100 Best Medicine Books of All Time

Bill GatesI don’t know how Kalanithi found the physical strength to write this book while he was so debilitated by the disease and then potent chemotherapy. But I’m so glad he did. He spent his whole brief life searching for meaning in one way or another -- through books, writing, medicine, surgery, and science. I’m grateful that, by reading this book, I got to witness a small part of that journey. I just... (Source)

Ryan HolidayDespite its popularity, When Breath Becomes Air is actually underrated. It’s make-you-cry good. (Source)

Bethany S. MandelMore Shabbat reading recommendations: This book was breathtaking and such a powerful advertisement for the joy of parenthood. https://t.co/V8BH97eiL9 (Source)

Carl ZimmerYes. This is a fascinating book on so many different levels. It is really compelling as the story of the author trying to uncover the history of the woman from whom all these cells came. (Source)

A.J. JacobsGreat writer. (Source)

Malcolm GladwellAmerican medicine, Being Mortal reminds us, has prepared itself for life but not for death. This is Atul Gawande's most powerful--and moving--book. (Source)

Barack ObamaPresident Obama is spending his Hawaiian vacation playing golf, getting together with high school friends and reading a handful of dark novels set in foreign lands, according to a book list released by the White House Wednesday. The presidential reading list includes [...] two works of non-fiction for the trip: [...] "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by Dr. Atul Gawande. (Source)

Indra NooyiJust finished "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande. A beautifully written book. Captivating. (Source)

Bill GatesA great read. (Source)

David AllenAtul is really talking about how absolutely powerful checklists are, and I think he makes a very creative point: that checklist are not just some static, boring thing. They actually allow you to do excellent work and free up your brain by not having to keep remembering what you need to do when. That then allows your brain to be a lot more creative about whatever it is you’re doing. (Source)

Timothy FerrissRamit and I are both obsessed with checklists and love a book by Atul Gawande titled The Checklist Manifesto. I have this book on a shelf in my living room, cover out, as a constant reminder. (Source)

Suzanne O'SullivanI didn’t choose neurology because of it but the way Oliver Sacks writes about neurology is very compelling. (Source)

Tanya ByronThis is a seminal book that anyone who wants to work in mental health should read. It is a charming and gentle and also an honest exposé of what can happen to us when our mental health is compromised for whatever reason. (Source)

Bradley VoytekI can’t imagine one day waking up and not knowing who my wife is, or seeing my wife and thinking that she was replaced by some sort of clone or robot. But that could happen to any of us. (Source)

Bill GatesI loved [this] brilliant book about cancer. (Source)

Timothy J. JorgensenA tremendous amount of cancer biology comes through in that book through the eyes of the victims and the people up close and personal. (Source)

Christina ReynoldsInteresting book on medicine with broader applications for all of us. https://t.co/KUeHOPWMom (Source)

Elad Yom-TovHe has a way of explaining the medical world in a manner that is both compassionate but also very much data driven. (Source)

Bill GatesExplains how neglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, problem solving, decision-making, learning, memory, heart health, brain health, mental health, emotional well-being, immune system, and even your life span. (Source)

Brad FeldSeveral friends, who know I both love to sleep and am intrigued with how sleep works, recommended that I read Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. It was excellent. While my self-assessment of my sleep habits are very positive, I learned a few things. More importantly, I now have a much better understanding of the “Why” surrounding sleep, especially around sleep’s importance to... (Source)

Alexis Ohanian Sr.Agree! Best book I've read this year. Wasted so many hours just proving to myself I'd be the last one up working at @reddit and for what??? Stupid. Diminishing marginal returns after enough hours without sleep. https://t.co/cT7fDNBF3A (Source)

Jon NajarianI believe both the corona virus and ebola have a bat connection. Scary, but great book on ebola: Hot Zone by Richard Preston https://t.co/jGEjbrB7pZ (Source)

Pierre Haski@ChuBailiang The hot zone, it made my days during SARS in Beijing, a great book! https://t.co/8E8AYgIhp7 (Source)

Bill Gates"Mukherjee wrote this book for a lay audience, because he knows that the new genome technologies are at the cusp of affecting us all in profound ways," Gates wrote. Mukherjee is what Gates calls a "quadruple threat." He's a practicing physician, teacher, researcher, and author. (Source)

Amit Paranjape@vikramsathaye @DrSidMukherjee @kiranshaw Great book. (Source)

