The Physician's Library: 2011 in Review

2011 has been a very medical year for me.  For the first time in a long time I have seen myself grown a lot as I transistioned from my first year to second year of medical school.  Here's a bit of the year in review in some of the best medically-related things that I encountered this year:

Medcine in fiction: The Citadel by A.J. Cronin. 
This year, I gained a new literary hero in A.J. Cronin who I imagine will be largely unknown to American audiences.  I have written about Cronin before and cannot encourage my colleagues enough to read this book.  Cronin is not only writes with great artistry but touches on issues that I am sure he observed in medicine as a doctor, himself.  Many of those issues still exist today, almost 90 years since the novel was written.

Medicine in non-fiction: Every Patient Tells a Story by Dr. Lisa Sanders

Again, this is another book I have written about previously and another highly recommended book for medical students.  There are plenty of reasons medicine can be enjoyable but Sanders' top reason is very much my own: the detective work of medicine that leads to diagnosis.  In a series of real life cases of difficult diagnoses, Sanders illustrates how important history taking, technology, and the physical exam all generate key data that lead to a final conclusion. 









Medicine in TV: The first of half of Season 7 of House, MD

Honestly, it's been difficult for me to get through the second half of Season 7 (post-break-up with Cuddy) because House has regressed a lot, negating the personal progress that was nice to see in Season 6.  The medicine in some of the first episodes of Season 7 was decent, too. 













Medical Teacher: Dr. Edward F. Goljan

People will tell you different things when it comes to USMLE Step 1 Prep but there are two constants: First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 by Dr. Tao Le, et al. and, my personal favorite, Rapid Review: Pathology by Dr. Edward Goljan.  Not only is Dr. Goljan's book great but so are his audio lectures.  Dr. Goljan is every medical student's dream professor not because he is an easy tester (probably far from it) but because he tries to get his students to think like doctors and integrate multiple facets of medicine into pathological concepts. 



Person in Medicine: Dr. Atul Gawande

I have had the great opportunity to listen to Dr. Gawande lecuture twice this year.  If you follow my blog you will know that I have posted a lot on his work, which I have enjoyed a lot since discovering it a few years ago.  Dr. Gawande is the de facto voice of reason in medicine today.  He has no political agenda or advocates for any position other than "this is what evidence is showing might work - let's try it."