There’s no better way to relax on a summer day than lounging poolside with an enticing book in hand (though a strong case could also be made for enjoying a scorching day inside with the AC on full blast). Nevertheless, a good book is always a great way to unwind and escape. If you’re a nurse practitioner who could use some summer reading material, check out these poolside summer reads for NPs.
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder
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Centered around a brilliant, charismatic doctor, Harvard professor, world renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist and the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, Mountains Beyond Mountains details how Dr. Paul Farmer became a leader in international health by blasting through convention to get results in diagnosing and curing infectious diseases and bringing life saving tools of modern medicine to those in severely medically underserved countries. The book highlights how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and how a meaningful life can be created through Farmer’s own philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity”.
Inside the O’Briens, by Lisa Genova
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From New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a novel that does for Huntington’s disease what her debut novel Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s. Joe O’Brien is a devoted husband and father who begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease.
Polio: An American Story, by David Oshinsky
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David Oshinsky tells both a gripping scientific suspense story as well the provocative social and cultural history of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, weaving a dramatic tale centered on the furious rivalry between Salk and Sabin; and offering an insightful look into revolutionized fundraising and the perception of disease in America. Oshinsky also shows how the polio experience revolutionized the way in which the government licensed and tested new drugs, and how the legal system dealt with manufacturer’s’ liability for unsafe products.
Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande
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The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In an exhilarating journey, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. Gawande’s personal gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country.
Magic Hour, by Kristin Hannah
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From deep within the Olympic National Forest, a six year old girl appears, speechless and alone, offering no clues as to her identity or hints of her past. But child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary little girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation. To reach her, Julia must discover the truth about Alice’s past, but the shocking facts of Alice’s life test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength. In Magic Hour, Kristin Hannah delivers an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the meaning of home.
What’s on your reading list this summer?
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