Books to Read Before Starting Medical School

Thinking back to a year agone, I am overcome with nostalgia at the bright-eyed, naïve daughter who wanted to find out everything she could about medicine through reading books. As an gorging reader, I would peruse whatever volumes that stoked my fancy, and there was a menstruation in my life when I was especially enamoured with books written by doctors. If you are because medicine as a possible career (which I would like to think of every bit a lifelong pursuit of deeper meaning), and then you may be in the aforementioned boat, torn betwixt tantalising options. After searching for long lists and reading quite a substantial number of these "Books That Every Medical Educatee Should Read" / "Books to Read Before Medical School", I take compiled my own list of favourites and top recommendations.

Why read these books?

To beginning off, just a quick preamble about why you lot should even carp reading these books (feel costless to skip if you are already highly motivated and dying to dive into those pages).

The first reason I institute reading such books valuable is that they enable us to understand what it is really like to be a doc. Most of united states of america would not have had first-manus feel in medical settings. While piece of work experience often serves as an eye-opening immersion into the world of medicine, they are unremarkably limited in both scope and elapsing. You may be bars to the aforementioned hospital department for a week, or you lot may only have had the opportunity to see either the full general practice or surgical side of things. With such structured programmes, doctors' busy schedules and your own litany of commitments, it can be near impossible to gain both breadth and depth from direct work experience. Likewise, there are bound to be limitations in terms of the clinical cases that you can find—whether you come beyond interesting or ho-hum cases depends hugely on luck.

Reading books, while less immersive, brings you into the lives and deeper reflections of dissimilar doctors, most of which would non have been verbally shared with a random pupil on work attachment. Remember that each of these books contains carefully selected cases and experiences that represent the ne plus ultra of a doctor's decades-long career—the all-time and worst moments that hold the most memorable lessons—which you lot, the reader, tin larn from. These encompass the values, qualities and skills required in medicine, the challenges and difficulties of medicine, also every bit the patient perspective.

A range of different books tin can as well provide glimpses into different specialties and potential pathways. While information technology is non necessary for you to determine at this early stage, exploration is worthwhile as you can better understand the options available to you. Additionally, these books offer some bones medical and scientific knowledge, which vary in intensity and amount depending on their target audience. If you are truly keen on medicine, a passion for science and knowledge should be a given. Books with content beyond the school syllabus volition likely galvanise you, and the intellectual stimulation will leave you hungry for more.

On a more personal level, reading widely can aid you decide whether medicine really is for you. For near of u.s., medical schoolhouse is not a spur-of-the-moment decision because it entails longer years of studying and requires more diligence, difficult work and dedication compared to well-nigh other pathways. Equally you read these books, ask yourself how much you identify with the goals and aspirations of those who have donned to white coat earlier you, and how much yearning you experience towards a similar destiny. For those of you who are already on the route to medical school or take received your offers (congratulations!), reading medicine-related books can go yous inspired and excited nigh starting medical schoolhouse.

My Top Recommendations

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer past Siddhartha Mukherjee

This Pulitzer Prize-winning book is a thick volume and a heavy read, simply I promise you lot will not regret it, especially if you have a stiff inclination towards oncology. Even if this is not your preferred field, the pervasiveness of cancer in modern medicine has become an exigent reality. Every bit life expectancy increases, this affliction, intrinsically linked to ageing, is also on the rise. Siddhartha Mukherjee, an eminent physician and oncologist, has very neatly compiled a thrilling story of cancer, from its origins in man history to the current outlook. Some of the details (which stretch into pages upon pages of scientists, researchers and politicians involved in the state of war on cancer) may seem bland or irrelevant to you every bit an aspiring medical student, but they show the unyielding ties between medicine and society at big, which will continue to shape the hereafter of medicine and scientific research.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

