Books about Medical Culture

The following books, both fiction and non-fiction, offer a look at the culture of medicine. Click on a book cover to read our review. All are listed alphabetically by author.

For additional reading, see our annual Reading Lists for Compassionate Physicians and visit our Bookshop.org Gold Foundation shop.

If I Understood You, Would I Have this Look on My Face?
by Alan Alda
A History of the Present
Illness
by Gold Professor
Louise Aronson
What’s Left Out
by Jay Baruch
Talking to Your Doctor
by Zackary Berger
Alternative Medicine
by Rafael Campo
Heart Murmurs
by Sharon Dobie
Attending
by Ronald Epstein
Being Mortal
by Atul Gawande
When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi
Re-humanizing Medicine
by David Kopacz
Blood Lines
by Paul McLean
The Finest Traditions of My Calling
by Abraham M. Nussbaum
Vital Conversations
by Dennis Rosen
In the Hands of Doctors
by Paul E. Stepansky
God’s Hotel
by Victoria Sweet
The Digital Doctor
by Robert Wachter
Bedside Manners
by David Watts