Bryan JohnsonA great book. (Source)

Joann CorleyschwarzkopfNeed a fun boost for your team? Want to jump-start great problem-solving? >Book a 1-hour #creativethinking, virtual experience & get a complimentary pdf copy - Brain on Fire: Unleashing Your Creative Superpowers! for each attendee #teambuilding Info here: https://t.co/j6hOxMJrNH https://t.co/b9hAxV90Mf (Source)

Jessica FlitterThe readability for me is probably the key element for students—and maybe for teachers as well—because it’s a book that you really can’t put down. If that’s what we need to make students readers, then I’m all for it. (Source)

Bill GatesA bunch of my friends recommended this one to me. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider’s look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly... (Source)

Brad FeldEvery entrepreneur and VC should read this book. John Carreyrou has done something important here. Maybe this book will finally put a nail in the phrase “fake it till you make it”, but I doubt it. The amount of lying, disingenuousness, blatant and unjustified self-promotion, and downright deceit that exists in entrepreneurship right now is at a local maximum. This always happens when... (Source)

Andrew ChenFinished “bad blood” on the Theranos scandal. Wow. Just wow. It’s a must read for everyone in tech and startups. Just 1-click buy it :) Amazing how far charisma and social proof got them. Here’s the NYT review of the book https://t.co/PyMGxfoG2R (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Bill Gates[On Bill Gates's reading list in 2011.] (Source)

Roger ThurowYes, and I have chosen this is in connection with social entrepreneurship and what Yunus does with social business. So, this is on the medical and health side, and poverty and hunger and malnourishment are distinctly a part of that. Mountains Beyond Mountains looks at the work of Dr Paul Farmer setting sail against the inequities in the healthcare world. It’s practical and inspirational. It’s... (Source)

Barack ObamaAs a devoted reader, the president has been linked to a lengthy list of novels and poetry collections over the years. (Source)

Daniel HamermeshThis novel from a decade ago should be read by every American interested in immigration. While it deals with a lot of medical details, the essence of it is about urban life in developing countries and about the immigrant experience. It is both moving and thought-provoking. (Source)

Quinn Cummings@lorapenza You might love @amateuradam's book. (Source)

Matthew GreenReading The Body Keeps the Score was a eureka moment for me. (Source)

Greg Dworkin@heshsson yes1 brilliant book, which also explains flu better than most other things you will read (Source)

Kyle Bass@Holykisses Remember the Great Influenza of 1918 (amazing book by Barry)...40-50 million died at a 10% kill rate. The higher the rate, the faster it is likely to burn itself out. 10% is a global pandemic nightmare. (Source)

Dave CollumI guess it is a good time to point out that "The Great Influenza" is a great book. If you think modern medicine would have mitigate this one, you haven't read the book. https://t.co/t4uHPgfLE6 (Source)

Jonathan RauchA harrowing vision of what a world without marriage finally looks like. (Source)

Clara JefferyBook is great but the movie pretty great too and horrifying similar failure of politicized science, just a way shorter timetable now https://t.co/TRUiKs9WTR (Source)

Arthur AmmannHe was concerned because his friends were infected and some of them were dying. (Source)

Seth MnookinThe Ghost Map is a book that I oftentimes give to people to show them how cool and exciting and accessible and gripping stories about scientific discoveries can be. (Source)

Alison AlvarezI read the Ghost Map, a book about 1854 London Cholera outbreak. The outbreak was stopped because of a map created by Dr. John Snow. You can see hints of this map in some of our customer discovery tools because it was such an effective way of pinpointing a solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem. (Source)

Stephen EvansJohnson looks at London during a specific moment in time, August 1854, and focuses on a particular incident, an outbreak of cholera in Soho, in Central London. (Source)

Timothy FerrissI agree wholeheartedly with a lot of the co-opted science, which people can read a book called Bad Science, which is by a doctor named Ben Goldacre. It’s great. (Source)

Tim HarfordThis book changed the way I thought about my own writing and it changed the way I thought about the world. It really is one of the best books I have ever read. (Source)

Sarah-Jayne BlakemoreIt’s just a brilliant book, and he’s a fearless defender of science. (Source)

