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(Future) Medics' Favourite Books

19

So given we're all in lockdown with not much to do other than UCAT prep or angsting about calculated grades (depending on how far you are along the medicine journey), I for one am looking out for interesting books about medicine/life science.
What books have we been enjoying in lockdown or before? The more esoteric the better - loving Adam Kay is practically an entry requirement now :tongue:

To start the virtuous circle: I've really enjoyed Daniel Davis's The Beautiful Cure, about how the immune system works and the scientific discoveries over the last 40ish years that have lead to a greater knowledge of it. It's an area not really covered by A level biology, but it's fascinating (at least to me) and painfully complicated, as all great biological systems are. It finishes with a clinical chapter about immunotherapy to treat cancer, if you're not so into basic science.

Under the cut: a list of books recommended so far! (as of 28/05/20)

Spoiler

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

stereotypeasian

21

I've enjoyed your life in my hands by Rachel Clarke :smile:

Reply 2

becausethenight

OP

19

I've not heard of Reaching down the rabbit hole! Tell me more? :smile:

Also lovely mix of neuro and pathology :biggrin:

Original post

by stereotypeasian

I've enjoyed your life in my hands by Rachel Clarke :smile:

Me too, it was recommended to me as 'a book that will put you off medicine' by my bio teacher :biggrin:

Reply 3

stereotypeasian

21

Original post

by becausethenight

Me too, it was recommended to me as 'a book that will put you off medicine' by my bio teacher :biggrin:

lol that is an amazing bio teacher you have :biggrin:

lets not forget the classic that is Adam Kay's this is going to hurt :cool:

I'm honestly just working myself down this list of lovely medic books.....
https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/applying/reading

Reply 4

becausethenight

OP

19

Original post

by stereotypeasian

lol that is an amazing bio teacher you have :biggrin:

lets not forget the classic that is Adam Kay's this is going to hurt :cool:

I'm honestly just working myself down this list of lovely medic books.....
https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/applying/reading

Hahaha yes I'm very lucky - if you're reading this, sir, you know who you are :tongue:

And let's not forget the seasonal classic the nightshift before Christmas :wink:

(I have to admit that with that one I was more amused by "I'm the sort of Jew that has to google the spelling of synagogue" than the medicine though lol)

Thanks for the list :smile:

- I typically avoid oxbridge like the plague but I'm clearly missing out on stuff! Funnily enough I'm reading one of the books on there right now lol...

Reply 5

becausethenight

OP

19

Ooh that's a plus - good to know prime is still useful when one day delivery is dead :tongue:

That sounds really interesting, thank you very much :smile:

If you're interested in neuro, have you read it's all in your head, btw? I really enjoyed that :wink:

Reply 6

becausethenight

OP

19

Let me know what you think if you do read it :smile:

Reply 7

becausethenight

OP

19

Thank you

I read that a few months ago and it absolutely blew my mind - I had no idea the brain was that complex and flexible (or, well, I did, but I didn't understand what that meant, if that makes sense).
Do you think we've made much further meaningful progress in understanding the brain since it was published in 1998, as a neurologist? (just curious, if it's a silly question I apologise)

Reply 8

becausethenight

OP

19

Well now you've said that.. :biggrin:

Is that because there's more opportunity for research, since it's advancing, or more because it's more interesting clinically (not seeing the same things every day, etc)? Or both?
This is going to sound a bit vague, but could you say a bit more about the link between clinical medicine and research? I know that some people do medicine and then head off to the lab, but it's much harder to get a picture of what life might look like combining research and clinical medicine. One of the doctors I shadowed (a consultant) spent 3 days a week in the lab, but it seemed pretty unrelated to his clinical work (to my baby work experience student eyes, at least lol - I wasn't allowed in the lab anyway, so I was going off what he said)

Thank you, I'll be interested to have a look at that :smile:

Well done! (a bit belated) The biscuits looked amazing :biggrin:

Do you often go to conferences? Are they 'required' as part of your junior doctor job, or more of a separate thing?

Reply 9

becausethenight

OP

19

Thank you very much :smile:

You're selling me on neurology (work-life balance yay), and I've definitely got a better idea of how medicine and research might interact - it sounds very exciting! I didn't realise there was a special foundation scheme for research, I'll have to have a look (they say, before even starting med school)
Thank you so much for your time and the insight :smile:

Reply 10

Marathi

12

Seven Signs of Life by Aoife Abbey, and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande are my favourite 2 books atm.

Reply 11

Angury

18

A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger is one of my all-time favourite books. It follows a rural GP in 1966. Beautifully written and covers the emotions of what it is like to work as a GP and have the trust of your community.

Reply 12

becausethenight

OP

19

Original post

by Marathi

Seven Signs of Life by Aoife Abbey, and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande are my favourite 2 books atm.

Thank you

Seven Signs is very recent - I wonder if it'll be very different to earlier A&E memoirs...

Original post

by Angury

A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger is one of my all-time favourite books. It follows a rural GP in 1966. Beautifully written and covers the emotions of what it is like to work as a GP and have the trust of your community.

Thank you, that sounds lovely and p ossibly a bit more cheering than your average medical memoir? :smile:

Reply 13

Marathi

12

Original post

by becausethenight

Thank you

Seven Signs is very recent - I wonder if it'll be very different to earlier A&E memoirs...

Is that a separate book or the BMA Secret Doctor stuff she did?

Reply 14

becausethenight

OP

19

Original post

by Marathi

Is that a separate book or the BMA Secret Doctor stuff she did?

I'm not sure - I haven't read it, it just said the book was published in 2019?

Reply 15

PastelColours

18

when breath becomes air always makes me cry when I read it
this is going to hurt obviously its a classic read it when im bored or just want something to laugh out loud at
the prison doctor really really good, couldn't put it down!

Reply 16

meemy123

13

Hi, so I’m in year 12 and my teachers are asking us to read books in each subject so they can mention it in UCAS references. I would like to do medicine but does anyone know of any books that link to medicine from geography and chemistry????? cos those r my a levels in addition to bio and french

Reply 17

document35

10

Sorry I can't be of much help because I only honestly don't read very many books. I also don't think it's majorly important to have read books that link A levels with medicine. Not sure why your teachers are pushing for this (but I guess why not if you have time?).
Maybe try David Nott's War Doctor book? That covers medicine/surgery in multiple nations.

Good luck

Reply 18

becausethenight

OP

19

Original post

by PastelColours

when breath becomes air always makes me cry when I read it
this is going to hurt obviously its a classic read it when im bored or just want something to laugh out loud at
the prison doctor really really good, couldn't put it down!

Hard same for when breath becomes air - it took me ages to read it because I kept getting upset!

Thanks for the prison doctor, I've not heard of that - it's been added to the list :smile:

(since I've started this thread I've ended up with almost too many books lol)

Original post

by meemy123

Hi, so I’m in year 12 and my teachers are asking us to read books in each subject so they can mention it in UCAS references. I would like to do medicine but does anyone know of any books that link to medicine from geography and chemistry????? cos those r my a levels in addition to bio and french

Do have a look at the other books people have recommended. You might struggle to link geography in particular to medicine, but as I understand it your UCAS subject references don't necessarily need to be about medicine so don't worry if you read interesting but non-medical books in your subject. I did Latin and I doubt there was anything about medicine in my reference (we weren't allowed to read them but according to my housemaster it was mainly about how I liked poetry :biggrin:

)

Reply 19

forbearne

14

Gavin Francis' Shapeshifters and Adventures in Human Being, Dean Burnett's The Idiot Brain - arguably the books that made me want to do medicine @becausethenight

(Future) Medics' Favourite Books

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