This is the book with the most unanimous verdict—you lot volition see it recommended everywhere. The uncomplicated, unfettered candour with which Paul Kalanithi recounts his battle with lung cancer is a gift to humankind. It is a splendid book, in my opinion, mostly considering of the indelible words of wisdom it contains and the relatability of these epiphanies to not just medicine, but also life in general. Kalanithi's perspective is unique in that medicine was never really a articulate first option for him until philosophical questions about life and death led him towards neurosurgery. The transition from the role of a physician to that of a patient is also a powerful illustration of how doctors should e'er seek to see the world from the eyes of their patients.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Across Atul Gawande'south many books, this was the first that I read, which felt like a rite of passage into the earth of medicine-related reads. This is a slight divergence from his surgical specialty as he addresses the intertwined problems of ageing and mortality, and of how people tend to feel a sense of doubtfulness as they approach the end of life. Modern medicine, technology and improved hospital facilities have changed the way we live and die, and much of this book is dedicated towards exploring what matters most to people every bit they sense their terminal days ebbing away. Many of the interactions and observations are not strictly in the hospital or clinical setting, but they reveal the value of medicine that extends into our personal lives.

Practise No Harm by Henry Marsh

I of the most riveting books about surgery that I have read, this memoir will not disappoint those of you who are inclined towards surgical specialties. What I honey most is the frankness with which Henry Marsh recounts his experiences. Through the power of storytelling, he brings us to the operating theatre to show united states the precision-demanding work of a neurosurgeon, while simultaneously inviting the states to the intersection between doc and patient, life and death. In that location are hints of guilt and regret, merely likewise of everlasting compassion which sustains the doctor in times of well-nigh-desolation. The contrast between adult and under-developed medical facilities is brought to the fore in the md'south forays into Ukraine, featuring an peculiarly touching encounter.

War Doctor past David Nott

This is a personal favourite, mostly guided by my biasedness towards humanitarian medicine. Fifty-fifty for those of yous who experience queasy at the idea of working in war zones, this book will shed light on the unjust suffering of civilians in war-torn and disaster-stricken regions of the world. Well-nigh of u.s.a. live far from those lands of terror and despondency, and the physical altitude can make it like shooting fish in a barrel to forget that such disease even exists. As time to come doctors, nosotros will come up into contact with bucketloads of pain and suffering, merely most of our piece of work will not parallel the drama and intensity of delivering medical care in conflicts and natural disasters, especially nether conditions of scarcity. Quick conclusion-making, improvisation and an unwavering willpower are all necessities to carry along on such missions. This is a refreshing read as it shows a uniquely important role of the medical profession.

Other Recommendations

Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby

Every bit the title of the book suggests, doctors are not superhumans, and fifty-fifty modern medicine has limitations that foreclose us from saving every life. This was a page-turner equally the author's humble ancestry resonated with me. From his offset fourth dimension witnessing a cardiac surgery to finally picking upwards the surgical knife equally a cardiac surgeon, he shows his own evolution and exposes the emotional desperation of losing patients. An inimitable lesson from this memoir is epitomised by Westaby'due south tenacity and artistic spirit when it comes to solving surgical issues, revealing that greatness in medicine stretches across rote learning and memorisation.

Complications past Atul Gawande

This is a captivating volume that I finished in one sitting. In that location is something about Atul Gawande's style of writing that draws the reader in. While the main setting is the operating theatre, there is no unexplained technical jargon that makes it inaccessible to students who take yet to enter medical school. In fact, if you have a heart for patients, y'all will find yourself reading with bated breath and praying for the best. This book also speaks volumes virtually the challenges of medicine, particularly the stress of having to make rapid-fire decisions in emergencies and learning to admit mistakes. At the same time, it shows that experience is the best teacher as doctors develop a knack for intuitive diagnosis over time.

