As a bookworm and a medical student at the same time, I've been looking ,for some years now, for a great list of books(autobiography, novel, fiction .. any kind) that can help us boost our energy, get inspired and know more about what is it like to be a doctor or a medical student .. Considering that being a doctor is not simply a profession .. it is for me, a life style I'll start by suggesting those I know, and let you add some titles you've loved 1. The Physician (Cole Family Trilogy #1) by Noah Gordon 2. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee 3. A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov, Michael Glenny (Translator) p.s. I would be glad to discover new titles wether in English, French or Arabic ^_^
Check Also : 1- Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives: Tales of Life and Death from the ER by Pamela Grim 2- Letters to a Young Doctor (Harvest Book) by Richard Selzer 3- The Life Of Sir William Osler: 2 Volumes by Harvey Cushing 4- Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery by Richard Selzer
Illness as a metaphor by this great american writer Susan Sontag Illness as Metaphor is a nonfiction work written by Susan Sontag and published in 1978. She challenged the "blame the victim" mentality behind the language society often uses to describe diseases and those who suffer from them. Drawing out the similarities between public perspectives on cancer (the paradigmatic disease of the 20th century before the appearance of AIDS), and tuberculosis (the symbolic illness of the 19th century), Sontag shows that both diseases were associated with personal psychological traits. In particular, she says that the metaphors and terms used to describe both syndromes lead to an association between repressed passion and the physical disease itself. She notes the peculiar reversal that "With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer), the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the character causes the disease–because it has not expressed itself. Passion moves inward, striking and blighting the deepest cellular recesses." Sontag says that the clearest and most truthful way of thinking about diseases is without recourse to metaphor. The tone of her treatise was angry and combative, and she makes sweeping claims that, while perhaps true to a first approximation, may go too far (Donoghue, 1978). She believed that wrapping disease in metaphors discouraged, silenced, and shamed patients. Other writers have disagreed with her, saying that metaphors and other symbolic language help affected people form meaning out of their experiences (Clow, 2001).
Ah what a great thread! I found "When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales from Neurosurgery" written by Frank Vertosick Jr. and "Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities" by Richard Baer equally captivating, definitely recommend them