Make your break fun and productive!!!

With the Christmas break coming up and for many of us a 6+ hour flight each way I thought it would be nice to share the idea recreational reading (if focused) might help plant the seeds of thought and help formulate informed opinions that you will be expected to have when you are writing personal essays or being interviewed. A good GPA and test score are only part of what is necessary to get into the programs you are aspiring to; experience, personal statements and interviews are equally regarded and in most instances can mitigate a below average GPA or Test score. Not only will reading make you informed and prepared for discussion on a number of different topics, you will be able to cite examples which shape your opinions, and most importantly you will be influenced as to what you are going into and why. Interviewers and admissions people can tell when you are sincere and knowledgeable and can tell when you aren't. In fact I think they can see through your soul so please give them something good to look at, for your own sake. This break I encourage all of you to find at least one book that focuses on an area in which you are interested in and read or listen to it. I personally prefer audio books which I listen to instead of music when I'm driving in the car, working alone, or walking around campus and here are some of the books I've read in the past year (there are more below this post). For example if you plan on going into cardiology and you get asked in your interview "what area of medicine do you want to go into?", you will be able to prove that this aspiration isn't a pipe dream but something you actually know quite a bit about. If you have read King of Hearts: the True Story of the Maverick who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, you will have an in depth understanding of the major advances and the obstacles overcome in the field of open heart surgery, you will have a small glimpse into the life of a cardiac surgeon and you will know the Who, What, When, Where, and Whys of different treatments for heart disease.
If you plan on going into Public Health or doing service in poor under served areas of the World it would be prudent to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Paul Farmer to Cure the World. Paul Farmer was a poor boy living with a big family on a bus and later in a boat ran ashore who was self taught earning a scholarship to first Duke than Harvard Medical School where he bought his text books and left to Haiti where he served the people there only coming back to Boston for exams and to raise money and acquire supplies for the people of Haiti. Paul Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health who have worked very hard to irradiate multi drug resistant strain Tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru, Russia, and other countries. Upon reading this book you will see some of things that are required in this type of service along with the problems and barriers you will encounter along with the example of someone who was able to successfully overcome these obstacles.
In the books Better: A Surgeons Notes on Performance as well as Complications: A Surgeons Notes on an Imperfect Science you gain a better understanding of the problems medicine encounters: learning/practicing, malpractice, career burnout, ethical issues, diagnosis, treatment, etc. These two books will give you a broad look into the world of medicine and inspire the reader to think of the limitations of this science which in many ways is an art.
Outliers: the Story of Success tells the reader what makes some people excel while others struggle. If anything you will be inspired and seek perfection after reading this book. On Call in Hell is a great book for anyone considering entering the military in a medical profession, you see first hand the account of a D.O. who served in the Navy as a field surgeon in Fallujah and the tolls that his experiences had on his life, both good and bad.
and there are more posted below if you are looking for something I recommend them all but don't limit yourself to my selections ask around look at reviews and pick something you think is interesting and if there are no books about the medical field you don't find interesting perhaps medicine isn't your thing and you should focus on another area where you are interested.