Medical Humanities, Narrative Medicine, and Embodiment (31 books)

This is a thoughtful reading list aimed at clinicians and investigators, research personnel, or ethics/IRB board members. These are all useful books for informing our practices and changing the way we think about the patient or the subject. These books are also of interest for lay persons as well! Please suggest books in the comments that might be a good fit for this list.

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1	30 Years Behind Bars: Trials of a Prison Doctor by Karen Gedney (Goodreads Author) 4.32 avg rating — 147 ratings score: 800, and 8 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 4.51 avg rating — 171,655 ratings score: 294, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer 4.38 avg rating — 1,054 ratings score: 199, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 3.60 avg rating — 559,989 ratings score: 192, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty 4.22 avg rating — 108,214 ratings score: 189, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times by Alexis Shotwell 4.01 avg rating — 280 ratings score: 185, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich 4.02 avg rating — 6,856 ratings score: 183, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7,706 ratings score: 172, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	Feminist Disability Studies by Ellen Samuels (Contributor) 4.15 avg rating — 80 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	For the Common Good: Philosophical Foundations of Research Ethics by Alex John London (Goodreads Author) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness: A Reader & Roadmap of Bipolar Worlds by Icarus Project 4.31 avg rating — 13 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	Depression: A Public Feeling by Ann Cvetkovich 3.90 avg rating — 497 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare (Goodreads Author) 4.45 avg rating — 1,074 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 4.52 avg rating — 5,089 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions by David Benatar 4.02 avg rating — 844 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care by Anne Boyer (Goodreads Author) 4.15 avg rating — 5,654 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (Emergent Strategy, #0) by Adrienne Maree Brown 4.25 avg rating — 9,948 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing 3.96 avg rating — 8,098 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	Malignant: How Cancer Becomes Us by S. Lochlann Jain 4.20 avg rating — 169 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (Editor) 4.43 avg rating — 640 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler 4.34 avg rating — 27,087 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	The Promise of Happiness by Sara Ahmed (Goodreads Author) 4.27 avg rating — 1,252 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	Maternal Desire: On Children, Love, and the Inner Life by Daphne de Marneffe 3.87 avg rating — 126 ratings score: 81, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	The Art of Fermentation: An in-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World by Sandor Ellix Katz 4.43 avg rating — 4,834 ratings score: 80, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	The Queer Art of Failure by J. Jack Halberstam 4.03 avg rating — 2,900 ratings score: 79, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano (Goodreads Author) 4.27 avg rating — 8,995 ratings score: 78, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	Wit by Margaret Edson 4.14 avg rating — 17,442 ratings score: 77, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality by Anne Fausto-Sterling 4.16 avg rating — 2,823 ratings score: 76, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde 4.43 avg rating — 5,421 ratings score: 75, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor (Goodreads Author) 3.83 avg rating — 15,408 ratings score: 73, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 3.60 avg rating — 559,989 ratings score: 72, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars