On the Move by Oliver Sacks

As Oliver Sacks recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, as well as with a group of patients who would define his life, it becomes clear that his earnest desire for engagement has occasioned unexpected encounters and travels – sending him through bars and alleys, over oceans, and across continents.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity – the brain – and finally, into a patient himself. Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all.

Madness by Kate Richards

Kate Richards is a trained doctor currently working in medical research and in her award-winning memoir, writes movingly of her personal battle with severe depression. She writes, “Psychosis and severe depression have a huge effect on how you relate to other people and how you see the world. … This is the story of my journey from chaos to balance, and from limbo to meaning.”

The Hospital By the River by Catherine Hamlin

Gynaecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin left Australia in 1959 on a short contract to establish a midwifery school in Ethiopia. Almost 50 years later and following the death of her husband, Catherine is still there running one of the most outstanding medical programs in the world. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, which they opened in 1975, has become a major teaching institution for surgeons.

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor

One morning, Harvard-trained brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she lost the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four hours. Thanks to her unique background, Taylor was able to repair her mind and recalibrate her understanding of the world.

Better by Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. Gawande’s gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country.

Keeping Hope Alive by Hawa Abdi

Since 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, famine struck, and aid groups fled, Doctor Hawa Abdi has dedicated herself to providing help for people whose lives have been shattered by violence and poverty. Along with her two daughters, Dego and Amina, she turned her 1300 acres of farmland into a camp that has numbered up to 90,000 displaced people, ignoring the clan lines that have often served to divide the country.

My Own Country by Abraham Verghese

My Own Country traces the story of a young infectious-disease physician in the mid-80s in Johnson City, Tennessee, who began to treat patients with a then-unknown disease. Because of the seemingly un-ending influx of patients with the same symptoms and for whom there was, as yet, no effective treatment, Doctor Abraham Verghese became, of necessity, the town’s AIDS expert. As much as he gave to his patients in terms of caring and empathetic treatment, he gained back in terms of understanding and lasting lessons in how to heal when there is no cure.