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Best Medical Books

Topic List51 books curated70 recommendations total

Medical books, including titles recommended by Bill Gates, Jordan Peterson and Andrew Chen. Most recommended here: When Breath Becomes Air, Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Emperor of All Maladies.

Curated list content

Where to start: Medical Books recommended most often

Recommended books, ranked by how many of the 54 people behind this list recommended each one.

  1. 1When Breath Becomes Air25 recommendations · recommended by Bill Gates, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Kathryn Minshew
  2. 2Mountains Beyond Mountains15 recommendations · recommended by Bill Gates, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Daniel Burka
  3. 3The Emperor of All Maladies10 recommendations · recommended by Bill Gates, Matthew Herper and Andrew Chen
  4. 4Being Mortal6 recommendations · recommended by Amy Cuddy, Julie Zhuo and Steve Kerr
  5. 5The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat6 recommendations · recommended by Jordan Peterson, Darya Rose and Eric Weinstein
1
Book cover for “When Breath Becomes Air”
Description

An Amazon Best Book of the Month For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living?

2
Book cover for “Mountains Beyond Mountains”
Mountains Beyond Mountains

The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

15 recommendations

Recommended by Bill Gates, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Daniel Burka and 6 others

Description

This powerful and inspiring book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers…

4
Book cover for “Being Mortal”
Being Mortal

Medicine and What Matters in the End

6 recommendations

Recommended by Amy Cuddy, Julie Zhuo, Steve Kerr and 2 others

Description

In Being Mortal, author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its endingMedicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable.

5
Book cover for “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”
6 recommendations

Recommended by Jordan Peterson, Darya Rose, Eric Weinstein and 2 others

Description

Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.

6
Book cover for “Five Days at Memorial”
Five Days at Memorial

Life and Death in a StormRavaged Hospital

3 recommendations

Recommended by Nancy Pearl, Jessica Parker and Susan Orlean

Description

In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.After Katrina struck and the…

8
Book cover for “Better”
Better

A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

2 recommendations

Recommended by John Maeda and Ramit Sethi

Description

The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision.

9
Book cover for “This is Going to Hurt”
This is Going to Hurt

Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

1 recommendation

Recommended by Stephen Kinsella

Description

Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you.Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt…

10
No coverFinal Exam
Final Exam

A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality

Description

A brilliant young transplant surgeon brings moral intensity and narrative drama to the most powerful and vexing questions of medicine and the human condition.When Pauline Chen began medical school twenty years ago, she dreamed of saving lives.

11
No coverOn Call
Description

On Call begins with a newlyminted doctor checking in for her first day of residencywearing the long white coat of an MD and being called "Doctor" for the first time. Having studied at Yale and Dartmouth, Dr.

12
Book cover for “The Intern Blues”
The Intern Blues

The Timeless Classic About the Making of a Doctor

Description

While supervising a small group of interns at a major New York medical center, Dr. Robert Marion asked three of them to keep a careful diary over the course of a year.

Show 39 more books with a single recommendation
13
Book cover for “HighYield? Neuroanatomy”
Description

Now significantly revised based on student feedback, this bestselling text provides a quick, authoritative review of the most important clinical aspects of neuroanatomy.

14
Book cover for “CURRENT Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 2019”
Description

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.

15
Book cover for “Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 2022”
Description

The most popular annual guide of its kindfully revised and updated to reflect all new clinical developments in every field of medicineFor 60 years, CURRENT Medical Diagnosis and Treatment the flagship volume of the renowned Lange medical series has been delivering the…

16
No coverIntern
Intern

A Doctor's Initiation

Description

Intern is Sandeep Jauhar's story of his days and nights in residency at a busy hospital in New York City, a trial that led him to question our every assumption about medical care today. Residencyand especially the first year, called internshipis legendary for its brutality.

17
Book cover for “Atlas of Human Anatomy”
Description

The only anatomy atlas illustrated by physicians, Atlas of Human Anatomy, 7th edition, brings you worldrenowned, exquisitely clear views of the human body with a clinical perspective. In addition to the famous work of Dr.

18
No coverBRS Embryology
Description

Succeed on the USMLE, other board exams, and course exams with this updated Sixth Edition of BRS Embryology. Acclaimed for its easytoread, easytoscan outline format, this bestselling book includes over 220 USMLEstyle questions with complete answers and explanations, as well as…

19
No coverPathophysiology of Heart Disease
Pathophysiology of Heart Disease

A Collaborative Project of Medical Students and Faculty

20
Book cover for “Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine”
Description

The landmark guide to internal medicine updated and streamlined for today's students and clinicians Through six decades, no resource has matched the authority, esteemed scholarship, and scientific rigor of "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine." Capturing the countless…

21
No coverBRS Physiology
Description

The leading physiology book on the market, this bestselling title in the Board Review Series offers a concise, highly efficient review of all essential physiology concepts covered in the first and second year of medical school, as well as more than 350 clinical vignettestyle…

22
No coverClinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple
Description

A brief, clear, thorough, and highly enjoyable approach to clinical microbiology, brimming with mnemonics, humor, summary charts and illustrations, from AIDS to flesheating bacteria to ebola, mad cow disease, hantavirus, anthrax, smallpox, botulism, etc. Significant updates.

23
Book cover for “Color Atlas of Anatomy”
Color Atlas of Anatomy

A Photographic Study of the Human Body

Description

This Color Atlas of Anatomy features fullcolor photographs of actual cadaver dissections, with accompanying schematic drawings and diagnostic images.

