And for the rest of my life, when I think about changing the world by saving peoples lives, it will be with the caveat of improving on the model that he lived by. Farmer, I'm still angry with you for missing out on your daughter's childhood the way my dad did. They say that part of a teenager's angst is realizing that her parents are not perfect and being angry at them for their flaws. What I remember from this book is a short scene in which we learn that, at least during the time the journalist was shadowing him, Farmer saw his daughter only once a month.

A detailed glimpse into the life story and accomplishments of Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, who not only serves as a role model for anyone interested in global health, but who has changed the world for the better in a tangible way. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder was the next book that strongly influenced me. I keep it next to my couch in case a lost friend ever happens upon it the way I did. If you're interested in medicine, the reality of it, then I suggest taking Nuland up on his offer to glimpse the mark that medicine leaves on a doctor's soul. It is a compilation of stories, each chapter written by a doctor in a different specialty discussing his or her most memorable patient. On the night table was a book left by the last guest, The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside by Sherwin Nuland, MD, and what I found in his collection of stories was solace, companionship, and hope. I lay in bed the next day and looked around my rented tropical room for distraction. I couldn't stand the feeling of being a part of a system that was cumbersome and ineffective, I couldn't stand my heart breaking, and I wanted to want to be anything other than a doctor. A newborn died of complications from seizures right in front of me, and a two week old baby died of malnutrition as we watched him wither away in an incubator. In the span of a week, I had seen two babies die. It was the summer after my freshman year of college and I was volunteering in an outpatient pediatric ward.

'In my business, you can lose big, but sometimes you win big, too.' So begins page 87 of the book that made me go to medical school. We asked medical student (and SMS-Unplugged contributor) Natalia Birgisson to offer some suggestions. Editor's note: Over the last several months, numerous young Scope readers have inquired about which books they should be reading to prepare for a potential future in medicine.

Medical books to read