RESURRECTION LILY: The BRCA Gene, Hereditary Cancer & Lifesaving Whispers from the Grandmother I Never Knew.
All Medical Books
What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear - Danielle Ofri
Through personal narratives, Ofri reminds us that attentive and compassionate communication is paramount in order for patients to holistically heal. This book serves as an abiding reminder to current and future medical professionals that a strong doctor-patient relationship will lead to better healthcare for us all. Recommended by Rose Parisi '20
God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine - Victoria Sweet
This book is an excellent anecdotal account of life and death in the last functioning U.S. almshouse. Dr. Sweet embodies the original, medieval medical values as she wholesomely treats her chronically ill patients. This book revitalizes the quintessential, core characteristics of medical practice that are too often forgotten in the midst of modern medicine's current, convoluted politics.
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions and Rose Parisi '20
Happier Endings: A Meditation on Life and Death - Erica Brown
This story, on the Wall Street Journal book list, explores how to be a friend to someone who is ill. From Amazon, Brown "shares stories and reflections on one of life’s most essential topics: how we pack each day with love and meaning precisely because we will not live forever."
Recommended by Kenneth S. Zimmerman, MD
Brain on Fire - Susannah Cahalan
"One day, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four-year-old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter."
"Susannah’s astonishing memoir chronicles the swift path of her illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving her life. As weeks ticked by and Susannah moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit her to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning her to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined her team. He asked Susannah to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing her with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which her body was attacking her brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history."
Recommended by Kaylynne Glover, Pre-Professional Advisor at Arkansas State University
The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating-Heart Cadavers--How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death - Dick Teresi
This was absolutely a fantastic read. While creepy at parts, it brings up some interesting points on persistent vegetative state, locked in syndrome, and how someone can really call someone dead.
Recommended by Cara Zimmerman '14
The Emotional Life of Your Brain - Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley
Exploring cognitive neuroscience, this book explains a concept of "Emotional Style," and dives into the fact there are six basic emotional styles that correlate to underlying brain patterns.
Recommended by Cara Zimmerman '14
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Henrietta Lacks was a black woman that no one knew. When she got cancer, doctors took her cells without asking and these cells became immortal. Now, her cells are known as HeLa cells and have been instrumental in creating vaccines and finding cures to many diseases. This book was on the New York Times Bestseller List in 2010 and is hard to put down. Recommended by Cara Zimmerman ‘14
Complications - Atul Gawande
Gawande is one of my favorite medical writers. His presentations of the current problems facing the health care system are thoroughly researched and accessible to readers from all fields. Recognizes problems and presents viable solutions.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
This is a great medically related read discussing how to deal with medicine as an imperfect science.
Recommended by Neha Perwani '14
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey - Jill Bolte Taylor
This is a fascinating look into the mystery of the brain. Taylor, a neuroanatomist, writes about her personal experience with a massive stroke and her subsequent recovery, and everything she learned about her brain along the way.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
How Doctors Think - Jerome Groopman
This is an interesting read that was recommended to me by my dad, an internist outside of Buffalo, NY.
Recommended by Cara Zimmerman ‘14
The Checklist Manifesto - Atul Gawande
This is a great book about the future of the medical profession.
Recommended by Ajay Major ‘12, Aleena Paul '12 and Cara Zimmerman '14
Better - Atul Gawande
All premedical students should be required to read this book. The epilogue basically tells you how to be the best physician you can be.
Recommended by Ajay Major ‘12 and Aleena Paul '12
The Latino Patient - Nilda Chong
This is a good primer on cultural competency and how to interact with patients from different cultures effectively.
Recommended by Ajay Major ‘12
A Piece of My Mind - edited by Roxanne K. Young
This book contains a number of stories about medical practice and is a great book to make you think about what it means to be a physician.
Recommended by Ajay Major ‘12
Neonatal Bioethics: The Moral Challenges of Medical Innovation - John D. Lantos and William L. Meadow
I love this book because it is not only perfectly in line with my thesis work, but also the field that I am extremely interested in learning more about. Even if someone doesn't want to be a neonatologist the book still is really informative, interesting, and a relatively light read (short and simple).
Recommended by Maria Battaglia '12
The Intern Blues: The Timeless Classic About the Making of a Doctor - Robert Marion
This book tells of the experiences of the small group of pediatric interns. A very realistic and memorable look at the good and the bad of the intern year.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12 as well as Max Willinger '15
The Making of a Surgeon - William A. Nolen
This is very similar to the Intern by Sandeep Jauhaur we read in LIM 500. Dr. Nolen provides a very vivid and interesting account of his life as a surgical resident.
Recommended by Kirti Chakote '15
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
This fictional story is about twin brothers growing up in Ethiopia and their unconventional experiences in medicine. Verghese presents of medicine as an art form, and speaks of the passions that draw individuals into medicine.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story - Abraham Verghese
This is a moving account of Dr. Verghese’s experiences working in Tennessee at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. Insight into how the medical community dealt with a challenge that no knew very much about.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
Healing Hearts: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon - Kathy Magliato (a Union alumna '85!)
