<p>I've been looking around on Amazon for a few books to read to hold my interest before I can go home and start college. So far I've picked out five books:
Med-School Confidential by Robert Miller
101 Tips on Getting into Medical School by Jennifer C. Welch
On Becoming a Doctor: Everything You Need to Know about Medical School, Residency, Specialization, and Practice by Tania Heller
On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency by Emily R. Transue (just seemed interesting)
How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman</p>
<p>Just curious to see if anyone knew of any other good ones before I hit the checkout button. I couldn't figure out a good search query to find another topic about this so I'm sorry if it's a repeat, but I'm sure the list could use an update anyway.</p>
<p>House of God by Samuel Shem (The TV series Scrubs was based on this book. It’s funny, but a whole lot blacker and much more cynical than the TV show.) </p>
<p>Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande (Gawande has several books. My MS1 has read two of them–says he writes quite well.)</p>
<p>What my Patient’s Taught Me: A Medical Student’s Journey by Audrey Young </p>
<p>Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation by Sandeep Jauhar</p>
<p>The first three tentatively added to my list - along with another that Amazon found: On Call: A Doctor’s Days and Nights in Residency by Emily R. Transue. It may need to be trimmed before I finalize it. Maybe not, I’ve got four more months out on the ocean with not much else to do but read and play guitar (after I finish my work, that is).</p>
<p>Also gave Transue’s book to my MS1 last year in addition to the above. (Before she started med school to read while she took several very long plane flights.)</p>
<p>Enjoy your time to read now because D says that there’s little time for recreational reading in med school, and that there is sooooo much required reading (hundreds of pages per day) that when she has free time, she wants to go do stuff (run, bike, swim, hike, rock/ice climb, whitewater raft/kayak) rather read.</p>
<p>So, you are planning to rely on somebody else’s feelings about the process and the field of medicine. How can you tell that others’ experiences are applicable toyou personally? This idea seems to me very risky. Do not underestimate the fact that you are different from others, what turns others away, might be very beneficial to you. I have taken many routes that others warned me about, but it has always worked out to my benefit.<br>
Rely on your personal experiences, shadow few MD’s, volunteer at the hospital, do some Med. Research to see how you personal fit into this.<br>
Books are a good entertainment for those who like to read. Cannot make life changing decisions based on books though. Enjoy reading while it lasts, enjoy trying new things while young.</p>
<p>I’m already volunteering in my ship’s medical department (however small it may be) whenever time allows, taking vitals, administering IVs and shots and honing my emergency first aid knowledge. I actually had some relatively good training on how to suture a superficial wound a couple days ago (practiced with a ham hock).
I’ve also been perusing their “library” trying to relearn what I’ve forgotten of gross anatomy, learn about taking patient histories and read about deep-tissue suture methods though I haven’t been able to put that into practice.</p>
<p>My point is I’m not trying to base my decision on them, I’m just looking for some more insight on the topic until my ship returns from deployment and I’m able to take advantage of some of the volunteer/shadowing opportunities I’ll have. I’m skeptical enough to not take every word of these books as my own opinion.</p>
<p>Try: Germ Theory: Medical Pioneers in Infectious Diseases
Germ Theory chronologically examines the great medical pioneers in infectious diseases, some famous in popular culture, and others whose influence may not be as well known. The reader gets a rich and detailed look at these historic people and their important work, as well as the context of their contributions in history.</p>
<p>Just a suggestion from observing son, in med school now. Whenever he had or has (and he does) have free time I see him reading the classics. Asked him why he doesn’t read more sciency stuff (my words, not his) and he said when he was in high school and undergrad he read whatever they told him too. But his close friends in undergrad were very well read in all the classics, some read them in Greek and Latin. They didn’t make him feel left out but he felt was missing something, something important.</p>
<p>So he started as a freshman and now as a new MS3 he is still reading them. He too buys them on Amazon, all used mostly and goes through them 1 by 1. We didn’t have any extra funds when he was growing up to buy books so it is a real treat for him to do so now. One of his minors as an undergrad was Hellenic Studies, so he got up close and personal with greek. His sis ended up as a Classics major with a minor in Latin, also pre-med and she too is a avid reader of the classics in her free time.</p>
<p>Just thought I might suggest what as helped son.</p>
<p>I would advise to drop it and just enjoy reading random books if the reading is your choice of entertainment. If not, then focus on spending time with your HS friends, this time is absolutely precious, cherish it, do not waste it on some useless whatever. If you do not have a burning desire to be an MD, nothing will hold your interest. This road is so hard, so much filled with extreme obstacles and being pushed to complete despair by hard work that only the ones with that goal shining like a star in front of them will endure the process. No books will do it for you, nobody out there in a world can do for you, your heart is in the beginning and the process and the goal and if not, please, do not attempt.</p>