Want a writer intimately attuned to living and dying ? See a doctor . Their life expertise alone makes physicians great sources , but that ’ s just part of the equation : long before journals made knowledge transfer much easier , good doctors had to be good story tellers .
For centuries , select physicians have chosen to write creatively ( or just non-academically ), taking up pen ( or keyboard ) alongside their practice of medicine . An unusual choice , but actually not an uncommon one . This might be a surprise to many people , but today , many such physicians are now far better remembered for their prose than their medical credentials . The list of great physician-writers of ages past includes the medieval philosopher and physician , Maimonides , and such notables as John Locke in the 17 th century ; John Keats , Edward Jenner , and Tobias George Smollett in the 18 th century ; and Anton Chekov , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Oliver Wendell Holmes , Sr ., W . Somerset Maugham , Sir William Osler , and William Carlos Williams in the 19 th century .
Besides being one of history ’ s greatest short story writers , the Russian writer , playwright ( and physician ), Anton Chekhov famously characterized his dual career as “ medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress .” Less often quoted is the continuation of that letter : “ When I get tired of one , I spend the night with the other . Though it ’ s disorderly , it ’ s not so dull ; and besides neither of them loses anything from my infidelity .”
You think it ’ s hard to make money in today ’ s health care environment ? Chekov started writing strictly for financial gain , but later grew more attached and devoted to his ‘ mistress .’ In a letter written in 1899 , he said that while he picked medicine more or less randomly , he did not regret his first choice :
“ I have no doubt that the study of medicine has had an important influence on my literary work ; it has considerably enlarged the sphere of my observation , has enriched me with knowledge the true value of which for me as a writer can only be understood by one who is himself a doctor .”
The Modern Hyphenate Like Hollywood and other creative fields dominated by star power hyphenates , the red carpet , best seller lists , and book award winners have contained many recognizable names in this and the last century to add to the physician-writer list ( though , again , you may not have realized all of them are physicians ): Michael Crichton , Robin Cook , Atul Gawande , Siddhartha Mukherjee , Tess Gerritsen ,
Khaled Hosseini , and Abraham Verghese .
The term physician-writer ( or physician-author ) is most often used to describe doctors who write creatively . ( Think fiction .) Nevertheless , considering that health is perennially one of the most popular topics among the public , many physicians have taken pen to paper to write the history of medicine or explain , elaborate , or opine about the practice or future of medicine .
Of late there have been an abundance of books written for the general public about different diseases and conditions . This is to the immense gain of the reading public , as some of these books and articles represent the best consumer health information available .
The ( Incomplete ) Reading List If you ’ re looking for some light or not so light reading this summer , there are a number of great options in physician-written literature . This list is far from complete , but it ’ s a reasonable start .
General Fiction
Abraham Verghese ( Stanford University ) was an early over-achiever , board certified in internal medicine , pulmonary diseases , and infectious diseases . You may have seen him when he gave the Simon Dack lecture at the opening session of ACC . 15 . His novel , Cutting for Stone , set in Ethiopia and New York City , is rich in medical detail and human emotion . It spent more than 2 years on the New York Times bestseller list and was on President Obama ’ s summer reading list in 2011 . He has also penned two memoirs : My Own Country ( detailing his experiences as a young doctor in rural Tennessee at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic ) and The Tennis Partner ( tracing his friendship with a medical student dogged by drug addiction ). Both were critically acclaimed and the former became a TV movie .
Imagination is like a muscle . I found out that the more I wrote , the bigger it got .
Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they ’ ll go through anything . You read and you ’ re pierced .
― Philip José Farmer
Physician burnout continues unabated . When it hit Dr . Verghese , he realized , it was now time for something completely different . He wanted to write an “ epic medical novel ,” so , Dr . Verghese put his career on hold to attend the prestigious Iowa Writers ’ Workshop at the University of Iowa . He earned a Masters of Fine Arts in English there in 1991 . When writing Cutting for Stone , he poured all of his passions into it . As Dr . Verghese noted , “ It shows that a career in medicine can both save you and lose you .” Maybe his experience explains the allure for physician-writers : “ Illness is a story .”
Khaled Hosseini After his initial success with The Kite Runner ( 2003 ), Khaled Hosseini wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns , which debuted as the # 1 book in the nation and hit the top of nearly every national bestseller list . Together with The Kite Runner , it has sold more than 38 million copies worldwide . Dr . Hosseini practiced internal medicine for more than 10 years , until shortly after the release of The Kite Runner . In 2013 , he published And The Mountains Echoed .
Of his two crafts , Dr . Hosseini said , “ Writers and doctors alike need to understand the motivation behind the things people say and do , and their fears , their hopes and aspirations . In both professions , one needs to appreciate how socioeconomic background , family , culture , language , religion , and other factors shape a person , whether it is a patient in an exam room or a character in a story .”
Mysteries , Sci-Fi , Thrillers
― Aldous Huxley
Somehow , medicine , mystery , and murder just — well — go together . Dame Agatha Christie was an apothecary . So accurate was her description of thallium poisoning that on at least one occasion , it helped solve a case that was baffling doctors . Of course , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , the creator of Sherlock Holmes and Dr . Watson , was himself a doctor . His writing had very practical origins : he started penning fiction while waiting for patients to discover his newly opened private practice . His future life as a mystery writer may have been foreshadowed when he drew a humorous sketch of himself receiving his medical diploma , with the caption : “ Licensed to Kill .”
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