I first read this book about a year and a half ago and have since read it about four times. A bright young woman in law school with mysterious symptoms that end up leading her to a heart transplant wrote this memoir, and she is witty, straight forward, and raises a lot of interesting questions. I find her reaction to her physical therapists enlightening, too.
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
Totally recommend this to anyone in the health profession. From my own personal experience with misdiagnose and seeing some very negative sides to the medical world, it gave me a better perspective on our limitations and our responsibilities.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
This is the autobiography of the former editor of Elle magazine... which he wrote entirely by blinking. He blinked out, tediously, something that is absolutely beautiful about his experiences with locked in syndrome. You have the words of a man whose entire life's work was about creating beauty. Again, very interesting perspective on his physical therapists, too.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
This book is insanely awesome. If you are interested in running a marathon or need some inspiration with your running, wowww! I love this guy's writing style. He encompasses his own story (plantar fasciitis), with the history of the Tarachumara and some other bad ass runners, and builds on several ideas that are pretty popular right now: Are we actually designed to run? Is barefoot running a good thing? I love love love it.
It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
Anytime I read a book about someone in their early twenties who has struggled with life and death, I see the same common themes. From my own experience to Amy Silverstein's (see above), there are many striking commonalities. But this is LANCE ARMSTRONG. I honestly didn't know much about his story despite the yellow wrist band craze a few years back. He is another candid writer, and it is definitely worth a look.
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
This is something I have become very passionate about lately. What is the best diet? What food are we designed to eat? This book gives a lot of background on the new ideas out there about restructuring our food pyramid "ideal", and I totally agree with him. I have been doing a lot of other reading and research about this topic over the past few months and am hoping to share some info on my blog at some point.
100 Best Gluten-Free Recipes
Eating gluten free is tough. Gluten is in almost every grain and in preservatives and thickeners... so almost anything you buy with a sauce on it contains gluten. Besides eating salads and Asian food every single day, its a great idea to have some sure bet recipes. This is one of the better cookbooks I used when I was strictly gluten free. I'm such a foodie!
The Hepatitis C Handbook
Anyone that gets diagnosed with HCV should read this book first. I bought literally all of the reference manuals on the subject on amazon.com when I first found out, and there is so much fluff, so much outdated research, so much of the same old things you could just quickly look up on mayoclinic.com. This book is detailed. It also gives a lot of research about every single supplement, vitamin, or other medication that might be good or bad for someone with HCV, which is great to have all in one place. A good resource!
Silent Storm: Finding Spiritual Shelter During Hepatitis C
This is about a semi-famous TV newsman, who was a healthy (non druggie) family man who describes everything from his diagnosis, to his sickness, to his suffering with the side effects of Ribaviron and Pegylated Interferon. Out of the several memoirs I read, his was by far the most helpful for me. He included his spiritual growth and the effect it had on his relationships openly, and he wasn't too much of a wet blanket.
Reading Rainbow. I read a lot, can't you tell? I am currently in between books, so if anyone has any recommendations for me... I'm listening!
M
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