Top 12 Best Medical Books if you love to read about medicine

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I run a medical book club. For the last 10 years, we’ve read over 70 books. Our group works in various medical professions (physicians, nurses, dentists) in various specialties (EM, Rheumatology, ICU, OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Dentistry). We only read medically-themed books. We ‘pitch’ a book selection to the group each time and then vote for the next read. This keeps our book picks diverse—everything from historical fiction, popular fiction, non-fiction, and memoirs–whatever gets the most votes becomes our next read.

Although each of us has a personal favorite, the following 12 books are the ones we liked the most as a group. It’s an eclectic selection of books–everything from memoirs to historical fiction to non-fiction. These books are in random order. If you scroll further down, I have included many from the whole list in case you want more medical book recommendations.

Top 12

  • Year of Wonders–Historical fiction about a young girl who survives the black plague during 17th century England.
  • My Own Country–Infectious disease doctor’s experience at the start of the AIDS epidemic in rural Tennessee.
  • When the Air Hits Your Brain–A Neurosurgeon’s reflective memoir about his journey through medical training and eventual practice.
  • Bloodletter’s Daughter by Linda Lafferty–Historical fiction about the practice of blood-letting in Prague in the 1600s.
  • Being Mortal by Atul Gawande–A lovely book that examines end-of-life care from a different perspective.
  • Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moelem–Non-fiction about why certain diseases persist over time.
  • The Birth House by Ami McKay–Historical fiction of a midwife from Nova Scotia and her clash with newer medical practices
  • Molokai by Alan Brennert– Historical fiction about a young girl who contracts leprosy and is quarantined in Hawaii in the 1890s.
  • Stiff by Mary Roach–Non-fiction about what happens to our bodies after death. Each chapter focuses on different things.
  • The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber–A thrilling true story about a nurse who intentionally kills patients throughout his long career.
  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman– A Hmong family with seizure disorder and their interaction with Western medicine.
  • A Thousand Naked Strangers by Kevin Hazzard–After 9/11, a reporter becomes a paramedic and documents his experiences. Strong imagery

These are books that did not make the list but are still worth reading…….

  • Left Neglected by Lisa Genova-A young mother has a particular type of stroke where she doesn’t perceive one side of her body (“left neglect”)
  • Trans-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian—A man who undergoes a sex-change operation.
  • Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker-Female genital mutilation.
  • Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a misdiagnosed boy trapped inside his own body by Martin Pistorius—A young child becomes misdiagnosed with a degenerative disease, becomes wheelchair-bound, and then miraculously recovers.
  • The Red Market: On the Trail of the World’s Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers and Child Traffickers by Scott Carney—The black market for organs, blood, and cadavers.
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi—Neurosurgeon’s memoir about getting cancer and dying.
  • The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai—A fictional story about friends dealing with the AIDS epidemic.
  • Fever by Mary Beth Keane—Historical fiction about ‘typhoid Mary’
  • The Hot Zone by Richard Preston—Ebola outbreak
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks—A story about the origin of He-La cells.
  • Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet—A memoir written by an actual savant.
  • All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner—A fictional account of a mother who becomes addicted to opioids.
  • Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink-An account of the 5 days in a hospital after Hurricane Katrina.
  • Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician by Sandeep Jauhar—A Cardiologist’s take on American medicine.
  • Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade—Historical fiction about experiments on kids in a Jewish orphanage during the 1920s in NYC.
  • Dreamland by Sam Quinones—Opioid epidemic.
  • The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin—The fictional story of friends from medical school who harbor a secret.
  • The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny—A story about the belongings that patients left behind in an attic at NY’s largest states hospital.
  • Oxygen by Carol Cassella—A fictional story about an Anesthesiologist’s horrible case that led to a malpractice case.
  • Mama might be better off dead: The Failure of Healthcare in Urban America by Laurie Kate Abraham—A story about a multi-generational family’s dealing with the healthcare system in Chicago.
  • Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and fascinating cases of a Forensic Anthropologist by William R Maples, PhD—Forensic anthropologist examines skeletons to piece together facts about their lives.
  • An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen—A young college girl signs up to be a research study participant and soon finds her life turned upside down.
  • Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert—Sequel to the Moloka’i book about a girl quarantined to a leper colony.
  • Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood by Julie Gregory—Munchausen by proxy.
  • Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang, MD, and Nate Pedersen—The history of medical treatment throughout the years. Talks about the “treatments” that doctors, spiritualists, and snake oil salesmen recommended in the past.
  • The Alienist by Celeb Carr—A psychologist is asked to examine the mutilated bodies to help catch the perpetrator.
  • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson—About a woman with methemoglobinemia (from the blue people of Kentucky)who goes around delivering books to people in rural Appalachia.
  • Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away with Murder by James B. Stewart—A psychopathic doctor who moves from hospital to hospital intentionally killing patients.
  • White Coat Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine by Carl Elliott—How medicine has transformed into big business.
  • Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker—A family of 12 children, 6 of which become diagnosed with schizophrenia. Based on a true story.
  • The Code Breakers: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Futures of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson—Biography about Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered CRISPR technology.
  • The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore—Young women in the 1920s flocked to industries that use radium and eventually discovered how dangerous it is.

Did you enjoy this post? Check out other book recommendations here:

Top 9 Best Medical Books if you love to read about medicine–Part 2

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