The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
This book offers insight into the motivators of social epidemics and explains why certain kinds of people brought together can make change happen. It really cuts to the quick of illustrating that little things can and do create big change.
Recommended by Dr. Sandra Read and Dr. Becki Tung
The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D - Harper Torch, 1975 Revised 2000
Our Western world tends to push us into constant situations of "Fight-or-Flight". Dr. Herbert Benson helps us cope with our mind-body with the "Relaxation Response." We would all benefit incorporating this easy tool for 'better living' into our live.
Recommended by Dr. Lenore Kakita
The Hot Mom's Handbook: Moms Have More Fun! by Jessica Denay
The book was reveiwed on the Today show and is a fun, upbeat look at how to cultivate yourself and still be a great mom.
Recommended by Amy McMichael, MD
The Heart of a Family : Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us by Meg Cox
Have you ever wondered how you can create treasured and lasting family traditions when the daily juggle of professional and personal life is sometimes more than enough of a challenge?! Meg Cox interviewed over 200 diverse families for this warm and wise compilation of family rituals ranging from major holidays to everyday bedtime routines and gives valuable advice on creating new traditions--both practical and whimsical--from scratch.
Recommended by Dr. Kristin Stevens
Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters by Philip Van Munching, Katie Couric
A cute book for those with adolescent daughters.
Recommended by Dr. Diane Berson
The Happiest Baby on the Block : The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp
As new parents, my husband and I found this book insightful and very helpful. Dr. Karp's five "S"s help pull together bits of wisdom and some instincts into a pattern that helps sleep-deprived parents quickly calm a newborn. The book is easy to read and short in length--key points for newborn parents. Dr. Karp's words had us swaddling, sshhhing, and swinging our baby to calmness and sleep with great relief. We recommend this book to any about-to-be parents or grandparents, and it is now our favorite gift to give with a simple flannel blanket just perfect for swaddling joyous bundles.
Recommended by Dr. Margaret E. Parsons
Beauty Basics for Teens by Dianne York-Goldman and Dr. Mitchel Goldman
This book has many good points for teenagers.
Recommended by Dr. Lenore Kakita
Thundering Sneakers by Prudence MacKintosh
For mothers who have all boys! Women trying to combine career and the raising of a family will find refreshing humor and insight in Prudence Mackintosh's books Retreads and Thundering Sneakers. I particularly recommend these books to others, like me, who are mothers of boys. The author is a skillful storyteller, whose tales of raising three sons sound all too familiar. E.g.:"If you ever doubted original sin, or for a fleeting moment believed in the innate goodness of man, you missed my four-year-old's birthday party." Trying to balance career and children, I have frequently reflected on her observation "...by the time the third one came along I was old enough to appreciate the pleasures of limited ambition."
Recommended by Dr. Janet Hickman
A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing by Reynolds Price
This is an inspirational book written so beautifully. When I first started to read it, I thought that I would feel depressed reading about a professor who becomes paralyzed by a tumor. Yet on the contrary, I felt inspired and loved his descriptions of his interactions with the doctors, his friends and the people who cared for him--especially how he had to learn to accept help and humble himself to survive. This book would be helpful for physicians and caretakers and patients suffering from any illness.
Recommended by Brenda Dintiman, MD
Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup, MD
Through her personal stories and many fascinating case histories, Dr. Northrup shows women how they can make menopause a time of personal empowerment and positive energy - emerging wiser, healthier, and stronger in both mind and body than ever before.
"Interesting insights from a woman doctor's perspective."
Recommended by Susan Weinkle, MD
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
From the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, a stunning novel about the afterlife. Heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it – loved ones or distant strangers – each one changed your life forever.
Recommended by Susan Weinkle, MD
Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes and the Course of History by Robert McElvaine, McGraw-Hill, 2001
This book combines anthropology, history and politics to explore how peoples views of sexual difference have shaped history, inviting new readings of Genesis, Darwin, Locke, de Tocqueville and many others. McElvaine's thesis is: "hell hath no fury like a man devalued." He considerably deepened my understanding of why the work of changing culture to support women's development is so challenging and complex. Also McElvaine is an outstanding, witty writer.
Recommended by Janet Bickel, AAMC
The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Don Riichard Riso , Doubleday 1999
I've only met a few medical educators who've ever heard of the enneagram, an easily accessible system based on ancient wisdom and referring to nine distinct personality types. It's an extremely valuable tool for personal transformation and development and for improving ones own mentoring/coaching skills. This book is the best introduction to it.
