{"id":119247,"date":"2025-09-06T19:41:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119247\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T19:41:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:41:17","slug":"the-five-best-medical-memoirs-of-all-time-according-to-adam-kay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119247\/","title":{"rendered":"The five best medical memoirs of all time, according to Adam Kay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe author of bestseller This is Going to Hurt reveals the tales from his profession that have shaped his life and writing\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n


\n \"author
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Senior Writer and Commissioning Editor<\/p>\n

Every now and again a book comes along which makes such a monumental impact that it seems to be absolutely everywhere you look. Adam Kay\u2019s This is Going to Hurt, a diary account of his time working as a NHS junior doctor, is one of those books. Hilarious, heartbreaking, enraging and completely unforgettable, it was no wonder it sold several million copies and was adapted into an acclaimed BBC drama starring Ben Whishaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, as Kay turns his pen to fiction with A Particularly Nasty Case, a murder mystery set in the hallowed halls of a hospital, he shares the five medical books which have shaped his life and writing\u2026<\/p>\n

With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix\"book <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not particularly excited about dying, to be honest, although I suppose it might be nice to have a lie down. Most people are so terrified about the big beyond that they\u2019re both unwilling and unprepared to ever talk about it. Not palliative care consultant Kathryn Mannix, who has spent decades readying her patients for the end and ensuring they have good deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer frank, thoughtful and deeply compassionate book isn\u2019t just for the ill or the bereaved, it\u2019s for all of us. Mannix\u2019s wisdom and sensitively told stories of her patients\u2019 final days make for an emotional and surprisingly uplifting read. It changed the way I think, and I can\u2019t think of higher praise for a book than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Collins, \u00a39.99<\/p>\n

House of God by Samuel Shem\"book <\/p>\n

\u201cNotionally fiction, this is all but a memoir, told by Boston psychiatrist Stephen Bergman under a nom-de-not-getting-struck-off. Long hours, lack of guidance from senior colleagues, life-and-death responsibilities: this was This is Going to Hurt 40 years before This is Going to Hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts raunchy, acerbic and brutal portrayal of a broken health system caused little short of a scandal back in the 70s, brilliantly exposing the uncomfortable reality of working as, and being treated by, exhausted doctors. It still cuts to the marrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Swan, \u00a39.99<\/p>\n

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison\"book <\/p>\n

\u201cI first read this book at medical school, an unusual but as it turned out transformative birthday present from my friend Farah. When clinical psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison published this memoir of living with and fighting against bipolar disorder, any discussion about mental health was a very different conversation \u2013 usually a judgemental, mocking, and dismissive one.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamison pulls no punches, and her story is fascinating, smart and clear-eyed, but also heartbreaking: a psychiatrist recommends Jamison never has children because of the genetic aspect to her condition. I think of this book as one of the earliest stakes in the heart of mental health stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picador, \u00a39.99<\/p>\n

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi\"book <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last year of his residency, Californian neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi found himself with an unthinkable diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe wrote beautifully about being on the other side of such devastating news, and you root for him to get better \u2013 all the while knowing he won\u2019t, as When Breath Becomes Air was published posthumously. Kalanithi died aged 37 in 2015, but leaves one of the finest medical memoirs as his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vintage, \u00a310.99<\/p>\n

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks\"book <\/p>\n

\u201cOliver Sacks\u2019s deconstruction of the functioning and malfunctioning of the human brain is a staple of the genre for a very good reason \u2013 for my money it\u2019s the most fascinating collection of case studies ever brought together in a book.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of the 24 vignettes looks at a different quirk of a patient\u2019s control centre, all adding up to a unique map of the mind, with Sacks\u2019s affection for and loyalty to those seeking his help shining from every word. Also, an unbeatable title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picador, \u00a310.99<\/p>\n

\u2018A Particularly Nasty Case\u2019 by Adam Kay (Orion, \u00a320) is out now. Adam Kay is on tour nationwide, see adamkay.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The author of bestseller This is Going to Hurt reveals the tales from his profession that have shaped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,18151,818,96,102,3100,56967,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-119247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-books-features","tag-doctors","tag-entertainment","tag-health","tag-medicine","tag-memoirs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}