I don’t know about you, but I am very picky when it comes to selecting which books to read for pleasure. This ‘picky’ trait can get so bad, I sometimes spend upwards of two to three hours in a bookstore browsing, picking up a book, discarding it after I find something I don’t like about it, finding another one, discarding it, and so on. I guess I feel that if I am going to spend a considerable amount of time reading something, it better be worth the time.

So, what do I do to find the perfect book? I use Amazon.com as my primary source of book reviews; I almost never buy a book unless I have checked out its rating on Amazon first. I keep in mind that the reviews are subjective and contain some sort of bias, to a degree. I have had success by using book ‘scouting reports’ and here is what I have read, am reading, and will be reading this summer. Feel free to interject any suggestions or ideas for titles!

What I am Reading Right Now

• Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer
  
• Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Educated Mind

On Deck

• Carl Safina’s Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth’s Last Dinosaur
• Atul Gawande Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
• Enrico Coen’s The Art of Genes: How Organisms Make Themselves

Completed (w/ short reviews)

• Cdr. Richard Jadick’s On Call in Hell: A Doctor’s Iraq War Story. Review to follow.
• Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Review to follow.
• Carl Safina’s Song for the Blue Ocean. Review to follow.
• Jon Katz’s Dog Days. If you have ever wanted to live on a farm, start here. Jon Katz is a city dweller turned farmer in this collection of stories from his plot of land in Upstate New York, coined ‘Bedlam Farm’. I found myself laughing at the thought of the two-ton cow on the farm, Elvis, romping through fences to get an apple and a scratch under the chin from whoever was offering the treats. I loved every word in this book, and I really wish it was longer!

‘Pre-Med’ Reads that I Have Come Across

• Byock’s Dying Well. *About hospice care, with some really powerful stories!
• O’Kelly’s Chasing Daylight. *This one is a stretch for this list, but offers a unique perspective of someone living with a terminal illness.
• Examkracker’s MCAT Prep. *I have heard the best things about this one, and it is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.
• Gawande’s Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. *Very eye-opening.
• Klein’s Organic Chemistry 1 as a Second Language: Translating the Basic Concepts. *Was a huge help for Orgo-1! Highly recommended.
• New England Journal of Medicine. *Likely available in your library. If you have an interest in clinical research, you need to check to browse through some issues.
• Preston’s The Hot Zone. *Awesome medical thriller…and the best part about it is that it really happened! It also reminds me of the classic movie ‘Outbreak’.
• Peter’s Virus Hunter. *I am currently reading this one.