On Call: A Doctor’s Journal, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s memoir published in 2024, offers a first-person perspective on his career milestones, which also serve as a history of public healthcare in the US. Fauci grapples with the ethical complexities of modern medicine, personal challenges, and political trials as his career advances. The book, which combines autobiographical prose with a medical journal narrative, recounts Fauci’s experience as a leading infectious disease expert and director of the National... Read On Call Summary

On Death and Dying is a 1969 psychological study by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. It is best known in popular culture for introducing the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Kübler-Ross’s work with terminally ill patients inspired the model. She wrote the study as a response to the lack of instruction in medical schools about how to handle the topic of death. It was the very first book written by Kübler-Ross in her... Read On Death and Dying Summary

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a historical fiction novel by Ken Kesey, published in 1962. Kesey drew on his experiences working in a veterans’ hospital to develop a critique of then-current psychiatric practices. The novel’s central conflict between a domineering nurse and an unruly patient can also be read as an allegory for the emerging culture wars of the 1960s. The novel was adapted into a Broadway play one year after its publication... Read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Summary

Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater is a work of narrative non-fiction published in 2004 by W.W. Norton & Company. Slater, an American psychotherapist, examines 10 landmark psychological experiments—from B.F. Skinner’s infamous boxes to Harry Harlow’s primates—and, in doing so, she explores larger philosophical questions related to human freedom, the limits of science, and truth in art.Slater provides biographical details of the scientists behind each landmark experiment. She... Read Opening Skinner's Box Summary

Outlive: The Science of Art & Longevity (2023) written by American physician Peter Attia with journalist Bill Gifford, focuses on how humans can live longer and live longer for better. By drawing on a wide body of science, anecdotes, and personal stories, Attia communicates complex biological processes to a general audience. The crux of Attia’s argument is that we need to maximize both chronological lifespan (age) and healthspan (quality of life), which represent the two... Read Outlive Summary

Pale Horse, Pale Rider is a novella written by Katherine Anne Porter. It was published in 1939, along with two other short novellas, Old Mortality and Noon Wine, under the collective title Pale Horse, Pale Rider. The story portrays two young lovers who are tragically affected by the 1918 influenza epidemic, or Spanish Flu.Other works by this author include The Jilting of Granny Weatherall and Flowering Judas.This guide uses an eBook version of the 2008... Read Pale Horse, Pale Rider Summary

Petey is middle grade novel written by Ben Mikaelsen and published in 1998. Mikaelsen is the author of 10 novels for young adults and the winner of several awards for his work. Petey is dedicated to and based on the life of Clyde Cothern, a Montana man with cerebral palsy who was misdiagnosed as intellectually disabled and confined to Montana State Hospital in the 1920s. Mikaelsen and Cothern shared a close personal friendship, and while... Read Petey Summary

Phantom Limb (2016) is a psychological thriller by Lucinda Berry. Drawing on her professional background as a clinical psychologist specializing in childhood trauma, Berry crafts a narrative grounded in real-world psychological concepts. The novel follows a young woman caring for her identical twin who has depression, a relationship defined by a shared traumatic past; when a new romance threatens their codependency, the narrator’s reality begins to unravel, revealing that her memories and very identity may... Read Phantom Limb Summary

John Fleischman’s Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science (2002) is a children’s narrative nonfiction book. It features biography, historical medicine, and introductory neuroscience. Fleischman tells the story of an 1848 railroad accident in which a man, Phineas Gage, survived after a large tamping iron went through his skull. Fleischman explains how physicians and researchers have used the case to debate how the brain functions. He illustrates the way evidence, myths, and... Read Phineas Gage Summary

In Plagues and Peoples, William H. McNeill argues that patterns of disease have integrally influenced human history from prehistory to the modern day. Until 1976, the year of this book’s publication, the historical study of disease was treated as a footnote of minor importance compared to war, agriculture, and politics. By contrast, McNeill takes a broader view and breaks human history into two categories. The forces of ecology and humanity are equally weighed in McNeill’s... Read Plagues and Peoples Summary

