A Doctor is a gift for the world. However, they remain so busy in taking care of others that they hardly get a little “me time” where they can relax and enjoy. Now the other word that comes into your mind immediately on hearing the word “relax” is entertainment however, one of the best ways to relax and spend time for yourself is to sit with a cup of coffee and a book.
You might think that doctors keep studying their whole life, then how reading novels is best for their entertainment. So, let me tell you, doctors keep learning all their lives and need to focus and keep concentration to learn lengthy books and reading novels as a source of entertainment could be one of the best exercises to keep them focused while reading academic books as I have seen it with my friend who is pursuing MBBS and reads fiction in her free time.
The lives of a doctor are quite hectic from graduation and it never decreases with loads of studies and work. Talking to my friend who is pursuing doctor’s degree made me feel how they almost spend their entire lives in their studies and he too felt that reading is one aspect which can help doctors in being stable mentally.
After a good amount of research on internet and talking to my friend and his friend circle, I have listed some of the popular novels every doctor or aspirant must read.
Top Recommended Novels for Doctors
1. The White Coat Investor
“The White Coat Investor: A Doctor’s Guide to Personal Finance and Investing” is a book written by Dr. James M. Dahle, MD who is a practicing emergency physician. In today’s generation where we as beginners fail to understand how to save and invest money in a proper way, this book is a must read.
This book deals with the issues related to finance suffered by doctors, medical students as well as professionals who have a good sum of income. Doctors are thorough at diagnosis and curing patients but the world of finance is quite unknown to them but through this book, the doctors will be able to have a vivid idea about how to save, spend and properly handle their income.
This book will also teach aspiring doctors about how to study in the medical college at the minimum cost and then further after becoming a doctor distribute your money in a way that you can help your family with money in spite of saving and building more wealth. Therefore, this book is one of the best novels for doctors and aspirants.
2. The House of God
“The House of God” is an ironic novel written by Psychiatrist Stephen Bergman under the pen name of Samuel Shem. This book is mostly his own autobiography based on his own experience in Beth Israel Hospital in Boston where he was doing an internship.
In this book, Samuel describes the fear, exhaustion and grief they experienced at the hospital while they were practicing postgraduate internship. Through this book, you might get to know things that no doctors would like to let you know beforehand. Through this book, Samuel points out the lacking of a medical training system. This is one of the must-read novels for doctors.
3. Talent is Overrated
“Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” is a book written by Geoffrey Colvin. This book helps you realize that the sky is our limit and limit is beyond less.
Through this book, one can learn that one can become the best in something by working extremely hard for it and that whatever we perform is all in our hands. Through different examples the writer shows that not all are born with inbuilt talents but to become something great, you need practice and analyze your work in a specific way.
He tells us to learn from our mistakes. This book can help a student to change his way of thinking and is another read for doctors as it provides a lot of motivation and helps you to keep going.
4. When Breath Becomes Air
Written by American neurosurgeon- Paul Sudhir Arul Kalanithi, “When Breath Becomes Air” is his non-fictional autobiography based on the themes of life and death, literature and responsibilities.
This story is a sketch of a doctor’s life who himself was suffering from the last stage of metastatic cancer. This book is an emotional and touching book that shall give you a lifetime experience and provide you with a lot of inspiration. This is a very powerful book as it makes you analyze how you should live life in the right way and makes you decide and develop your professional purpose.
5. Bad Science
“Bad Science” is a book written by British physician- Ben Goldacre. This book mainly unveils the pretentious masks that fake scientist wear. This book was also nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize of 2009.
In this book, Goldacre criticizes the media that makes reports on issues related to science and health. The book is divided into number of chapters each illustrating a particular aspect of bad science. This book is quite fascinating and hilarious and one of the best novels for doctors
6. A Guide to The Good Life
“A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” is a book written by philosopher William Braxton Irvine. In this book, Irvine portrays how we can be directed to a better life through ancient philosophy. He represents Stoicism in a refreshing manner here.
Through this book, we learn to attain tranquility and stop being dissatisfied. It helps us to forget our worries, stop looking at the past and start moving on in our lives in a better way. We learn how to avoid wrong temptations and face sorrow and grief. As we know that after a whole day of burden and pressure a doctor’s life is filled with most of these problems and the best way to get rid of them is by reading this book.
7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a non fiction book written by an American writer and specialist in science and medicine Rebeca Skloot. This book has helped a lot of people to understand topics related to science and medicine.
This book is an intermixing of Lacks’s biography and her dealings with issues on principles related to the distinction of class and race in the medical field. The issues of sexism and racism in the 1950s in America have been explored in this book. Through this book, we get to know how in the 1950s, in the American hospital they did not care to hear a patient’s rights and consent.
8. The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Written by a Bengali-American physician and oncologist- Siddhartha Mukherjee, “The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” is a non-fiction book that received the Pulitzer Prize.
The book sketches his own experiences in the Massachusetts General Hospital while practicing oncology and also the whole procedure and history related to research and treatment of cancer. This is a magnificent book and provides hope to those who are undergoing cancer and also to those who are trying to cure cancer by bringing up new methods.
9. When The Air Hits Your Brain
Written by Frank Vertosick Jr, “When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales from Neurology” is an extremely fascinating book and a must-read for neurosurgeons and clinicians. Through this book, we get an inside view of how a neurosurgeon is trained.
This memoir, written with compassion and humor makes you feel the pains and pressure one undergoes during the practice of medicine. By describing his own journey from a student who is eager to become a neurosurgeon to a successful one, he gives us a detailed description of how life is of a medical student and how it goes on.
10. Being Mortal
Written by an American surgeon, Atul Gawande, “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End” is an honest review and portrayal of the ultimate goal in life i.e., a good life.
Through this book, Gawande tells us how we can deal with serious illness and age-related shortcomings. Through this book, he tries to create a change in the ideology of health care which should concentrate more on good living than just to survive.
11. Atlas of Human Anatomy
“Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist ” is written by the famous lecturer- Stephen Rogers Peck. This book is being used by students as a manual for the study of the human body.
This is basically a reference book related to anatomy. The entire book is written in a very simple style yet in a proper descriptive way making it easy for aspirants to understand. This book has a lot to provide you regarding bones and muscles and is one of the best novels for aspiring doctors.
12. This is Going to Hurt
“This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor” is written by a former doctor- Adam Richard Key, is a book based on non-fiction. This book is his own autobiography about his own clinical experience as a junior doctor in the National Health Service.
This book is both amusing and distressing. The main theme of this book is the ill-treatment faced by the doctors. All you need to know about the life of a person working in a hospital is detailed here for the readers to know.
13. Second Suns: Two Doctors & Their Quest to Restore Sight and Same Lives
This book is written by the American journalist David Oliver Relin. This is a very inspiring book about ophthalmologists who dedicated their lives in creating a method to cure blindness that was unpreventable.
Through this book, you can see the dedication of two gifted doctors who worked extremely hard to fulfill their dream. This is a very powerful and heart-touching story that will boost up your dreams.
Conclusion
By reading novels doctors can learn more new things and also solve their mistakes whereas the aspirants can make out how the life is of a doctor and what calamities they face in daily life. Aspirants can get motivation on how to work harder to fulfill their own dream. And these 13 novels are the ones that must be read once in a lifetime if you aspire to be a doctor one day or if you already are.
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