Good books

[2009?]

Hi every1
I am going to apply for medicine next year and was hoping to read a university level book to talk about in my interviews. I looked in a bookshop but everything seemed so big that i wouldnt be able to remember much of it or have the time. Is there any good books you could recommend? At the moment i am interested in the cardiovascular system, but any suggestions would be great!

thanks
Paul

[algy_lacey]

If you want to do some reading on the cardiovascular system, I'd recommend Berne and Levy's (or Levy and Pappano for the latest edition) Cardiovascular Physiology which is a nice small book based on a chapter from their physiology textbook. I would strongly advise you against mentioning it in your personal statement or interview though! Your interviewers are going to be more interested in what you think than what you know but if they aren't feeling charitable, you could be leaving yourself wide open for a grilling on the finer points of the interviewer's medical speciality, and that won't necessarily be pleasant!

If you want books to talk about in interview, I'd recommend autobiographical books by doctors, or blogs that have been published like In Stitches (A&E Dr.) or Blood, Sweat and Tea (paramedic). You could also branch out into a bit of Monica Dickens (but I don't remember the name of the nursing one - One Pair of Feet?) or try Stiff by Mary Roach (about the many uses of cadavers).

[Aimless]

What you think, and, I guess, HOW you think Autobiographical books are nice. I'd like to add a text like The Selfish Gene, as an introduction to a scientific way of approaching medicine.

Are there any good medical journals that you enjoy reading?

[Muffin2]

try a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
its about a guy left in a state where he could only communicate by blinking one eye, and he wrote this book just by doing so. he talks about how the medical profession, his friends and family seem to view him now he can't speak or move.