What books are your fellow ophthalmologists reading?

Looking for some summer reading suggestions? Who better to get book recommendations from than your fellow ophthalmologists! Whether you are looking for something funny and lighthearted, suspenseful, or clinical in nature-here are a few book ideas you may want to check out this summer.  

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Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service

By The Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni

Andrew Iwach, MD, executive director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco, suggests ophthalmologists read "Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service."

This is an important read because patients don't care about the new regulations and strains that ophthalmologists deal with on a daily basis-they care about thier vision outcomes, he said. Surgeons can benefit from applyng the optimal customer service mindset the book discusses to their healthcare practice.

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Eye Surgery: An Introduction to Operative Technique

By Georg Eisner

Robert K. Maloney, MD, MA, (Oxon) of Maloney Vision Institute keeps "Eye Surgery: An Introduction to Operative Technique" by Georg Eisner on hand in his free time.

"It covers advanced concepts in surgery that we all should have learned as residents but didn't," he said.

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Cutting for Stone
By Abraham Verghese

Robert Stamper, MD, director of the Glaucoma Clinic, San Francisco said "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese is "a wonderfully written saga about an immigrant doctor in the United States with deep meanings on many levels."

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Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

By Atul Gawande

Dr. Stamper also was moved by reading "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande, and says it offers some thought provoking questions about medicine and healthcare that physicians can benefit from.

"It is a doctor’s story about his father’s dying process with some extremely important insights and things for all of us to ponder about our own mortality and how we wish to leave this earth," he said.

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Outliers

By Malcolm Gladwell

"I think that 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell was a fascinating book that highlights the multiple interacting factors that create outliers for success and failure," said Andrew Lee, MD, chair of ophthalmology at Blanton Eye Institute Houston Methodist Hospital. "It has other implications and includes lessons for medicine."

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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By Erik Larson

J. Michael Jumper, MD, West Coast Retina, San Francisco, recommends anything written by Erik Larson.  

"His novels take you to an interesting event in history and make a good read at the beach," he suggested. "My favorites include 'Dead Wake' and 'Devil in the White City.'"

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700 Sundays 

By Billy Crystal

Richard Hoffman, MD, clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at the Casey Eye Institute/Oregon Health Sciences University, recommends Billy Crystal's autobiography to anyone looking for a good laugh!

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The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer 

The Gene: An Intimate History

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

Randall Olson, MD, chief executive officer of The John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, loved these two books by Siddhartha Mukherjee. The first gives an overview of the history of cancer treatment from the perspective of an an oncologist, while "The Gene" attempts to dive into the history of genetic information and explore what will become of human beings when they are able to potentially write their own genetics.

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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

By Jim Collins

"It really helps elucidate why some business flourish and others just barely make it. Ophthalmology is now a business whether we like it or not," said Farrell Tyson, MD, Cape Coral Eye Center, Cape Coral, Florida. "I think all of us find it more enjoyable to succeed in what we do rather than just survive. This book has many practical aspects that are appropriate for doctors and their practices."

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My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method

By Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste

Elizabeth A. Davis MD, FACS, Minnesota Eye Consultants, Minnesota, can't get enough of bread books in her spare time.

"Yes, I know it’s strange but I love to bake bread and I love the science behind it," she said. "I read bread baking books cover to cover as if they were novels." 

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The Da Vinci Code 

By Dan Brown

Sharon Fekrat, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology, Duke University, says "The Da Vinci Code" is one of her favorites.

"The word choice is so precise and the fictional and nonfictional mix is fascinating. It is intellectual candy," she said.

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