Camp Nurse

By Tilda Shalof, RN, BScN (Kaplan Publishing, 2009)

Beware! Pick up this book before you pack your duffle

The SuperStress Solution

By Roberta Lee, MD (Random House, 2010)

Feeling exhausted, frazzled and defeated? This book is for you.

Nurses: Discover the Healing Powers of Chocolate

By Cal Orey (Kensington Books, 2010)

The trick is eating just one square

A Final Arc of Sky, Memoir of a Critical Care Nurse

By Jennifer Culkin (Beacon Press, 2009)

Medicine in Translation: Journeys With My Patients

By By Danielle Ofri (Beacon Press, 2010)

Bridging the language barrier for the sake of adequate care

The Soul of Medicine & The Real Life of an Internist

By Sherwin B. Nuland & Mark D. Tyler-Lloyd, M.D.

Two books that delve into the mind of a physician

The Hospital At the End of the World

By Joe Niemczura, RN, MS; Plainview Press, 2009

Taking smart nursing practices global

Moloka'i

By Albert Brennert

Living with leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands

Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial

By Alison Bass; Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008

The cost and effect of marketing drugs

Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant

By Elizabeth Hanink, RN, BSN, PHN

Confessions of cooking for one and dining alone

The Medical Detectives: Essays on the Strange and Unusual

By Berton Roueché

Essays on the strange and unusual

Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity.

By Julie Salamon; Photo courtesy of Michael Kirby

Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids

Chicago's Nurse Parade

By Carolyn H. Smeltzer, Frances R. Vlasses and Connie R. Robinson

For 10 years, the Windy City honored nurses with their own parade

The Cigarette Century

By Sallan M. Brandt

Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry

By Stephen Klaidman

With the help of hoodwinking, a cardiac surgeon turns a community hospital into a cash cow

Intern: A Doctor's Initiation

By Sandeep Jauhar; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008

Understanding the mindset of doctors

Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives

By Pamela Grim, MD; Warner Books, 2002

Tales of life and death from the ER

Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, a Chorus of Hope

By Richard M. Cohen; HarperCollins Publishers, 2008

Living with a chronic illness is explored through interviews and first-person experiences.

Riddled With Life: The Parasites That Make Us Who We Are

By Marlene Zuk; Harcourt Inc, 2004

An evolutionary biologist with a wacky sense of humor discusses the evolution of disease and why we need certain organisms.

The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery

By D.T. Max; Random House, 2006

Prions are a point of contention between scientists, but some believe they're responsible for an array of unexplained illnesses, including fatal insomnia.

Rowing Without Oars: A Memoir of Living and Dying

By Ulla-Carin Lindquist, Viking, 2006

An emotional and graceful first-person story of living with a debilitating disease

Vaccine

By Arthur Allen; Norton and Company, 2007

The controversial story of medicine's greatest lifesaver

The Secret History of the War on Cancer

By Devra Davis, PhD, MPH; Basic Books, 2007

Compelling evidence on the environmental causes of cancer, from industrial pollution to cell phones

How Doctors Think

By Jerome Groopman, M.D.; Houghton Mifflin, 2007

A good diagnostician solves the puzzle of patient symptoms.

When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine

By Barron H. Lerner; The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006

How the press puts its own spin on celebrity illnesses