Boxing Day Books

For me, having the opportunity to be nestled in a chair, cozy and warm, with a book and hot drink, is the perfect winter activity when snowy winds are howling around your house.

If you find yourself today with gift cards that you want to spend on stories, but you need some suggestions, here’s a list of books that I’m either looking forward to reading, or have read and find inspirational or influential for science, health and research.

Books I Just Bought

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating

Alan Alda

Aside from being a fan and having watched every episode of M*A*S*H several times over, I've heard wonderful things about this book that teaches improved communication skills and advocates for better dialogue, not just discussion.

Ducks in a Row: Health Care Reimagined

Sue Robins

If you don't already, I highly recommend following Sue on Twitter and her website, and reading her first book, Bird's Eye View: Stories of a Life Lived in Healthcare. Her latest book comes with a teaching plan; I don't have a class but I plan examining for myself.

On My Shelf, Need to Read

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Carl Sagan

I started reading this in 2020, but the timing made me pause; it was hard to read about peoples' unwillingness to accept science over apocryphal tales and anti-medicine rhetoric. I've since read Cosmos and The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, and I love his writing style: clear but full of description and wonder and awe for the world around us. It's a blind spot in my reading list, so I'm returning to it this winter. 

Have Read, Would Recommend

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain

David Eagleman

The first book that I read in 2021, I still think about his and Don Vaughn's new theory of the purpose of dreams - that our brains are still making connections and adapting throughout our lives, and dreams serve to protect our visual cortex while we sleep. A long way from unfulfilled wishes, Freud. 

Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration

Norman Cousins

The first book I ever read from the perspective of a patient and not a physician about healthcare and experiences with illness. While he talks about using "doses of humour" and working with his doctor to use high dose of vitamin C to heal ankylosing spondylitis, it's the message that patients can work with doctors as partners that helped fuel the revolution.

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Jill Bolte Taylor

Only a scientist could approach their own stroke as if it were a research study separate from their own body. It's a harrowing yet fascinating play-by-play into one person's experience with serious illness, and our innate ability to have peace and happiness when we find ways to quiet our minds. 

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Atul Gawande

Western medicine and society is so weird about dying. We're all doing it at varying speeds, so why can't we make aging and dying well a better experience? It's heartbreaking and thoughtful, and when he talks about what good long-term care homes look like (spoiler: not like hospitals), you realize that there better ways out of this life. 

From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way

Jesse Thistle

I couldn't put it down once I started it. A memoir that explores intergenerational trauma, systemic racism, Indigenous homelessness and addiction from the experience of a Métis-Cree man who is hope and resilience in the flesh. I'll probably read his dissertation to keep learning more. 

Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor and Joy

Patch Adams

Probably the second book I read to fuel the path towards alternate methods of delivering the care in healthcare, its advocacy for compassion and shared human experience in caring for and serving others remains with me. (See also an earlier blog post to that effect!)

What are you reading this winter? Any books you would recommend? Look me up on GoodReads for other recommendations, or to suggest your own recommendations to me - they're always welcome!