Elephants, and any Stephen King is fair game. (The Stand and The Shining, particularly). Enjoy!!!

 

[snaggletoof]

Two magazines which I subscribe to that I always find thought provoking:

The New Yorker - One of the posters earlier spoke of Atul Gawande (my favorite writer) who writes for TNY regularly....if you can get through these articles, you can read anything!

Scientific American

Both help improve RC! 😀

 

[snaggletoof]

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science , by Atul Gawande

An accessible and entertaining book (National Book Award finalist) by a young surgeon about his experiences as a student, resident and surgeon. Interesting behind-the-scenes type stuff about the medical world, much of which seemed, to me, to be directly relevant to dentistry.

Not your average, dry, non-fiction read. Check it out! 👍

Just ordered this on amazon for $4 ($0.01 + $3.99 shipping 😀). I'm really excited! Gawande is an incredible writer.