These are some of my favorite books about medicine. Physician memoirs, the history and ethics and philosophy of medicine, etc. Please feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments.
**The Emperor of All Maladies** – *Siddhartha Mukerjee* A wonderfully and accessibly written history of cancer, cancer treatments, and explanation of why it’s so hard to cure.
**Code Gray** – *Farzon A. Nahvi* A peek into the life of an ER doctor, along with thoughtful considerations about life and death. I appreciated the core message about the importance of becoming comfortable with the “gray zone.” Of balancing opposing truths at once. Of making place for nuance.
**Being Mortal** – *Atul Gawande* An excellent discussion of end of life care, our obsession with taking heroic but terrible measures to prolong life just a little bit, and a nudge towards considering quantity over quality.
**Complications** – *Atul Gawande* A thoughtful discussion of the imperfect science of medicine.
**The First Cell** – *Azra Raza* A discussion of our modern approach to treating, and developing treatments for, cancer, why they have not been very effective, the catastrophic toll they take on patients, and her opinion about a totally different approach we should be taking to cancer. Includes intimate patient stories.
**When Breath Becomes Air** – *Paul Kalanithi* Read this one if none of the others. It’s a gorgeous memoir by a newly practicing neurosurgeon, and a new father, who learns he has terminal cancer. It is an exquisite discussion of what he feels the meaning of life is in the face of these facts.
**Do No Harm** – *Henry Marsh* An interesting memoir by a neurosurgeon about his work, his patients, and the NHS system he works within.
**When The Air Hits Your Brain** – *Frank T. Vertosick Jr.* Wonderful memoir by a neurosurgeon, including interesting patient accounts. Don’t be deterred by its age; its still worth reading.
**Dying Well** – *Ira Byock* Patient accounts by a palliative care physical that gently guide one to consider what it means to die well.
**When Death Becomes Life** – *Joshua D. Mezrich* Wonderful exploration by a transplant surgeon of the history of organ transplantation.
**Counting Backward** – *Henry Jay Przybylo* A memoir by about life as an anesthesiologist including fascinating patient stories, and a discussion of what happens after you’ve been put under.
**Mountains Beyond Mountains** – *Tracy Kidder* Forever one of my favorite books. The story of Paul Farmer, a doctor obsessed with his quest to bring medicine to the neediest people in the world, especially Haiti. I’ve never heard of anyone else quite like him before. He unfortunately died a few years ago, which would have devastated him, as he would have felt he let down the people who needed him by dying too young.
**With The End In Mind** – *Kathryn Mannix* A sort of gentle beginner’s guide to death. Dr Mannix softly, calmly guides us through what death looks like, what happens, with the intent to pass along that it is usually quite calm. Her discussion of death is interwoven with stories of dying people.
**Critical Care** – *Theresa Brown* Theresa began as an English professor with a PhD and then aborted that career and switched entirely to nursing. This is a funny, fascinating account of her entry into that new world. I enjoyed the philosophical and literary slant brought to her accounts, thanks to her first life in academia.
**The Man Who Mistook his Wife For A Hat** – *Oliver Sacks* A classic. Fascinating accounts of the bizarre, incredible ways that the brain can fail. If you like this one, he has others.
by ShesGotSauce