Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Finished A levels... reading/books advice.

HI there

So I've just recently finished my A level exams and I'm currently going to be going onto a gap year, hoping I get good enough grades in August to try for medical school. Now, I don't want to waste my time since then and really thought I should start reading more and build more of a general knowledge base. The only books I've read have been A level textbooks and I can't remember the last book I read for leisure. So I would be grateful if anyone had any book recommendations I could dig my head into? It doesn't have to medicine related, my main goal is to widen my knowledge of the world and become a more well-rounded individual (not particularly into fiction books). I'm sorry if my criteria is pretty vague, but any advice would be invaluable as I have no idea where to start. Thanks!

Reply 1

JW22

I would say start looking at different subject areas, find an area that you find interesting and think about specific things in that area.
Philosophy
History
Music
Maths
Literature
Art
Science
Law/Politics

Reply 2

Ninjakam119

Original post by JW22

Thanks for the reply! All the subjects you've listed seem very appealing to me (apart from art and music... :biggrin:

) Are there any books you could possible recommend from any of the topics on that list?

Reply 3

JW22

Original post by Ninjakam119

Thanks for the reply! All the subjects you've listed seem very appealing to me (apart from art and music... :biggrin:

) Are there any books you could possible recommend from any of the topics on that list?

Just like before I find it best to narrow down the possibilities as much as possible. For example you might find British history incredibly boring but French history very interesting, everyone's different.

Philosophy:
Eastern or Western philosophy.
Modern or old.

History:
What continents/cultures do you find most interesting?
What era do you find interesting

Maths:
I guess the maths you could read depends more on how educated you are in it already.

Literature:
Similar to philosophy and history, the possibilities are endless from Homer to Shakespeare to Tolkien.

Science:
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Psychology

Once you start narrowing down to what specific things you're interested in you can start looking at specific books and topics.

Reply 4

s.v

Read Gray's anatomy and lippincotts physiology for a head start in medicine !

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Reply 5

violin101

I would suggest you start with pop non-fiction books and move into more serious ones when you find areas that you like. Why don't you try:
Freakonomics
Alex's Adventures in Numberland
Bad Science or Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre
Sophie's World
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
as good places to start.
If you want more medicine books try those by Siddhartha Mukherjee or Atul Gawande.