what is your favorite medically-related novel ?

[abracadabraone]

??

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[NickNaylor]

The Cobra Event is a good one. Same with The Andromeda Strain.

 

[KatyPerry]

bwhahahah wtf you have time to read novels

 

[Stumpyman]

bwhahahah wtf you have time to read novels

...Yes, a lot of people have time to read novels. Why the scoffing?

 

[kami333]

Doctors - by Erich Segal

 

[MegMurry]

House of God. Catch-22 meets medicine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God

 

[aSagacious]

inb4Frazier

 

[Porfirio]

House of God. Catch-22 meets medicine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God

Same, but it was a bit over the top in parts.

 

[MegMurry]

Same, but it was ridiculously over the top in parts.

FTFY satirical novel is satirical.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

Twilight

 

[PMPMD]

House of God, and anything by Michael Crichton or Abraham Verghese.

 

[Bacchus]

Pathophys for the Boards and Wards.

 

[Kzoo Kid]

Cutting for Stone. You should read it. Right now.

 

[tiedyeddog]

When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank Vertosick.

 

[equinsu ocha]

The hot zone is a good one....about the Ebola virus

 

[CopaceticOne]

Agree with anything by Michael Crichton. Also City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling. Most disliked: Coma by Robin Cook (annoyingly stupid ending!!!)

 

[JESSFALLING]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is insightful.

 

[Bacchus]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is insightful.

Great book.

 

[Total180]

When Rabbit Howls: The Troops for Trudy Chase

-It is actually more of an autobiography/journal type book written by a women with dissociative identity disorder. If you are at all interested in the amazing things the brain can do...and the fact that we have no idea about half of it...I would read this book. SO amazing.

 

[deleted393595]

The History of Farting.

Does it count? It's medically related, right?

 

[Dzerzhinsky]

"Black Flies", Shannon Burke's sophomore effort. So good.

 

[dmf2682]

Cutting for Stone. You should read it. Right now.

This x1000

 

[Bacchus]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is insightful.

The FM department I started at today tried to give this to me as a gift. It's a good look into how cultural clashes are handled (or mishandled) in the healthcare world. I didn't take the book, though... already read it.

 

[kexy]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , especially if you're interested in how the standards of medical ethics/professionalism have evolved in the last few decades.

 

[deleted261193]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , especially if you're interested in how the standards of medical ethics/professionalism have evolved in the last few decades.

seconding this! i read this so fast and it was pretty insightful too. i'm in the middle of cutting for stone now

 

[bonoboMD]

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (SO good!)

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story by Abraham Verghese (esp if you are at all interested in HIV/AIDS)

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

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

for anyone interested in OB/GYN or FM :
Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner

 

[North12]

An Imperfect Offering, James Orbinski

Not an easy read (emotionally) by any means but very interesting.
HeLa book mentioned above is a must read for anyone doing bench research.

 

[fri727]

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

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande is my favorite!

Also I loved The Woman with a Worm in Her Head: And Other True Stories of Infectious Disease by Dr. Pamela Nagami. It was one of the first books I read right after I had decided that I was interested in medicine.

 

[jesse120]

I also really enjoyed Gawande's books, as well as his articles on the New Yorker. Other very good memoirs are On Call by Emily Transue and Intern by Sandeep Jauhar

 

[Slowpoke]

Collection of stories from ER physicians.

"Emergency!" By Mark Brown

http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-True-Stories-Nations-ERs/dp/0312962657

 

[JRG]

Splendid solution, documentary about jonas Salk. Amazing book, an even more amazing man!

 

[EBTrailRunner]

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks is a great read. Highly recommended.

 

[BirdIsTheWord]

Gray's Anatomy

 

[Arbor Vitae]

The Cider House Rules by John Irving. That and the Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy.

 

[ppfizenm]

The Cobra Event is a good one. Same with The Andromeda Strain.

"Andromeda Strain" was good but I liked his "A Case of Need" better. I actually think he wrote while still in med school.

Non fiction: I thought "My Own Country" was a good one.

 

[Dr Curitas]

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is insightful.

Great book.

Read it in medical anthropology class; wonderful insights into cultural expectations and protocols in the context of health care and the concepts of disease and health.

Atul Gawande is my favorite!
Also I loved The Woman with a Worm in Her Head: And Other True Stories of Infectious Disease by Dr. Pamela Nagami. It was one of the first books I read right after I had decided that I was interested in medicine.

Agreed. I was inspired and moved by "Better".

 

[canadian18]

Still Alice

 

[deleted197541]

Musicophilia by Oliver sacks
Atul Gawande, of course
Intern by Sandeep Jauhar
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Katrina Firlik
M.D.: One Doctor's Adventures among the Famous and Infamous from the Jungles of Panama to a Park Avenue Practice by Ben Kean

I haven't read it completely because it's a monster but I think all global health people must love Partner to the Poor by Dr. Paul Farmer

Anyway, apparently I really need to read Verghese's books!

 

[obgyny]

Collection of stories from ER physicians.

"Emergency!" By Mark Brown

http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-True-Stories-Nations-ERs/dp/0312962657

I second this one .

My favorite is "Hot Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years" by Michael J. Collins.

 

[YoungGregory]

Hot Lights, Cold Steel.

 

[Buttermilk]

I nominate Lisa Belkin's First, Do No Harm. Medical ethics and money and motives all tied up in one messy package.

 

[Omppu27]

How about Final Exam by Pauline Chen???

I've heard great things about it.

http://www.amazon.com/Final-Exam-Surgeons-Reflections-Mortality/dp/0307263533

 

[technopoly]

Cutting for Stone. You should read it. Right now.

This.

Also, The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

 

[ablavar]

I can't believe this hasn't been posted yet. This is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in cancer research. Gives you such a deep appreciation for the role that science has played in the management of patients over the past few hundred years.

 

[LizzyM]

I am stunned about how many of the recommendations are not novels. Medically-related novels, people.

Let's start over:

House of God excellent satire from the 1970s. Don't read it expecting realism.

 

[MegMurry]

House of God. Catch-22 meets medicine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God

Same, but it was a bit over the top in parts.

FTFY satirical novel is satirical.

House of God, and anything by Michael Crichton or Abraham Verghese.

I am stunned about how many of the recommendations are not novels. Medically-related novels, people.

Let's start over:

House of God excellent satire from the 1970s. Don't read it expecting realism.

Why do so many premeds struggle with MCAT VR again?

I just re-read HoG after watching the first season of Scrubs. The show's writers did a great job of riffing off it.

 

[MangMD]

Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them - Randy Christensen M.D.

Something for the Pain - Paul Austin.

Intern - Sandeep Jauhar

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World

 

[MangMD]

Why do so many premeds struggle with MCAT VR again?

I just re-read HoG after watching the first season of Scrubs. The show's writers did a great job of riffing off it.

Agreed.

 

[typicalindian]

Lions Aren't Scared of Shots: A Story for Children about Visiting the Doctor by Howard J. Bennett and M. S. Weber (Jan 2007)