Books like The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

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.

Both dig into medicine.

02

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Tracy Kidder · Biography

Tracy Kidder's portrait of Paul Farmer — the physician and anthropologist who co-founded Partners in Health and spent decades treating tuberculosis, AIDS, and cholera in rural Haiti and among the poorest communities of the world — is one of the most compelling biographies of a contemporary American figure.

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

Do No Harm

Henry Marsh · Memoir

Do No Harm is Henry Marsh's memoir of life as a senior neurosurgeon in the National Health Service.

Both dig into medicine.

05

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.

06

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

James McBride · Memoir

James McBride grew up in Brooklyn and Queens as one of twelve children raised by a white Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity and married a Black minister.

Both dig into immigration.

07

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Maxine Hong Kingston · Memoir

The Woman Warrior is not a conventional memoir.

Both dig into immigration.

08

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

Arnold Schwarzenegger · Memoir

Total Recall covers three separate American careers in a single life: Arnold Schwarzenegger became the greatest bodybuilder in the world before age 25, became the highest-paid movie star in the world before age 40, and became Governor of California for two terms in his fifties.

Both dig into immigration.

09

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.

Both dig into medicine.

10

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.

11

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.

Both dig into medicine.

12

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Erik Larson · History

Dead Wake tells the story of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, when a German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, including 128 Americans.

Both dig into tragedy.