Drawn to true stories of challenge and triumph, especially if they are set in a medical milieu? Care about improving the health care system? Love good writing that makes you stop and think about your own life? In this series, I'll share some of my favourite and most thought-provoking books on health, healing, and the system around it all. If you are lucky enough to have a local independent bookseller, please consider sourcing these books directly.
Beautifully written, this ‘biography’ of cancer covers 5000 years—from cancer’s first documented appearances to radical understandings of its essence. This book is a story of ingenuity and perseverance, but also of arrogance, paternalism, and misperceptions. You will want to embrace all those who have soldiered through draining regimens to survive and to increase the store of human knowledge.
This series of biannual journals contain fiction, non-fiction, and poetry which reflect the human side of health and disease.
A collection of writing and art from doctors and nurses who wanted “to learn from their experiences, to express the meaning of their life’s work, and to enjoy the world.”
Gawande, through shared personal experiences and the stories of others, examines how it is that we can do so much sophisticated and complex work in health care and yet still make serious mistakes. By looking at other industries, he discovers that simple checklists can improve care and reduce complications and deaths in our hospitals and clinics.
This book shares the remarkable story of five ordinary people trapped in the complex world of serious illness: ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Crohn’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and bipolar disorder. It includes poignant reflections about self-determination, courage in the face of adversity and public ignorance, and keeping hope alive.
The author explores the components and manifestations of kindness and compassion and how important they both are for healing and good health.
This academic book's message is that thousands of healthcare practitioners all over the world are overturning years of arrogance and ignorance to put their focus where it should have been in the first place: the patients.
Two days after this remarkable book was published in France, its author died of heart failure. In December 1995, the 44-year-old former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine suffered a stroke that left his body paralyzed, a condition known as locked-in syndrome. His dictated account of his life is full of humour.