Throughout the book, you’ll find several thought experiments like the following:
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Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel KahnemanĮvery day, we each make an innumerable number of decisions: Should I eat breakfast, or skip it altogether? Is it too soon to wear my favorite sweater again? How should I spend my free time today? Faced with so many choices, how do we decide? In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the recipient of a Nobel Prize in economics in 2002, summarizes decades of his research on decision-making and heuristics (mental shortcuts) in an accessible, engaging way.
With the clock now visibly ticking, how would he spend his remaining days alive? How did his goals and priorities change when confronted with such a life-changing event? Paul Kalanathi beautifully details his experiences-as a student, patient, doctor, husband, and father-in When Breath Becomes Air, a book that you’ll likely never forget.Ģ. Then the diagnosis came: terminal cancer. But this scan was different: it was my own.Īfter well over a decade spent in school and training, Paul Kalanathi was finally approaching the conclusion of his neurosurgical residency program. Over the last six years, I’d examined scores of such scans, on the off chance that some procedure might benefit the patient. I was a neurosurgical resident entering my final year of training.
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“I flipped through the CT scan images, the diagnosis obvious: the lungs were matted with innumerable tumors, the spine deformed, a full lobe of the liver obliterated. The opening quote perfectly foreshadows the events to come: The book is an intimate portrait of the life of Paul Kalanathi. When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithiįew books have so profoundly influenced me as When Breath Becomes Air. In short, reading a few pages each day translates to reading many books in the long run.ġ. Reading just 30 minutes per day means finishing a book about every two weeks if 30 minutes sounds like a lot, consider how much idle time you spend browsing social media or stuck in a long commute (audiobooks are great for commutes use the app Libby to connect to your local library and get access to thousands of books for free). Roughly, this translates to ~2 hours per 100 pages, or, put differently, 4-8 hours per book. Most books written for a popular audience fall between 200-400 pages in length, with ~250-300 words per page.) The average reading speed is somewhere around 200-250 words per minute (try testing your personal reading speed). If your immediate reaction is to protest that you don’t have the time, think of it this way. Reading more may sound great in principle, but difficult in practice. However, if your goal is to dovetail readability and depth, it is hard to beat a book. You may also consult peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Science, Nature) for information on scientific developments. For current news, I recommend The New York Times, NPR, and FiveThirtyEight. Fortunately, there is an abundance of sources that offer well-researched, reliable information. And no, scrolling through the headlines on Facebook doesn’t count. One of the best ways to develop this understanding, ( beyond completing a physician shadowing program) is to read often and broadly. Pre-med students possess a wealth of niche scientific knowledge-who else knows about the Kreb’s Cycle? However, medical school admissions committees want to recruit well-rounded students who can demonstrate that their knowledge goes beyond the basic scientific prerequisites medical schools are attracted to students who know “a little about a lot.” In other words, they want students who have been exposed to a range of different fields and who understand how these fields may intersect with medicine (e.g., the economics of healthcare and insurance, major ethical issues). Whether you can’t recall the last book you’ve read or you have a personal library that rivals a small university, this article is for you.
Last year, approximately one-quarter of Americans did not read a single book ( Pew Research Center, Survey Conducted: Jan 3-10, 2018). Here are our top pre-med book recommendations! Why you should be reading outside of the classroom: Sometimes the best way to gain perspective on the best way to move forward is to pick up a good book. Put down your phone, your textbooks, and your planners.