Your Life in My Hands by Rachel Clarke

This is a must-read if you lot are seeking to ameliorate understand the UK's healthcare system, the NHS. While Clarke shares her disillusionment with some of the changes being implemented, she besides reflects on the impetus for her career switch from journalism to medicine. At the heart of the book is the patient perspective, which features prominently in her writing, coalescing into a moving account of life as a junior doctor in the UK. (I've heard raving reviews near her latest book, Dearest Life, only have yet to read information technology.)

This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

Opinions about this volume can be quite divisive (you either love information technology or you don't), but I plant that it provided a humorous peek into the daily life of a young doctor. It may non exist the most philosophical piece of writing, but it volition help you reverberate on whether you are truly prepared to plunge yourself into the years-long journey of becoming a legitimate doctor. Many books tend to leave us with an idealised impression of medicine as a heroic and respected profession, merely daily life in the hospital is non as grandiose as it seems, and Adam Kay'southward endearingly honest diary entries are a perfect analogy of this fact.

More Scientific Reads (for Oxbridge / nerds like me)

Entering medical schoolhouse is about more than only beloved, compassion and homo interaction. The hard truth is that there'southward a mountain of science involved as well, and hundreds of pages of lecture notes and textbooks waiting for you to comb through. But before you worry about any of those, you tin can offset by gaining some introductory understanding into relevant topics without having to dive too deep and getting muddled by stupefying loads of information. I personally actually enjoyed reading these, although I realise that they may exist tiresome or too heavy for some of y'all… At this point, don't worry if you can't remember everything y'all read; they should be more than for full general involvement rather than intensive report!

The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey

Having briefly come beyond the concept of epigenetics in H3 Biology lessons, I was exceptionally enthralled past this book, which built on my foundational knowledge of the topic using simplified explanations and analogies. From the famous Dutch Hunger Winter to studies of identical twins, Carey brings to calorie-free the exquisite interaction betwixt genes and the environment, much of which nosotros are still in the process of understanding.

The Spark of Life by Frances Ashcroft

A slightly more demanding read, possibly, just one that would entreatment to readers with scientific curiosity. Electricity in the homo body came as a surprising discovery more than a century ago, and since and so, our understanding of prison cell membranes, ion channels and activeness potentials has expanded tremendously, with important physiological implications. This book can seem a bit too convoluted, and in that case I would recommend skimming through the less relevant pages of historical context and electricity in animals. Nonetheless, some of the knowledge gleaned from reading this proved useful in medical school, and I fifty-fifty found myself referring back to information technology as I wrote my first few essays!

I Contain Multitudes past Ed Yong

Once more, the preliminary knowledge well-nigh the man microbiome that I had amassed from H3 Biology was sensationally enhanced by this book. As nosotros tend to think of a human equally an individual organism, it can be startling to discover that we are in fact fabricated up of millions of tiny microorganisms that lurk unnoticed both on and within us. The cacophony of leaner and microbes that reside in the man body has traditionally been viewed with malice, but an awareness of the commensal and protective functions they serve tin help us brand breakthroughs in health and medicine.

The Body by Bill Bryson

I only read this book after starting medical school, which I must admit gave me a better appreciation of its relevance to medical school content. Still, when it comes to beefcake and physiology, this volume would just take scratched the surface. It serves as a light-hearted introductory read, merely pales in comparison to actual medical textbooks, though you will definitely come across some of these terms again in your future studies!

Do you need to read everything?

Absolutely not! From personal experience, I find that reading one or a few books with focus, depth and reflection is more rewarding and edifying than trying to speed through several books at once (or aiming for a hundred books a year—highly ambitious only superfluous).

If you are looking for more recommendations, have a glance at the Oxford Medicine Introductory Reading Listing (which some colleges may send you if you receive an offer from Oxford). And of course, there are many other books worth reading, and then don't limit yourself to these! I would even suggest that you don't just read books that are directly related to medicine, since empathy requires an exposure to different aspects of humanity, and reading in itself is a keen style to hone empathy.

Hope this was helpful and happy reading!

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Source: https://www.medicinspires.com/13-books-to-read-before-medical-school/