Synergistic tomes for the well-rounded physician
I am drawn to an article from the New York Times today extolling the virtues of literature in the education of physicians. I would like to share the sentiments of the author and add to the resurgent pullulation with an eclectic selection of my literature favorites which guided me through my formative training. Many of the tomes are ineluctable and in conjunction with erudite medical texts lead to a propitious experience.
My Top Eleven Synergistic Texts
- The Sory of San Michele (Axel Munthe) – Part fact, part fiction this tale of exploration, travel and wonderment still leaves me in awe.
- The Cocktail Party (T.S.Eliot) – Part satire of the traditional British drawing-room comedy and part philosophical discourse on the nature of human relations, the play, like many of Eliot’s works, uses elements that border on the ridiculous to raise awareness of the isolation that is the human condition.
- The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky) – A satire of human corruption; a meditation on faith and religious institutions and a testament to the goodness and bravery of the human spirit. Best translated version.
- The night they burned the mountain (Dr Tom Dooley) – From physician to combat soldier to cancer victim in a precipitously short time. Three books explore inhumanity and humanity and the cruelty of ideolegies versus the compassion of the individual.
- The House of God (Samuel Shem a.k.a Stephen Bergman) – To best understand this classic, read the ‘physician writers reflections‘ in Annals
- Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse) – Trial and error leads to enlightenment through attentive listening to a river’s murmuring. In Sanskrit, a compound of “siddha” means “accomplished” or “fulfilled,” and a compound of “artha” means “aim” and “wealth.” Therefore, “Siddhartha” is literally “the wealth of a fulfilled aim.”
- How Doctors Think (Jerome Groopman) – proffers insight into the way in which we are taught and the inherent complications of herd instinct, stereotypical judgements and tunnel vision.
- As I walked out one midsummer morning (Laurie Lee) – Capturing the spirit of adventure, discovery and explanatory reasoning
- The man who mistook his wife for a hat (Oliver Sacks) – tales of insight and discovery from Dr Sacks – a physician, humanist and philosopher
- The Anatomy of Hope (Jerome Groopman) – Hopes, fears and realization pertaining to medical illness
- The Housemans Trilogy (Colin Douglas) – The way things were – the way they are
Be sure to read any of the Annals Collection of Physician Essays such as “Empty Pockets” Dr. Kevan Pickrel
A masterful piece of writing by Philip J Overby on ‘the moral education of doctors’ – is also well worth a read
My own list would be the following: Plato’s ‘Republic’ for an introduction to questions of justice; Aristotle’s ‘Physics’ for an account of nature that is not vacuous; Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov for a poetic portrait of man; and Shakespeare’s King Lear for all of the above.
The students would be tested for mastery of these works just as they are tested for mastery of the sciences. This would ensure that everyone had at least a minimum grasp of the larger tradition that gave rise to natural science and a context for understanding its existence and meaning
About Mike Cadogan
I am inpressed that you have managed to come up with no books that I have actually read! Although I do own How Doctors Think.
I am inpressed that you have managed to come up with no books that I have actually read! Although I do own How Doctors Think.
By the way, I wanted to add a book that I read recently -- one of this years Miles Franklin nominees. The book is “Love without Hope” by Rodney Hall and talks about the importance of the long-term doctor patient relationship and how it redeems heathcare, particularly mental health care.
By the way, I wanted to add a book that I read recently -- one of this years Miles Franklin nominees. The book is “Love without Hope” by Rodney Hall and talks about the importance of the long-term doctor patient relationship and how it redeems heathcare, particularly mental health care.
Give me your copy of Aristotle so i can read it..
Siddhartha is a nice fairy story, but I liked “Narziss and Goldmund” as a young man -- and I found “Steppenwolf” a surprisingly cheerful book, rather than “a savage indictment of bourgeois society” as the reviewer on the back cover did…
“Cancer Ward” by Solzhenitsyn is excellent -- makes you realise he is actually a plodding writer, but he does describe some essential human qualities well. Maybe it sounds better in Russian….
Give me your copy of Aristotle so i can read it..
Siddhartha is a nice fairy story, but I liked “Narziss and Goldmund” as a young man -- and I found “Steppenwolf” a surprisingly cheerful book, rather than “a savage indictment of bourgeois society” as the reviewer on the back cover did…
“Cancer Ward” by Solzhenitsyn is excellent -- makes you realise he is actually a plodding writer, but he does describe some essential human qualities well. Maybe it sounds better in Russian….
This list is just what I needed! I just finished reading How doctors think, Complications (by atul gawande) and Intern (by Sandeep Jauhar).
I was making a list of books I have to read while still in medical school and thank God someone has done it for me!
P.S. i love this site!
Especially the fantabulously frivolous friday five
This list is just what I needed! I just finished reading How doctors think, Complications (by atul gawande) and Intern (by Sandeep Jauhar).
I was making a list of books I have to read while still in medical school and thank God someone has done it for me!
P.S. i love this site!
Especially the fantabulously frivolous friday five