5 Best Novels For Medical Students [Must Read]

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The journey to being a medical professional can be stressful and rigorous. Imagine reading all medical textbooks, going to practical classes, reading, and trying to make ends meet.

There comes a moment when you feel like resting and letting the stress out and as a medical student, you need to always get more insight into your career.

I am sure you would have been wondering what you can do with your leisure time or holiday.

If you want to do something relaxing yet productive at the same time, then, you will find the best novels for medical students which can help you with this on this post!

One of those things you can do in your leisure time and to relieve stress as a medical student which has been pronounced productive according to research is reading good medical novels.

In this article, you will have a green idea of must read novels for medical students that will make you relaxed, enjoy your leisure time, and give you motivation and insight for the journey ahead.

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Table of Contents

Books You Can Read As A Medical Student

You should know that aside from reading your handouts, lecture notes, textbooks, and pdfs, there are some books you can make your time pay the price and you will take the benefit!

They are medical novels that will give you insight and interesting experiences concerning the world of medicine.

What are the Best Novels For Medical Students?

There are some motivational novels for medical students that are fascinating I can recommend to you and you will find them time worthy.  

These type of medical novels as said earlier is always about the medical world, giving the best insight and depicting a real experience and instance that can be easily understood and mastered.

The 5 Must Read Novels For Medical Students are:

  • This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay
  • Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
  • Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner
  • Do Not Harm by Henry Mars
  • The House of God

1. This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay, a Gynecologist.

best novels for medical students
non-fiction novels for medical students

This novel was originally published in 2017 by Picador and it’s nonfiction.

The author gives out all his experiences starting from the moment he started his admission into a medical school with the sole aim of being a doctor, how he felt after becoming one, his experiences as an intern, and how he felt when he first lost a patient and how it felt saving lives including all his experiences working as a junior doctor in NHS.

It’s the collection of secret diaries written during his medical training from 2004 to 2010 and was first published in 2017.

This book is a wonderful way of killing leisure time and apart from relieving stress and it’s entertaining comic serene, it’s good for aspiring medical students.

Why?

Because it’s going to provide all the necessary tips and experiences you should know before going into the journey of being a medical student.

Although the book is nonfiction and it contains the real story of the junior doctor, few words are added for more fun and entertainment that have little or no effect on the facts entailed by the book. Enjoy!

2 Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, a British Researcher, and Physician

best medical novels
best medical novels

This is also a non-fiction book with three hundred and thirty-three pages originally published in September 2008.

This book gives an insight into what the world of science really looks like. It exposes you as a medical student to what really unveils behind every research, discovery, and laboratory.

It also narrates the heinous ways and malpractices done by researchers, scientific journals, and universities during medical research and discovery, the causes, and consequences that bring about the title, “Bad Science”.

I can recommend this book because after reading it, you have an idea of research realities and how to approve articles that are medical and scientific related including the flaws to look out for in the studies.

It’s fun and time worthy.

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3 Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner.

Where There Is No Doctor
best books to gift a medical student

Probably you are the type that wonders how people survive in absolutely isolated areas, what their healthcare sector looks like and how doctors cope. Then, this book is just the best for you to devour, enjoy, digest and abstract it all.

It’s a village healthcare handbook exposing medical students to what healthcare looks like in a place where there exists no professional healthcare and most medical equipment is not readily available.

Bringing more light to how to handle common health-related issues, the book digs further into treating Malaria, drug abuse, and addiction.

After reading this book, you will have a broad knowledge of what medicine looks like in developing countries.

4 The House of God by Samuel Shem

motivational novels for medical students
The House of God by Samuel Shem (Best medical novels)

This is a fictional story of about four hundred and twenty-nine pages. It’s a satirical novel published in 1978 depicting a group of medical interns in the early 1970s in a hospital called House of God which represents the Beth Israel Hospital telling what it takes to become a doctor.

It’s really good for you if you are aspiring to be a medical doctor.

It explains vividly the life of an intern (Roy) at age thirty and all that it takes to strive and become a good doctor. This book is worth reading, fantastic and nice!

5. Do Not Harm by Henry Mars; a Neurosurgeon

novels for medical students
best medical novels

In this book, the author, a neurosurgeon, throws out all his life experiences of wanting to save lives.

As believed by most people and medical students, being a doctor is not about being skillful, knowledgeable, and steadily handy only.

According to the book, as a neurosurgeon, there comes a time you will have to decide something really difficult and complex.

Yes! You should save a patient and perform surgeries hopefully but what do you think will happen if surgeries make things look messy, you will hesitate even as a doctor!

For example, a patient who after surgery will become paralyzed for life (cases of euthanasia or eternal pain). Then, doctors do hesitate and find it difficult to decide.

“An unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in busy modern hospitals and a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life’s most difficult situations”, as research.

This is among the few must read novels for medical students in order to prepare ahead for what it means to be a medical professional.

Why You Should Read Medical Novels

As a medical student, reading medical novels, especially the best five listed above is a very inspiring thing to do.

Aside from the fact that it entertains you when reading, it however exposes you to what you have been wondering and imagining and answers all your questions.

It also gives you the actual image of what it means to aim to be medical personnel.

Enjoy the best Novels listed below in your leisure time and aim high as a medical student.

It’s not always over until it’s over, that is always expected of a medical student.

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Amirat Olawumi Bolarinwa
Amirat Olawumi Bolarinwa

Bolarinwa Amirat Olawumi is a pharmacy student who has an indispensable passion for writing. She is a medical and content writer, poet and author with successful publications. She started writing at a tender age and is looking forward to making the medical world a better one with her pen!

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