Translated from the Korean by Chi-young Kim, Please Look After Mom (2008) by Kyung-sook Shin is an international work of best-selling fiction. When 69-year-old So-nyo Park goes missing one Saturday outside Seoul Station, her disappearance sets in motion a desperate search not only for where So-nyo might be but for who So-nyo was to her shocked and confused family members. One by one, So-nyo’s family comes to terms with the fact that they didn’t know... Read Please Look After Mom Summary

Published in 2021, Project Hail Mary is American author Andy Weir’s third novel, following The Martian (2011) and Artemis (2017). A true example of hard science fiction, Project Hail Mary features Weir’s characteristic combination of humor, scientific accuracy, and technical speculation while incorporating more speculative elements of the genre, notably in its depiction of human contact with extraterrestrial life. The novel explores themes including Survival, Sacrifice, and the Utilitarian Good, The Role of Speculation in... Read Project Hail Mary Summary

Dr. Eben Alexander’s 2012 memoir, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, documents his near-death experience (NDE) while in a coma resulting from a rare bacterial infection. As an academic neurosurgeon with a materialist worldview, Alexander did not believe in an afterlife. The book details how his NDE forced him to reconcile his scientific training with what he now considered proof of a reality beyond the physical world. The memoir explores several themes:... Read Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into the Afterlife Summary

“Queen Mab” is an epic, utopian poem by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley is most well-known for his epic masterpiece, “Prometheus Unbound,” and his poems “Ozymandias,” “Ode to the West Wind,” and “The Mask of Anarchy.” Written when Shelley was only 18 years old, “Queen Mab” was initially published anonymously in 1813 due to its radical political content. However, after the poem was illegally distributed and gained popularity, Shelley published it formally... Read Queen Mab Summary

Reasons to Stay Alive (2015) is a memoir with elements of traditional nonfiction by British author Matt Haig. After publication, it went on to become a worldwide bestseller. The book follows Haig’s experience with depression and anxiety, particularly his mental health crisis at the age of 24, and his subsequent ascent toward mental wellbeing. It explores themes of societal perceptions and prejudices toward mental illness, the importance of communication around these issues in the wider... Read Reasons to Stay Alive Summary

The book Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey explores the transformative power of rest as an act of political resistance and spiritual healing, focusing on themes such as The Healing Power of Rest, The Critique of Capitalism and White Supremacy, and The Importance of Community Care and Self-Care. It challenges the grind culture that capitalist and white supremacist systems impose and advocates for rest as a fundamental act of rebellion and a pathway... Read Rest Is Resistance Summary

Rez Dogs, first published in 2021 by Dial Books for Young Readers, was written by American author Joseph Bruchac. Rez Dogs is a novel for middle-grade readers written in verse. It tells the story of Malian, an eighth grade girl who shelters with her grandparents during COVID-19 and learns about her Wabanaki background.Bruchac has been awarded many honors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. In 2023, Bruchac was chosen... Read Rez Dogs Summary

Righteous Dopefiend by Philippe Bourgois and Jeffrey Schonberg, published in 2009, is a photo-ethnography on the lived experience of a marginalized population experiencing homelessness and drug addiction (primarily alcohol, crack, and heroin) in an area dubbed Edgewater Boulevard in San Francisco, California. Over 12 years, the anthropologists got to know the people who make up this population and what brought them to their current position. The work is in the field of applied anthropology, which... Read Righteous Dopefiend Summary

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People (2023) is by journalist Tracy Kidder. The book profiles Dr. Jim O’Connell’s work with the unhoused population of Boston through the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Kidder is known for his literary style and thorough research methods. In Rough Sleepers, Kidder accompanies Dr. O’Connell on vans through the streets of Boston as he treats patients and offers them food, clothing... Read Rough Sleepers Summary

Salt Sugar Fat is a 2013 nonfiction book by Michael Moss. It describes the modern American food industry. The author visits the corporate headquarters, scientific research facilities, and marketing departments of major food manufacturers. He also talks with consumer advocates and other involved parties to understand the ongoing obesity epidemic.Through industrial processes, food companies remove nutritious components and substitute cheaper, harmful ingredients. The key ingredients in most processed foods are salt, sugar, and fat. Manufacturers... Read Salt Sugar Fat Summary