Your Favorite Books, need recommendations!

[just_SAIYAN]

As of now I do not have a lot of commitments on my hands, just my job, which I have a lot of downtime at to read. Anyways, I wanted to know what everyone's favorite books are and if they could give a brief review of them.

I'll kick things off:

I just finished Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis the lead singer of the red hot chili peppers and Holy ****! I was blown away! The book is about Anthony's life and I could not believe what I was reading. (I swear I probably read the whole book with my mouth wide open and a dumbfounded look on my face) I loved the Peppers to begin with, but I had a very hard time putting this book down and cannot recommend it enough. He is an awesome dude with an incredible story, so if anyone is looking for a good book I definitely suggest picking up Scar Tissue.

I've also read Still Alice, Hot Lights Cold Steel and Unbroken and recommend these as well.

Medical and non medical recommendations welcomed!

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[Firegrove]

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. If any interviewer has read his work you will gain immediate respect--definitely will set you apart. Some of his best works include: Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, and Cat's Cradle. Honorable mentions would go to Breakfast of Champions and Mother Night. Just a good name to throw out and shows depth of reading taste IMO.

 

[usc_92]

House of God

 

[FistLength]

For fun its Enders Game

For self improvement and help while in medical school I highly recommend How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Written decades ago it has a lot of charm, down to earth good advice.

 

[nhnative]

I just finished Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, biography of Dr. Farmer, it was excellent. Before that I read The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Kind of on a medical kick lately, but one of my favorite non-medical authors is Dave Eggers (especially What is the What, but all his books are great). Another great author is Anne Patchett, my favorite of hers is Truth and Beauty but again, all are good.

Or Harry Potter

 

[NonTrad16]

Also liked Ender's game series (got me to enjoy reading in middle school) and recently read/enjoyed Mountains Beyond Mountains. Just re-read House of God, started Mount Misery (psych residency continuation), and plan to read Spirit of the Place (which I believe he said he wrote because he never got to go and live a GP life in his town, a previous plan, so he "lived it in text").

Some short easy reads that I like to go back to are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Jean-Dominique Bauby). The first is set in Hamlet, tracking the events for two characters, woven into the story set by the Hamlet. The second is about/by a journalist (I believe) who had from locked-in syndrome and wrote the book about his life, finishing it soon before his death. When I have time I may re-open The Fountainhead, since I recall enjoying that many years ago...

The "Best American ____ Writing" series has also been fun. Lots of diversity between their science, medicine, nature, etc over many years.

 

[More_Medz]

Myself I am a big nerd regarding the history of space travel. If you want to learn about the fascinating origins of the space race, read Leaving Earth.

Also, the best, somewhat of a self help guide, is An Astronaut's Guide to Living Life on Earth. Simply chalk full of advice and extraordinary stories!

 

[VegasPreMed]

Since we are in sci-fi land right now, I really enjoyed the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Sci-fi, politics, terraforming, etc. Good stuff.

 

[usc_92]

Also just finished Red Rising. Fantastic read if you enjoyed Ender's Game. Can't wait to start the next one. Last book in the trilogy released in Feb

 

[Rachie615]

Okay, a lot of these have a sci-fi twist to them. I recommend David Mitchell (really anything by him, but his most famous is Cloud Atlas). Ray Bradbury. If you haven't read Fahrenheit 451, it's a quick, but powerful read. Station Eleven by Emily St. John is a post-apocalyptic novel about a group of people who travel around the Midwest putting on Shakespeare plays and generally just try to stay alive as they are pursued by a cult. As mentioned above, anything by Kurt Vonnegut is excellent.

 

[MisterFutu]

Japanese Manga, particularly Gantz. It is finished. Not the Gantz Anime, terrible.

Also get free audio books at audible.com and listen to the Dune series.

 

[just_SAIYAN]

House of God

Just started this one 2 days ago so far so good.

 

[lossycompression]

Myself I am a big nerd regarding the history of space travel. If you want to learn about the fascinating origins of the space race, read Leaving Earth.

Also, the best, somewhat of a self help guide, is An Astronaut's Guide to Living Life on Earth. Simply chalk full of advice and extraordinary stories!

As a fellow space-nerd, I would also recommend An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth. Another one of my favorites is Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz, who was the Flight Director during a number of Gemini and Apollo missions (most famously Apollo 13).

Other recommendations, in no particular order...

Medicine-related non-fiction books:
1) "Intern" and "Doctored" by Sandeep Jauhar -- great insight into life an an intern and cardiology attending.
2) "The Lassa Ward" by Ross Donaldson -- The story of a medical student who travels to Sierra Leone to care for patients with Lassa fever.
3) "Mountains Beyond Mountains" -- the life of Paul Farmer, who is one of my "idols."

Non-medical non-fiction:
1) "Unbroken" -- the story of Louis Zamperini, a former US Olympic athlete whose plane ditched into the Pacific Ocean during WW2.
2) "The Spirit of St. Louis" -- Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing...'nuff said.
3) "Lawrence in Arabia" -- Many have seen the classic movie "Lawrence in Arabia;" but this goes into way more detail, examines the lives of other major players in the region at the time, and disputes some of the scenes in the movie. Definitely recommended for history lovers.

