The House of God (1978)

This is an example of the benefits of stepping out of one's comfort zone. If one of my coworkers (who was a nurse in the 70s) had not lent me this book, I never ever would have picked it up. It is exactly as it proclaims to be on the cover - the "Catch 22" of medicine. It is a hilarious satire of life in a modern hospital, where the extremely elderly can be artificially kept alive forever, but athletic 30-year-old fathers still die of heart attacks. As you can imagine, it is very dark. The characters are phenomenal (if a little dated), from the genius black sidekick and the horny nurse to the policemen who speak like Harvard professors and the bitter workaholic female resident.
It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it and it's helped me understand my coworkers a little better. Highly recommended, at least if you don't usually read this sort of thing. ( )

Dr. Sanja Gupta had the author of this book on his show and highly recommended the book as a classic, especially for medical interns. Of course, things haven't changed - they have only gotten worse in terms of not letting people die without overwhelming medical intervention. ( )

I read this book when I was a medical student in the early 1980s (Should be a mandatory read for any medical student or resident). A very acerbic view of life as an intern in a large hospital but unfortunately it rings true. I got to meet the author in person last night as he gave a lecture at the UCF medical school. ( )

This is one of my favorit books. It is set in a hospital and deals with a lot of medical problems. But in contains wisdom which is useful in millions of other areas, especially the Zebra Rule: "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" ( )

Reading this book during my 3rd year of medical school was cathartic; however, I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone outside the medical profession. It's crass, irreverent, explicit, and cynical - but it validated a lot of what I had been feeling and experiencing in the hospital environment, and there is a good dose of humanity that comes through. To anyone who is in medicine - a great read. ( )