Book cover of You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation

Book description

From one of America’s top physicians, a “riveting,” “fascinating,” and “timely” (Nature) history of risk in medicine 
 
Every medical decision—whether to have chemotherapy, an X-ray, or surgery—is a risk, no matter which way you choose. In You Bet Your Life, physician Paul A. Offit argues that, from the first blood…

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Why read it?

1 author picked You Bet Your Life as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I remember watching my first transplant in medical school and wondering, who was brave enough to be the first for something like this? Hearing the stories of the medical firsts and the people behind them is remarkable.

What I found even more captivating were the costs incurred by the patients involved. In that way, this book widened my perspective on the patient experience as we continue to push the boundaries of medicine.

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…

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