Fiction:
1) "The Martian" -- now a major motion picture. Read the book even if you saw the movie.
2) "The Kite Runner" -- one of my all-time favorites. If you read all 3 of Khaled Hosseini's book, you will see the the themes, imagery, and story line is similar in all of them. However, in my opinion, this one was the "best"
3) Last, but definitely not least, "Cutting for Stone." Written by Abraham Verghese, a Stanford physician, this novel is the story of twin brothers who grow up in a hospital in Ethiopia, raised by two Indian physicians. The book is fiction, and talks about things other than medicine, but Verghese does a great job in "sprinking in" medical stories, facts, and lessons that future physicians can carry with them for the rest of their careers. I cannot recommend this book enough.

 

[Doremonster]

Susan Cain - The Quiet is a great read. There is a TED video, just google Susan Cain Introvert TED

 

[rubikscube85]

Anything by Dan Brown. Also, to reiterate what other people have said, Mountains beyond Mountains is a fantastic read as well.

 

[cjfarrell21]

I love Malcolm Gladwell. His new book "David and Golaith" was quite good.
I just got into Atul Gawande. So if you're feeling medical those are interesting.
Sport's wise check out "Born to Run" or "Hoops Whisperer" if you're into that stuff.

I also read "Scar Tissue" a few years back and thought it was amazing

 

[pmsltechnician]

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is one of my favorite books (along with Ender's Game, which others have mentioned already.)

 

[lyana]

harry potter series, my old time favorites.

 

[wjs010]

I wish I had time to read all of these medical ish books... Those pre Med glory days are over I'm jelly! I loved hot lights cold steel

 

[22031 Alum]

Anything John Updike wrote. Aside from the Rabbit books, I recommend Seek My Face.

 

[Goro]

Anything by Bernard Cornwell or Joseph Wambaugh
All of Walter Moseley's mysteries
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity by Roy Porter

As of now I do not have a lot of commitments on my hands, just my job, which I have a lot of downtime at to read. Anyways, I wanted to know what everyone's favorite books are and if they could give a brief review of them.

I'll kick things off:

I just finished Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis the lead singer of the red hot chili peppers and Holy ****! I was blown away! The book is about Anthony's life and I could not believe what I was reading. (I swear I probably read the whole book with my mouth wide open and a dumbfounded look on my face) I loved the Peppers to begin with, but I had a very hard time putting this book down and cannot recommend it enough. He is an awesome dude with an incredible story, so if anyone is looking for a good book I definitely suggest picking up Scar Tissue.

I've also read Still Alice, Hot Lights Cold Steel and Unbroken and recommend these as well.

Medical and non medical recommendations welcomed!

 

[holdthemayo]

Some of my favorite books/authors to read for pleasure:

Fiction:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series or the Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams - You'll laugh out loud
Shogun (and the rest of the Asian Saga) by James Clavell - Don't be intimidated by the length, you'll wish they were longer
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalere and Clay by Michael Chabon
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and any other book by Luis de Bernieres
Any Kurt Vonnegut
and because this is SDN - House of God if you haven't read it

Non medical Non-Fiction:
Anything by Malcolm Gladwell - He can make any topic interesting
Into Thin Air and/or Into the Wild by Jack Krakauer
I also enjoy Paul Theroux's travel writing

 

[deleted407021]

The Belgariad story arc by David Eddings is among the best fantasy I've read, followed by the Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis McKiernan.

As far as medical stuff goes, I liked The DOs : Osteopathic Medicine in America by Norman Gevitz. I read the first few pages of One Doctor by Dr. Brendan Reilly while hanging out in Barnes and Noble and it looked like it was going to be really good. It's about the life experiences of a renowned internist (the author) in NYC and his perspectives on American medical practice.

 

[Higherprimate]

"When the Air Hits Your Brain-tales of a Neurosurgeon" by Dr. Vertosick.

 

[MarshMedic]

"God's Hotel" by Victoria Sweet, MD, PhD. Great book, I even got to visit the Hospital she worked at on a trip to San Fran last week. Seriously couldn't stop listening to it.

 

[arc5005]

I enjoy most books my Paolo Coelho... Also, just ordered two books: Complications by Atul Gawande, and another one on healthcare policy.

 

[lyana]

If you are into crime, I also recommend Louise Penny and her series about Inspector Gamache.
Or Arnaldur Indrigason and his Inspector Erlendur series.

 

[darknecrosforte]

Surprised no one mentioned Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

 

[TUVIX]

Reading God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet, MD PhD right now. About her working at a community health center/hospital with all of the reject patients fromt he county hospital while she tried to get a PhD in the history of medicine. Extremely interesting.

 

[PathoTurnUp1865]

I've read almost all of Stephen King's books and there haven't been too many that I didn't enjoy. I think "Under the Dome" was the only one that I absolutely hated. I also read a lot of biographies, I feel like I get a lot out of them. Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin's by Isaacson are pretty good.

 

[Zen92]

Into Thin Air

 

[GreenScrubss]

I listened to The Martian on audiobook on the way to one of my interviews and it was very, very good imo.

Also I second Stephen King.