#MedRead (part 1) Non-fiction books: Physician Narratives, Medical Practice, and Illnesses

Recently, I made a request on Twitter for suggestions for books that medical students should read.  These suggestions could be books of any sort: fiction, non-fiction, clinically-focused, etc.  I was hoping to get suggestions for books that made a meaningful impact on people.  I'll be posting the lists in a series of blog posts.

In each case, I've linked the book title to its Powells.com listing...mainly because I didn't want to link to larger sites such as Amazon.  In practice, I would strongly advise looking for these books at the library (to test them out--use this site to find the books at a library near you) or at your local independent bookstore (such as Chop Suey Books, in Richmond).  Remember that if you're local bookseller doesn't carry these titles, they can probably order them for you--and they'll keep your money local.

Alternately, if you wish to support the authors directly, feel free to see if you can purchase the book you are interested in from the author's own website.

The first group includes books that focus on medical practice, physicians' narratives, and the medical aspects of disease:



Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis – Lisa Sanders

 How Doctors Think – Jerome Groopman

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat – Oliver Sacks

How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter – Sherwin Nuland

The Case of Doctor Sachs – Martin Winckler

House Calls – Thomas Stern, MD

Anything by Atul Gawande: Complications, Better, and The Checklist Manifesto.

White Coat, Clenched Fist – Fitzhugh Mullan

My Own Country – Abraham Verghese

Of Spirits and Madness – Paul Linde

A Fortunate Man – John Berger

The Coming Plague – Laurie Garrett

Betrayal of Trust – Laurie Garrett

Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients – Danielle Ofri

Not All of Us are Saints: A Doctor’s Journey with the Poor – David Hilfiker

Travels – Michael Crichton 

The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara

The Great Influenza – John Barry

Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflection on Mortality – Pauline Chen

The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher – Lewis Thomas

Aequanimitas – Sir William Osler

White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine – Carl Elliott

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cance – Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug – Thomas Hager

Blind Man's Marathon – Steven Hatch

If you have read these books (or if you recommended them), please use the comments below to provide us with some thoughts on why the book mattered to you.