Books like Do No Harm

01

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Atul Gawande · Health

Being Mortal is Atul Gawande's investigation into why modern medicine is so bad at helping people die well.

Shares medicine and mortality with Do No Harm.

02

The Checklist Manifesto

Atul Gawande · Health

The Checklist Manifesto is Atul Gawande's argument that the single most underused tool for preventing catastrophic failure in complex fields is also the simplest: a well-designed checklist.

Both dig into medicine.

03

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee · Science

The Emperor of All Maladies is Siddhartha Mukherjee's account of cancer from antiquity to the present — its biology, its treatments, its false dawns, and the scientists and patients caught in the middle of each.

A kindred memoir read.

04

Complications

Atul Gawande · Health

Complications is Atul Gawande's first collection of essays, drawn from his New Yorker writing and his early years as a surgical resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Shares surgery and medicine with Do No Harm.

05

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

John Carreyrou · Business

Bad Blood is Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou's account of Theranos, the blood-testing startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes that claimed its proprietary technology could run hundreds of diagnostic tests from a single finger-prick of blood.

A kindred memoir read.

06

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi · Memoir

When Breath Becomes Air is Paul Kalanithi's account of his life before and after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, while completing his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford.

Shares medicine and mortality with Do No Harm.

07

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates · Memoir

Between the World and Me is a letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his teenage son, Samori, about what it means to live in a Black body in the United States.

Both dig into mortality.

08

Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer · Memoir

Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer's firsthand account of the May 1996 Everest expedition that killed eight climbers in a single afternoon.

Both dig into mortality.

09

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story

Abraham Verghese · Memoir

My Own Country is Abraham Verghese's account of his years as an infectious disease specialist in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

Both dig into medicine.

10

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Anne Fadiman · Memoir

Anne Fadiman's account of Lia Lee, a Hmong child in Merced, California who suffered from severe epilepsy, and the catastrophic failure of understanding between her family and the American medical system that treated her, is one of the most important works of narrative nonfiction about medicine, immigration, and cultural translation.

Both dig into medicine.

11

An Elegant Defense

Matt Richtel · Science

An Elegant Defense is Matt Richtel's attempt to explain the immune system to a general audience through a combination of narrative science and personal story.

Both dig into medicine.

12

Circe

Madeline Miller · Fantasy

Circe is the daughter of Helios, god of the sun, but she inherits neither divine radiance nor power — only a human voice that embarrasses her immortal family.

Both dig into mortality.