THE MIRAGE OF HEALTH (1959), BY RENÉ DUBOS
This beautiful book has been drawing me back toward a holistic view of health and disease since I first read it in medical school. Dubos shows that health is rarely found in the latest and greatest drug or medical procedure. Rather, health and disease are far more often the natural consequence of the way that we live and the environment we live in.
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS (1962), BY THOMAS S. KUHN
A necessary step in becoming a scientific professional (such as a doctor) is, according to Kuhn, learning the unspoken rules about what kinds of information are legitimate and which sources of information are to be trusted. Kuhn dispels the illusion that science proceeds by the unbiased evaluation of all available facts leading to rational conclusions. He shows how scientists adhering to a given paradigm have learned instead to discount as not legitimate any information that is not consistent with the current paradigm. Kuhn’s work helps us understand how so many well-meaning doctors can be distracted by such a narrow swath of the scientific evidence—such as the focus on cholesterol instead of the real determinants of our risk of heart disease.
“[The Mirage of Health] has been drawing me back toward a holistic view of health and disease since I first read it in medical school.”
ONE-DIMENSIONAL MAN (1964), BY HERBERT MARCUSE
Warning: this is a very difficult book, written by a brilliant social theorist thinking in German and writing in English. That said, more than forty years ago Marcuse articulated two fundamental tendencies of our liberal market-based society. First, people’s basic instincts are repressed by society’s “rules” (perceived as the boundaries of acceptable social behavior) and then released (“desublimated”) in ways specifically in accord with prevailing economic interests. Marcuse didn’t foresee the commercialization of medical knowledge, but his analysis still brilliantly informs many of the challenges that we face.
FAST FOOD NATION (2001), BY ERIC SCHLOSSER
Fast Food Nation is a must-read for two reasons. First, it explains the health and economic consequences of our transition to fast food as a major component of the American diet. Second, it is a masterpiece of critical writing, giving hope that powerful commercial interests can be confronted by writers with discipline, skill, and a clear mission.
“[Fast Food Nation] is a must-read . . . a masterpiece of critical writing.”
UNIVERSITIES IN THE MARKETPLACE (2003), BY DEREK BOK
Written by a former president of Harvard University, this book explains how universities have relinquished their social responsibility as independent overseers of the integrity of the knowledge that drives our society. The problem is caused not just by the growing dependence of universities on commercial funding of their research (especially in medically related fields), but also by universities now being allowed to own patents on discoveries made by their researchers, creating financial incentives that conflict with impartiality.
ON THE TAKE (2004), BY JEROME P. KASSIRER, M.D.
From his perch as the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine during the 1990s, Dr. Kassirer witnessed a lot of change. The book he wrote after stepping down focuses on the small percentage of doctors who are paid by the drug companies in return for public support of their products. Because doctors are carefully trained to obey the orders of those above them in the hierarchy of authority (much like the military), the endorsement of a company’s product(s) by a so-called key opinion leader translates into a lot of sales. On the Take is a particularly important book for practicing physicians because it explains how their trust in the tacit system of medical authority is being exploited.
DR. SUSAN LOVE’S MENOPAUSE AND HORMONE BOOK (2003), BY SUSAN M. LOVE, M.D., WITH KAREN LINDSEY; OUR BODIES, OURSELVES: MENOPAUSE (2006), BY THE BOSTON WOMEN’S HEALTH BOOK COLLECTIVE
Given the politics and bad science involved with menopause, these books provide essential information for women by women.
HOOKED: ETHICS, THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, AND THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY (2007), BY HOWARD BRODY
Dr. Brody is a family physician and ethicist. Disclosure: since the publication of my book, we have become friends. That said, if after reading Overdosed America you want to learn more about how the drug companies influence what hardworking, patient-serving doctors believe to be the best way to treat their patients, this is the book for you.
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