"This book is terrifying, informative, stimulating, and educating to every member of the medical and nursing profession. It is extensively researched, has a massive bibliography, and, most importantly, it is well written and well worth reading — in spite of some truly
There’s much to be said for novellas – short novels you can read in a couple of evenings, without the commitment needed for a blockbuster. If you’re looking for a great example, I’d recommend The Shooting Party by the Russian dramatist Anton
The author strongly supports a woman’s right to choose, arguing for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK, suggesting that it should be regulated as a part of healthcare. She describes recent cases where women have been given custodial sentences which have
I have recently read ‘Too Many Pills - How too much medicine is endangering our health and what we can do about it’ by James Le Fanu... So, this is my new purpose in life - to create opportunities to have open,
Thinking about patients,’ is a classic text, first published in 2001, that applies sociology and psychology to medical practice. I first read it in 2011 while doing a PhD in medical education, and wondered how I had missed it.
Why Can’t I See My GP charts an ever- changing medical speciality. From the times where GPs practiced in their own homes, to the NHS crisis we face today, Cumbrian GP Dr Ellen Welch takes us on the journey of our National
I first read his 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies five years ago, which convinced me that the risks which would be posed to humanity by a highly capable AI system (a ‘superintelligence’) ought to be taken very seriously before such a
Notwithstanding the corny connection to a fictional character, and the 'old school' approach to confidentiality, this is a charming and authentic memoir. An anecdote is by definition an unpublished story - and Martin Stagg has converted his anecdotes into 'ecdotes.'
You may recognise the frustration and anger that surface when resources run short; fractures in infrastructure become apparent; staff are scarce, undertrained and approaching burnout; protocols written by distant bureaucrats fail to reflect the realities you are seeing on the front line;
Having... been ‘critiqued’ for writing in too-detached a style, I was intrigued to see how a creative writing approach would change the process of reflection. As part of a self-selected module in ethics education, I took part in a one-day course on
The safety to ask about racism is helping me to change some ingrained false beliefs and this book has been another answer to my awkward questions. It has highlighted a history that I am disappointed not to know before.
Ian Dunt has written an easy-to-read explainer about how our UK Government is supposed to work and how it actually does work. To show the archaic ways of working and perverse incentives that are the operating mechanisms, he strips the system down
What is intensely likeable for me as a GP in his 40s is that The Health Fix also written by a GP in his 40s, with an engaging approach that blends clinical experience, medical evidence and personal history.
David Jeffrey reviews a terrific manual for bibliophiles. General practitioners may be reassured that bibliomaniacs, as yet, do not present for therapeutic intervention.
Science Fictions is an accessible and enjoyable read that is directly relevant to our work as GPs, useful for our much-needed critical appraisal skills, and fascinating to the curious mind that wishes to explore the behind-the-scenes goings on that underlie the research
"... the overall impression is that everything in here is still very relevant today — some maybe even more so than when he first wrote it." – Elke Hausmann reviews David Servan-Schreiber's 'The Instinct to Heal' 20 years on from it's original publication.
Bad Blood, the 2019 book (with a new 2023 afterword) by seasoned journalist John Carreyrou, offers a deep dive into the dramatic rise and fall of Theranos, a once-promising biotech startup in the US. Self-admitted 'health-tech' enthusiast Richard Armitage reviews the book.
Pain: The Ultimate Mentor is a deeply insightful book that reshapes our understanding of pain and its role in our lives, offering a fresh and practical perspective on managing pain ...
If you’re in the market for a short read to lift your spirits at Christmas, Dickens’ classic really delivers. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser described in deliciously grim terms...
A really, really, long book, but it is hard to see what could be cut from it without losing some of the meaning. So, my one-line summary would be “Modern life is toxic to our physical and emotional health and here is
Studying the history of emotions is arguably one of the most important topics for understanding contemporary life, which becomes clear as you traverse this book ... we can use the insights ... to understand what we actually mean by emotions and trace
"... van Tulleken destigmatises obesity." - Hana MO Elhassan reviews Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
As a GP, do you consider yourself the living embodiment of practical virtue? Or just an ordinary doctor struggling to do a decent job for as many hours as the day provides? You could argue that there is really no great difference
"Mukherjee's prose really does instil in the reader an awe for what life is [...] It needs to be read and savoured." – Elke Hausmann reviews The Song of the Cell: The Story of Life by Siddhartha Mukherjee
To understand childhood aggression, it is important to understand the neuroscience behind the reactions displayed by children. Hannah Milton reviews an unofficial guide for parents.
In Medical Generalism—Now!, Joanne Reeve extends her concept of the creative self. And she argues that the fundamental challenge for the contemporary primary care clinician is to honour the patient’s creative abilities and provide the kind of flexible, tailored care that allows
'A relational way of working, thinking and designing is one that creates possibility for change, one that creates abundance – our capacity for relationships, like love, is infinite.’ Emilie Couchman reviews a call for radical reform
"[Within the book] there are eloquent lessons for individuals, GPs (and their teams), and policymakers – if they are listening." – Emma Ladds on Phil Whitaker's 'What is a Doctor? A GP's Prescription for the Future'
This book is important for GPs to read because domestic abuse is common and leads to longstanding health issues for women, children, and men. Robust evidence and research are interspersed between individual stories that illustrate the variety of forms that abuse can
Ilyich’s life story made me reflect on the extent to which I'm satisfied with my own life...I've often asked the question that Tolstoy confronts his readers with here: is there more to life than this? Luke Allen reviews this classic novella.
Modern democracies try to tolerate most differences in opinions. Many differences may not matter too much, but some like pandemics and climate change are existential problems that affect everyone, and agreement on their cause and how to respond should benefit us all.
The argument is that, for decades, ‘business friendly’ governments have been allowing private interests to extract vast fortunes from the NHS and that over time the service has been increasingly reformed to make it ready for corporate takeover. This would make our
The title, ‘What is a doctor?’, neatly articulates a contemporary query. As the multidisciplinary team (MDT) becomes increasingly complex with additional moving parts, the role of the doctor becomes ever more difficult to describe. The memory of the ‘family doctor’ is fading.
Bassem Saab and Beatrice Khater use a series of movies used to teach and discuss professionalism with family medicine residents in Lebanon. Here they focus on relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.
"Henry Marsh is a retired veteran neurosurgeon, recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He perceives, with reluctant realism, the coming end of his own life and responds with this remarkable and very readable collage of a book." - David
In relying on a limited and necessarily technical professional vocabulary, we often deny ourselves precisely those tools which would help us understand and treat our patients’ difficulties, and indeed our own, muses Ben Hoban
This beautifully-produced, sensitive memoir and art history begins with a quote from Euripides, capturing the yearning of anyone who has been bereaved, “Come back! Even as a shadow, even as a dream”.
"Jane Monckton Smith argues that people rarely murder their partners or ex-partners on a whim. Rather, almost invariably, the killing is the culmination of a clearly defined eight-stage timeline. By breaking down the domestic homicide timeline into these eight distinct phases, Monckton
But being on one pole of a restrictions-versus-protections continuum is a long way from swallowing undiluted anti-vax Kool-Aid, isn’t it? ... Surely, being lukewarm on masking doesn’t mean you’re going to deny the evidence on vaccines?
Richard Armitage asserts that the art of effectively deploying this knowledge with professionalism and wisdom is rooted in the discipline of philosophy. In 2022-23 he attended a masterclass in bridging these two domains for healthcare professionals.
"Understanding Allergy is a book that I think will have a profound effect on my practice as a GP. It is packed full of interesting facts but crucially, it also does exactly what it says on the tin — it helps you
