Thank you to NetGalley, Trident eBook Services, and Drs. Chopra and Vij for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

Drs. Sanjiv Chopra and Pankaj K. Vij, two world-famous doctors with decades of experience between them, offer a short novel of lessons and teachings they believe healthcare workers - from doctors, to students, to EMTs, to nurses - should take to heart as they enter the healthcare profession and progress through their careers. Told in short chapters with anecdotes, recommendations for reading and watching, and end-of-chapter reviews (for the truly time-pressed), Chopra and Vij highlight the importance of lifelong learning, finding good mentorship, and listening to patients with "a beginner's mind".

As someone a few days from graduating, I am always looking out for advice and recommendations for reading I can have for myself and to recommend to others at various stages of their healthcare careers. I will say that I was able to pick out about 5-6 books that I haven't come across that I will be reading for my own interest and to recommend to others as part of a review series I've been working on. Unfortunately, this book will probably not be among the first I recommend to those seeking advice, stories, etc. from the field of medicine. While I think the layout of the book and some of the anecdotes were designed with the busy medical student or doctor in mind, I felt like much of the information presented here was repetitive, unengaging, and sadly not very inspiring. I think a lot of the lessons that were presented were quite obvious (and I acknowledge that as someone who has been in healthcare for 10ish years I have a huge bias here), and would probably not be beneficial for anyone beyond an investigator into healthcare (which is fine; just not suited for what I thought it was going to be when I picked this title to read). I also unfortunately felt like there was more than a little name/title dropping in this book for the sake of name/title dropping; one of the authors is the brother of Deepak Chopra and his works were referred to in almost every chapter, and the same author also made a lot of references to his own awards/desirability as a speaker/mentor which I thought wasn't really necessary given the shortness of the book in general.

Overall, I appreciate what the authors were trying to do here and I think this could be a jumping-off point for those who have zero medical experience or who are looking to read about other medically-important figures, but I found the book to be a bit jumbled, self-referential, and overly general for my tastes, and I wouldn't recommend it to other medical students/residents/doctors if asked.

Overall, I think this book would be an excellent gift for any med school graduate. The book is relatively short and quickly readable (maybe even during a long inpatient shift!) yet also packed with countless anecdotes and possibility models. The writing is straightforward and easy to follow, which may even appeal to non-medical folks. In particular, I really enjoyed the last two chapters on self-care and finding joy in the profession, as we know that burnout is at epidemic levels among physicians.

There were a few reasons why I was not able to rate this higher. While the anecdotes and vignettes were great, I was disappointed that instead of exploring countless other examples, the authors chose to circle back to a few examples multiple times in the chapters (and not in an iterative way). For example, Dr. Paul Farmer is in almost every chapter as an example, and while I agree that he is an inspirational figure, I know there are countless others that could have been profiled. Along those same lines, it almost felt like this was an ode to Harvard: while again there are currently and historically brilliant minds at the institution, the word “Harvard” appears ~40 times in this ~130-page book, generally when referring to accolades or legitimizing academic prowess. The examples certainly deserve recognition of their academic achievements, but I wish the authors had expanded their horizons. (I found myself asking if this book was meant for me if I wasn’t a graduate of Harvard Medical School?) Along the same lines, I’m not sure why figures like J.K. Rowling (with her controversial transphobic rhetoric; the authors do not acknowledge this) and Werner Forssmann (a literal Nazi; the authors do acknowledge this but still gave him space just to acknowledge that he was innovative in heart catheterization?) were included in such a small book when so many other examples could have been used. Not to belabor the point, but I was also disappointed in the DO-erasure (“both MDs and PhDs”) and lack of historical depth/discussion on the post-2010 earthquake cholera outbreak in Haiti (the authors include just a single line about a devastating cholera outbreak in Haiti without acknowledgement that it was contamination from aid workers).

It is meant as a light read, and the authors do accomplish their goal to reflect on their journeys in medicine. I respect the authors’ illustrious careers and how their own lived experiences are examples of pathways to success. I appreciated (most of) the historic examples used to provide inspiration to early career folks. I think many med students will appreciate a quick and easy read.

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Trident Media Group for the opportunity to read and review.