25
No coverDo No Harm
Do No Harm

Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery

Description

What is it like to be a brain surgeon How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling, and reason How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrongIn…

26
No coverRapid Review Pathology
Description

Whether you're preparing for the USMLE Step 1, Step 2, or studying for course exams, Rapid Review Pathology, 5th Edition by acclaimed author Dr. Edward Goljan is your goto guide for uptodate, essential pathology information throughout medical school.

27
No coverRobbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease
Description

Readable and highly illustrated, Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th Edition presents an indepth, stateoftheart overview of human diseases and their cellular and molecular basis.

28
No coverRobbins and Cotran Review of Pathology
Description

Effectively master the most important principles and facts in pathology with this easytouse new edition of Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology.

29
No coverWhen the Air Hits Your Brain
30
No coverBates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking
31
No coverBlue Collar, Blue Scrubs
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs

The Making of a Surgeon

Description

It looked for a while like Michael Collins would spend his life breaking concrete and throwing rocks for the Vittorio Scalese Construction Company. He liked the work and he liked the pay.

32
No coverComplications
Complications

A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

Description

In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge.

33
Book cover for “Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology”
Description

The 13th edition of "Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology" continues this bestselling title's long tradition as the world's foremost medical physiology textbook.

34
No coverHighYield Embryology5thEdition by Dudek PhD, Ronald W. published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Description

This series extracts the most important information on each topic and presents it in a concise, uncluttered fashion to prepare students for the USMLE.

35
Book cover for “Histology”
Histology

A Text and Atlas

Description

Now in its seventh edition, Histology: A Text and Atlas is ideal for medical, dental, health professions, and undergraduate biology and cell biology students.

36
No coverHow We Do Harm
How We Do Harm

A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America

37
No coverMy Own Country
My Own Country

A Doctor's Story

Description

By the bestselling author of Cutting for Stone, a story of medicine in the American heartland, and confronting one's deepest prejudices and fears.

38
No coverRobbins Basic Pathology
Description

Part of the trusted Robbins and Cotran family, Robbins Basic Pathology provides a readable, wellillustrated and concise overview of the principles of human pathology that's ideal for today's busy students.

40
No coverThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures (FSG Classics) by Anne Fadiman (20120424)

Description

Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, overmedication, and culture clash: "What the doctors viewed as clinical…

41
No coverWhat Doctors Feel
What Doctors Feel

How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine

42
No coverClinical Neuroanatomy made ridiculously simple
Description

This nowclassic text presents the most relevant points in clinical neuroanatomy with mnemonics, humor and case presentations. For neuroanatomy courses and Board review. Includes attached CDROM on Neurologic Localization with 3D animated rotations of the brain.

43
No coverGod's Hotel
God's Hotel

A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine

Description

San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the HôtelDieu (God's Hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages.

44
Book cover for “Hot Lights, Cold Steel”
Description

When Michael Collins decides to become a surgeon, he is totally unprepared for the chaotic life of a resident at a major hospital.

45
Book cover for “How We Die”
How We Die

Reflections of Life's Final Chapter, New Edition

Description

A runaway bestseller and National Book Award winner, Sherwin Nuland's How We Die has become the definitive text on perhaps the single most universal human concern: death.

47
Book cover for “This Side of Doctoring”
This Side of Doctoring

Reflections from Women in Medicine

Description

Throughout history women have practiced the art of medicine and healing. Yet they have always faced difficulties in the medical professionnot only have they struggled to gain acceptance from their male colleagues, they have also struggled to find a balance between being a doctor…

48
No coverEvery Patient Tells a Story
Every Patient Tells a Story

Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis

Description

A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr.

49
No coverMan Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Description

Here Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders: people afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations; patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of…

50
No coverStiff
Stiff

The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

51
No coverThis Won't Hurt a Bit
This Won't Hurt a Bit

(And Other White Lies)

Description

Michelle Au started medical school armed only with a surfeit of idealism, a handful of old ER episodes for reference, and some vague notion about "helping people." This Won't Hurt a Bit is the story of how she grew up and became a real doctor.

Recommended Medical Books by Bill Gates

Bill Gates recommends 3 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Bill Gates

Recommended Medical Books by Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson recommends 2 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Jordan Peterson

Recommended Medical Books by Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Patrick O'Shaughnessy recommends 2 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Medical Books: common questions

What are the most recommended medical books?
When Breath Becomes Air, Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Emperor of All Maladies are the most recommended medical books on BookMentions, ranked by how many people recommended them.
Who recommends medical books?
Bill Gates, Jordan Peterson, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Amit Paranjape are among the people who recommend books on this list. Each name links to their full set of book recommendations.
Which of these medical books should I read first?
When Breath Becomes Air is the most recommended here with 25 recommendations, which makes it the safest place to start.

Built from recommendation data, category signals, and source-backed book records. Use this list as a starting point; open any book to see proof, context, and Amazon options where available.

Recommendation dataCategory signalsSource-backed book recordsOpen book pages for proof/context

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About this list

This list aggregates books that appear in public recommendation sources, reader-interest signals, and category data. Books are ranked by their position from the source list; recommendation counts and ratings are shown where available. Open any book to see source-backed recommendation proof, editorial context, and Amazon options — the per-book detail page is where the trust signals live.

Recommended books by person: who recommends medical books

Books recommended by the people below. Open a profile to see everything they recommend, with the source behind each pick.