Jonathan GloverKay Redfield Jamison is a psychologist who has co-authored the major psychiatric textbook on manic depression. It authoritatively covers every aspect of the science, from genetics to pharmacology, and also has chapters on the links with creativity and on what the illness feels like. The chapters on the subjective experience are enriched with vivid quotations from patients. In her autobiography,... (Source)

Tanya ByronThis is a divine book. A patient of mine who suffers with a bipolar illness, an absolutely inspiring young genius, recommended it to me. So I read it, and then we discussed it in a lot of our sessions together. (Source)

Bill GatesFascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history. (Source)

Daniel EkA brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning book about how the modern world was formed, analyzing how societies developed differently on different continents. (Source)

Yuval Noah HarariA book of big questions, and big answers. The book turned me from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind. (Source)

Kaleigh Rogers@rachsyme Spillover is a fantastic book though. I'd also recommend Pandemic and/or The Fever by @soniashah (Source)

Kathleen TaylorIt’s a description of what people actually die of and the mechanisms by which life is extinguished. (Source)

Ezekiel J. EmanuelThrough vivid, heart wrenching stories and trenchant analysis, Libby Rosenthal unveils the irrationality, indifference, harmfulness, and downright unfairness of the American health care system that can often seem more driven by profit than caring and compassion. She also offers tremendously helpful advice to patients on how to navigate the system to ensure they get the best outcomes. (Source)

Ro Khanna.⁦@RosenthalHealth⁩ is 100% correct to go after large hospitals for their excessive fees & executive pay. I represent a district with Sutter & Kaiser, but we need to “rein in hospital excesses.” Her book American Sickness is a must read. https://t.co/sqhPgIcoDN (Source)

Will SelfI must have first read this book in the early eighties, and found it – like a lot of Sacks’s writing – absolutely fascinating. Not just because of the philosophical and scientific perspectives that he is involved in, but because of his involuntary self-characterisation. I used some of Sacks’s modes and mannerisms quite shamelessly as one of the sources for my character Zack Busner, who is a... (Source)

Alexandra HorowitzSacks’s books are an inspiration to me in bringing together scientific and philosophical reflections on various human conditions. (Source)

Michelle FranclDeborah Blum’s book reminds me that molecules are powerful witnesses, if only we have the skills to interrogate them, and sometimes they are killers. (Source)

Aniela GregorekI gained a deeper understanding of how music affects our moods and our brains. (Source)

Justin Boreta[Justin Boreta said this is one of his most-recommended books.] (Source)

Arthur AmmannJust as in the Old Testament, I don’t think people always want to hear the message of a prophet. (Source)

Bill GatesInfluenced the decision that Melinda and I made to make polio eradication the top priority of the foundation, as well as my own personal priority. (Source)

Seth MnookinWhat I find so impressive about this book is that Oshinsky really does cover the whole history of a disease but does so in a way that you never feel you’re getting a CliffsNotes version. It’s a pretty unwieldy topic: you could write an entire book just about the year the polio vaccine was rolled out, or what happened since then, or you could write a book, as Paul Offit did, just about the Cutter... (Source)

Carol DweckFor me it was exciting to read this book because while my research shows a growth mindset is really good for you, this book shows that a growth mindset also has a strong basis in modern neuroscience. It illustrates, though fascinating case histories and descriptions of recent research, the amazing power of the brain to change and even to reorganise itself with practice and experience. (Source)

Naveen JainI think the book that I really, really enjoy was, "The Brain That Changes Itself." It's all about neuroplasticity, you'd really love that book. (Source)

Bogdana ButnarI don't have favourite books. I equate a favourite something with wanting to do it over and over again and I've never wanted to read a book too many times. I have favourite authors and I have books that changed me in significant ways because they moved me or taught me something or changed my view of the world. So, here's some of those books... (Source)

Bill GatesHelped me see microorganisms in a whole new light. (Source)

Sue BlackHe (Source)

Lewis WolpertIt’s really about how people who have some physical injury to their brain can have fantasies that bear no relationship to reality whatsoever. (Source)

Daniel GolemanMichael Pollan masterfully guides us through the highs, lows, and highs again of psychedelic drugs. How to Change Your mind chronicles how it’s been a longer and stranger trip than most any of us knew. (Source)

Yuval Noah HarariChanged my mind, or at least some of the ideas held in my mind. (Source)

