What book has had the most impact on you as a clinician?

Carl Streed Jr, MD, MPH, Boston Medical Center

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures,” by Anne Fadiman.

Leslie Ordal, CGC, University of Toronto

Carl Rogers’ essay, “Empathic: An Unappreciated Way of Being,” opened my eyes to what empathy truly is, and how powerful it can be even in limited interactions. It is a gift to give and receive empathy, and I frequently return to this piece to remind myself of that.

Madhu Singh, MD, Veterans Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” by Jean-Dominique Bauby. It made me rethink my ideas of disability.

Mark Lewis, MD, Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, Utah

“The Emperor Of All Maladies,” by @DrSidMukherjee was released during my oncology fellowship and totally recontextualized my view of how cancer treatment has evolved through an iterative process of refinement and discovery from bench to bedside and back again.

Dawn Sherling, MD, Florida Atlantic University

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.” Read it in med school. Taught me that no matter how good you think you are, how much you know, it doesn’t matter if your patient doesn’t trust or doesn’t understand you.

Shannon Scott-Vernaglia, MassGeneral

Every book brings a new perspective and opportunity to build #empathy by seeing the world in a diffierent light. Some of many with meaning for me: “Far from the Tree,” “Poor Economics,” “Daring Greatly,” “The Hate U Give,” Autism’s False Prophets,” “An Unquiet Mind,” and “This is How It Always Is.”

Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, University of New Mexico

“Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor Frankl. It so beautifully weaves together our shared humanity with our need to give and receive compassion and purpose.

Keddy Moise, MD, Haiti

“Better,” by Atul Gawande.

Sam Kant, MD, University of Maryland Medical Center

“The Laws of Medicine,” by @DrSidMukherjee

Stacia Dearmin, MD, Akron Children's Hospital

“Borrowed Time,” by Paul Monette. It’s the tenderest memoir of the loss of his beloved partner in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Speaks so deeply to the human bonds of love, and taught me much about the power of empathy.

Jeffrey Millstein, MD

“In Shock,” by @RanaAwdish.

James Richardson, MD, MPH

“The House of God,” by Samuel Shem, not only because the protagonist learns that “doing nothing” is sometimes best for the patient, but also because it highlighted the rigors and absurdities of intern year (I read it as a senior med student).

Margaret Chisolm, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“How Can I Help?” By Ram Dass.

David Kopacz, MD, University of Washington, and Puget Sound Veterans Affairs

Gerald Arbuckle’s “Humanizing Healthcare Reforms.”

Maureen Miller, MD, Emory Univerisity

“Deadwood,” by David Milch. A novel for television. Milch, the son and brother of physicians, is the best contemporary American writer on shame. The show posits how a destabilized community robbed of trust might begin self-repair with the recovery movement’s most counter-cultural tool in democracy’s warped shed, basic human decency (now called “FaceTime”). Also, “The Misfit,” by Mark Singer, a “New Yorker” profile of Milch which describes his inspirations for writing about broken doctors.

Kimberly Manning, MD, Emory University

Two books that were game changers for me—as a doctor and a human:

1.) “Mindset,” by Carol Dweck. I try to teach and live the #growthmindset. Failure helps us.

2.) “Blink,” by Malcolm Gladwell. Learning to trust what’s even beyond system 1 thinking—the gut. It matters a lot.

Laura Perry, MD

“Not All of Us Are Saints by,” David Hilfiker – it emphasized to me the importance of acknowledging my limitations as a doctor.

“The Body Keeps the Score,” by Bessel Van der Kolk – a review of the effects of trauma and evidence-based treatment.

Jessica Colburn, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“Everything Happens for A Reason (and other lies I’ve loved),” by @KatecBowler @LiesIveLoved which has really stuck with me in the past year, as a doctor and a human and a parent of a child who is living with cancer as a chronic illness.

Scott Wright, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way,” by Robert Maurer, PhD. This book continually reminds me to try to get one percent better as a clinician every week, so that I’m on a continuous improvement incline.

Angela Liu, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“The Kiterunner,” speaks to how trauma, family, and culture impact your life.

Jennifer Plotkin, Medical Student, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“An Unquiet Mind,” by Kay Jamison. I think this book really gives you a window into mania, and speaks to what it’s like to be a clinician suffering with mental illness. Being a clinician doesn’t protect us from illness. Disease can be a great equalizer.

Mike Fingerhood

When I was a teenager, my favorite book was “Papillon,” by Henri Charriere. It’s an incredibly inspirational true story – the main character overcomes incredible injustice.

Daniel Brotman, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“Being Mortal,” bu Atul Gawande.

Gurpreet Dhaliwal, MD, University of California San Francisco

“How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie.