Books!

So I have nothing inspired to say about med school this week - possibly because I've been on break for two weeks now.  Anyway, instead I bring you a couple of books that I've read in the past year that may or may not be tangentially related to medicine:

Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph T. Hallinan
Not specifically focused on medicine, but important nonetheless for a profession in which mistakes are made and carry nasty consequences.  An interesting exploration of human psychology and how it naturally leads us to screw up sometimes.  The author pulls from a lot of good research to cover this, and provides a couple of really valuable examples of how to avoid some of the common fallacies by building in safe guards like airline pilots do now, for example.

The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
So I actually had to read this for an ethics breakfast coming up, but it was really interesting.  For those not biomedically inclined, HeLa is a line of human cells that has been growing indefinitely since the 1950's and has been used in nearly every form of biomedical research, particularly cancer research, since that time.  It's extremely unusual for human cells to grow indefinitely - most die after a set number of cell divisions, but these are cancer cells.  Of course, when they were first grown it was without the knowledge or consent of their owner who was dying of cervical cancer.  And she happened to be a poor black woman.  This is her story, and the story of her family as well as of those cells.  It's a really interesting readable book - shocking to me in a lot of ways.  I have a hard time sometimes remembering how young Medicine in its current scientific incarnation really is, and just how much bioethics have changed in even the last few decades.  I personally would have liked  to know more about the bioethics side of the story, while Ms. Skloot focuses more on the human interest - her relationship with the Lacks family.  But from what she writes of that family's history, they deserve to have that story told.  I hope to focus more on one of my favorite bioethics tidbits from this book later, so come back and check that out.

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, MD
So true confessions: I haven't actually finished reading this yet.  But it was one of the first books recommended to me by my medical school adviser, and the half of it I have read is a really interesting cautionary tale in misdiagnosis.  Somewhat similarly to the first book above, this focuses on how doctors are trained (or not really trained, but pick up by osmosis from their elders) to diagnose patients, and how that system can leave people falling through the cracks.  I was inordinately pleased with myself to guess right on the first patient story in the book - but then I have an unusually high awareness of dietary intolerance and allergens as problems (you all know who you are, and my future patients thank you, or not when they have to give up diary and gluten to see if that's the problem).  In any case its a very readable account of problems specifically in medical thinking that I promise I'll finish as soon as I can find my copy . . .

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Of course the author begins by discussing the sordid history of anatomy.  Early anatomists' usage of human remains was a far cry from what we have today, in which donors at least choose to leave their bodies to science.  But there's a lot more in here than that.  Did you know, for example, that before we can make crash test dummies someone has to do experiments on cadavers to discover exactly what force damages human tissue?  Otherwise we won't know how to interpret our crash test dummy results.  Also, one of the big problems with automotive safety for children is that no such data exist for children - because who donates their child's body to science?  Also included are fun tidbits like the history of cremation and human transplants and the up and coming industry of composting human remains (yes, I would totally do that.  But I'm not sure those who survive me would feel comfortable working in the garden afterwards).  Not recommended for the weak of stomach, but if you like dark humor and weird facts this is a great book.