Recommended by Dr. Sandra Read
The Physician by Noah Gordon
A tale about an eleventh century English boy who, after becoming a traveling barber-surgeon/seller of tonics/entertainer, desires to learn as much as there is to learn about healing and undertakes a journey to study medicine in Persia. A fascinating page turner.
Recommended by Sheila Belken
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
“For all of you who have sons, husbands, fathers, brothers: About becoming a man. I found it eye-opening!”
Recommended by Sandy Read, MD
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
The theme of this novel is about women reacting and responding to their environment.
Recommended by Elizabeth McBurney, MD
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (his debut novel)
It is an entrancing epic of fathers and sons, friendship and betrayal, cruelty and love. The setting is Afghanistan and America, but the political events are only a backdrop to the vivid and engaging personal story. It is a powerful first book of this Afghan and I hope many will follow.
Recommended by Elizabeth McBurney, MD
Three Junes by Julia Glass
A marvelous novel - you will wish there were a fourth June.
Recommended by Elizabeth McBurney, MD
Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
A mystery set at Harvard with Longfellow, Holmes and Emerson.
Recommended by Marianne O’Donoghue, MD
Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cleverly written novel offering perceptions from the patient’s point of view.
Recommended by Suzanne Connolly, MD
Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
This book is about two Eastern Indian women who shared the same household. It is heartwarming!
Recommended by Barbara Reed, MD
Women of Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
This is a book that explores the development of sisterhood in the Chinese silk industry in the early 20th century. A fascinating look at women developing an independent voice in a male dominated society.
Recommended by Julie A. Hodge, MD
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
This novel is set on the banks of the Loire River Valley in France during the Nazi occupation and postwar. I can’t put it down.
Recommended by Vera Price, MD
The Murder Room by P.D. James
Excellent character development. A great mystery.
Recommended by Marianne O'Donoghue, MD
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson
I recommend reading "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas", by James Patterson. Fast
reading, but most enjoyable!
Recommended by Dr. Susan Weinkle
I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson
Bridget Jones Diary 20 years later....
Married Hedge fund manager, mother of two. She's got the working woman/mother thing down.
Recommended by Dr. Joy Rico
The Yarn Harlot-The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
“Don't finish many books with a toddler, but managed this. And it is a serious good laugh.”
Recommended by Maggie Parsons, MD
Celebrating Women by Paola Gianturco
In Paola Gianturco's book, Celebrating Women, Thais honor the women who saved their city. Swazi virgins dance for the Queen Mother. Polish girls float wreathes of wildflowers on the river. Moroccan Berber divorcees invite shepherds to marry them. Couples race over obstacles in Finland's World Wife Carrying Championships. Beautiful women in the United States vie for scholarships. Ten other festivals will intrigue and inspire you.
Recommended by Peggy Crawford, MD and Pat Engasser, MD, Co-Chairs, WDS Annual Luncheon Committee
Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman: Ten Keys to Unlocking Ultimate Pleasure by Laura Berman, Ph.D. & Jennifer Berman, M.D.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful book as much as I did. These two authors know their stuff!
Recommended by Susan Weinkle, MD
Going Alone: Women's Adventures in the Wild Edited by Susan Fox Rogers
A collection of stories written by women who explored the great outdoors solo, and along the way learned a great deal about themselves and their capabilities.
Recommended by Kerry Parker, WDS Executive Director
Queen of the Turtle Derby by Julia Reed
Ms. Reed is the keynote speaker at the WDS Annual Meeting Luncheon in New Orleans, LA on February 20. In this engaging collection of essays, Mississippi native Reed—a writer for Vogue and the New York Times Magazine who now splits her time between New Orleans and New York City—presents a fresh and eclectic portrait of the South.
Recommended by Deirdre O'Boyle Hooper, MD, Co-Chair, Annual Meeeting Committee
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander
An uplifting short book written by the conductor of the Boston Symphony and his wife, a psychologist.
Recommended by Anne Burdick, MD
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
I highly recommend this book. It is a brilliant intermingling of literary criticism and politics.
Recommended by Sandra Read, MD
Ciao, America! by Beppe Severgnini
An Italian Discovers the U.S.
A bella laugh.Wonderfully funny and perceptivefun from first page to last, pure and simple."-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
Recommended by Dr. Sandra Read
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
One of the most profound books I have ever read.A must read for Doctor's which is a seminal work of Cultural Anthropology. It's about a Hmong child, her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. This book explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Tragedy which must be avoided between cultures.
Recommended by Dr. Sandra Read
BoBos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks
A hilarious and insightful social commentary about Bourgeois Bohemians. You will squirm and recognize yourself and people you know all throughout this book