David Heinemeier HanssonHow we get locked into viewing the world, ourselves, and each other in a certain way, and then finding it difficult to relate to alternative perspectives or seeing other angles. Studying philosophy, psychology, and sociology is a way to break those rigid frames we all build over time. But that’s still all happening at a pretty high level of perception. Mind altering drugs, and especially... (Source)

Bill GatesThe eloquent essayist Eula Biss uses the tools of literary analysis, philosophy, and science to examine the speedy, inaccurate rumors about childhood vaccines that have proliferated among well-meaning American parents. Biss took up this topic not for academic reasons but because of her new role as a mom. This beautifully written book would be a great gift for any new parent. (Source)

Maya Zlatanova[One of the books that had the biggest impact on Maya.] (Source)

Daniel Sloss@amateuradam @reallorraine @lorraine Listen Adam - I love you, I love your book and I've pre-ordered your next one coz you're so brilliant. But if you take Lorraine from me I will destroy you. (Source)

Jenny DavidsonAlbert Camus’s The Plague probably remains the best-known novel on the topic of epidemic disease. It tells the story of those involved in an epidemic in a North African setting. It is very interested in the details about how quarantines are enforced and the role not just of the government, but of individuals who band together into groups to manage the epidemic. (Source)

Stephen BreyerHe talks about the plague. Well, the plague is that part of a human being which can be very evil. That germ, he says at the end, never dies, it simply goes into remission. It lurks. It lurks in the cupboards, it lurks in the hallways, it lurks in the filing cabinets. (Source)

Arthur AmmannIt’s an amazing book, considering Camus probably never personally experienced a plague. In his novel, Camus captured everything that we were dealing with in the Aids epidemic without Aids existing at that time. Without his knowing what the consequences of the HIV plague were going to be, he seems to have gotten all the actors in there and the myriad of things that you wrestle with. (Source)

Isabel HardmanBit rubbish at recommending books but have recently finished a few which are worth your while. 1. War Doctor by David Nott @NottFoundation. My god this book will move you and teach you. I find the medical world fascinating and loved the accounts of surgical procedures... (Source)

Pam AyresI am currently reading this book by David Nott and finding it a jaw-dropping, inspiring read. It is fascinating insight into an unknown world. Also, having scrutinised and absorbed the medical detail, I now feel ready to tackle any surgical procedure large or small. https://t.co/hBltDRqDLL (Source)

Pan Macmillan✨ @Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month for January 2020 ✨ @NottFoundation's War Doctor is a powerful account of his time spent performing life-saving operations in the most challenging conditions. https://t.co/U6aCc5BGWH https://t.co/pzU0bzTpLm (Source)

Ryan HolidayThese two unusual historical narratives about U.S presidents are shockingly good. I will read whatever else this woman writes. (Source)

David Heinemeier HanssonDreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic accounts how a few tiny studies on low rates of opium addiction for hospital patients lead to a whole new paradigm for treating pain in the US. From mid 90s to late 2000s, opium pain pills were basically considered non-addictive by much of the medical community. This led to crazy over-prescription, subsequent addiction, and a whole new market... (Source)

Morten KringelbachI became interested in neuroscience was because of the way Oliver Sacks uses stories to illuminate science. (Source)

Jennifer Gunter@EdzardErnst @SLSingh Fantastic book. Really. Thank you for writing it!! (Source)

Stephen LawI really like this book. It’s a modern classic of the sceptic movement. Simon Singh is an excellent science writer. Edzard Ernst is the world’s first professor of complementary medicine. Well he was, Ernst is retired now. He started out convinced that there was some truth to the claims made by homeopathy and some other alternative practices. He was trained as a homeopath and he was a practising... (Source)

Suzana Herculano-HouzelDan Lieberman puts the brain into the context of the body as a whole. (Source)

Mark ZuckerbergThis book aims to tell a history of humanity from the perspective of genetics rather than sociology. This should complement the other broad histories I've read this year, as well as follow "Energy" well in focusing on science. I've wanted to read Matt Ridley's books for a while. His recent book "The Rational Optimist" about how progress and the economy evolve is also near the top of my... (Source)

Naval RavikantGetting into the more evolution, science kind of books, I really highly, highly recommend picking up Genome [...]. (Source)

Bill GatesIn this book he really opens your eyes to the vast differences between the health of the rich and the health of the poor. (Source)

Barry PrizantNeurotribes lays down the history and the philosophy of our need to respect people with autism. (Source)