Dr. Magliato, a Union Alum '85, speaks of her experiences as one of very few female heart surgeons, while placing an importance on women’s health.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
Taking Flight: Inspirational Stories of Lung Transplantation - compiled by Joanne M. Schum
This is a collection of very powerful and moving stories, poetry and reflections from patients who are undergoing lung transplants.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine - edited by Eliza Chin
This is a collection of stories, poems, essays etc. from female physicians who are simultaneously playing the roles of mothers, draughts, wives, homemakers and community leaders. These women physicians speak for their trials and rewards in practicing medicine.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine - Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams
This book would be considered part of the medical category (non-fiction). I really enjoyed this book because it looks at medicine in a completely different light. For the most part we treat sickness as it arises, however, in this book they look more into how sickness originates and its inevitable arrival due to some of our poor choices.
Recommended by Stacey Jackson '15
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A brain surgeon exposes life on the inside - Katrina Firlik
The author speaks of her experience leading up to becoming a surgeon and as a resident, etc. It's a great read. She has a great sense of humor and I have to say that I loved that fact that it was written by a WOMAN neurosurgeon. Such a great read.
Recommended by Teena Alex '15
Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality - Pauline W. Chen
I think this book influenced my thinking a great deal. She goes into how doctors deal with the idea of mortality. How it affects their practice. She actually gives you insight on what doctors are thinking and why they might have a certain thought process in dealing with the idea of mortality. I think she encourages that we should educate doctors more appropriately on how to handle death. A great self-reflecting book and uses real life experiences that make it all the more interesting.
Recommended by Teena Alex '15
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
This piece of medical fiction incorporates a very interesting look into gender identity and the family histories that influence our lives.
Recommended by Aleena Paul '12
Doctors - Erich Segal
This is a medically related novel that documents the lives of Harvard med students in the 50s. It's a bit of a long read but I really enjoyed it!
Recommended by Sara Zeltsman '15
When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales from Neurosurgery - Frank Vertosick Jr.
This is an interesting read about a neurosurgeon's experiences, beginning with his first day of residency and continuing throughout his career.
Recommended by Kayleigh Clark '13
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
I loved this book not only for the author’s bizarre sense of humor but for how she captures the wonders of science through the use of cadavers in research. As someone who has completed the paperwork to donate my body to Albany Med, the book makes for an even more meaningful read!
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife - Mary Roach
By the same author as Stiff, this book, Spook, chronicles the scientific studies investigating whether there really is life after death.
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach
This is Mary Roach's third book [see above two reads] on the science of sex, which has also gotten good reviews. However, Professor Weisse hasn't read this one yet!
If you have read this book or heard other good reviews, please click HERE to have your comments recorded on this site!
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Still Alice - Lisa Genova
This fictional story does an amazing job at placing the reader into the head of a young woman as she develops early Alzheimers. While I admit it resonated with me because the main character is a psychology professor from Boston, I think anyone interested in what it must be like to experience dementia from the patients perspective would enjoy this novel for that reason. It’s an easy, fairly short read. I just finished her second book Left Neglected about hemineglect in a woman following a traumatic brain injury which was good but I did not like it as much as Still Alice.
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Death and Dignity: Making Choice and Taking Charge - Timothy E. Quill
Timothy Quill became famous when he decided to help one of his terminally ill patients end her life and decided to publish the story in the New England Journal of Medicine. The book describes many of his challenging clinical cases in a way that is not preachy and would be valuable for any future physician. His deep compassion for his patients is evident with each patient story and even though the book was written a while ago, it captures what will be always be some of the greatest challenges to future physicians.
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal - Rachel Naomi Ramen
This is a great book full of patient stories that captures what it means to truly care for people who are suffering. It’s kind of a chicken soup for the soul for doctors even though she decided after obtaining her medical degree to go into patient counseling.
Recommended by Professor Carol Weisse, Director of Health Professions
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
This book could go equally well under medical reads or philosophy. It begins with a personal narrative detailing physician Frankl's experiences in Nazi concentration camps and his battle to find the will to survive. He then uses his observations and personal experiences to describe his psychological theory that our deepest desire in life is find personal meaning and purpose.
Recommended by Joanne Kehlbeck, Chemistry Professor at Union College
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer - Siddhartha Mukherjee
This narrative is very interesting and details the triumphs and remaining pitfalls of modern medicine through the story of cancer.
Recommended by Meaghan Jain '15
The topic of this book is the history of our understanding of cancer. It is extremely well written, informative and reads like an exciting mystery story.
Recommended by James A. Bennett, Ph.D., Chair of Albany Medical College Admissions
The Future of Medicine: Megatrends in Healthcare That Will Improve Your Quality of Life - Stephen C. Schimpff, MD
I really enjoyed this book mainly because it reflected the topic of my thesis: telemedicine. Medicine is currently in its revolutionary stages and will continue to evolve as the technology advances. Portraying the capabilities and never-imagined future of medicine, this novel really left me excited for what is ahead in this field.
Recommended by Rohit Dhingra '12
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague - Geraldine Brooks
Loosely based on true events, it takes place in a small village in England that, upon becoming infected with the plague, decide collectively to quarantine themselves for one year, thus preventing the spread of it to others though simultaneously risking all their lives. This book could also go under the "Historical Fiction" genre.
Recommended by Kaylynne Glover, Pre-professional Advisor at Arkansas State University
Overtreated - Shannon Brownlee
This is a great book for a pre-med student because it's written in a way that a non-healthcare related person can still understand. It has some very interesting ideas and statistics about the current healthcare system and the lack of evidence-based medicine. Although many may disagree with Ms. Brownlee, these issues should be made aware to anyone interested in healthcare.
Recommended by Karen Trang '14, St. Mary's College of California