The Greatest Books of All Time on Medicine

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
7773 Summer And Smoke Tennessee Williams 1948 American English
7800 Dreamsnake Vonda N. McIntyre 1978 American English
7845 If Only It Were True Marc Levy 1999 French French
7851 The Birth House Ami McKay 2006 Canadian English
7901 The Gentrification of the Mind Sarah Schulman 2012 American English
7905 The Social Transformation of American Medicine Paul Starr 1982 American English
8007 On The Move Oliver Sacks 2015 British English
8021 The Story Of A Heart Rachel Clarke 2024 Unknown English
8102 How Not To Die Michael Greger, Gene Stone 2015 American English
8301 Empire Of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe 2021 American English
8325 Dream Of Ding Village Yan Lianke 2006 Chinese Chinese
8468 The Poisoner's Handbook Deborah Blum 2010 American English
8580 Witchmark C. L. Polk 2018 Canadian English
8621 The Queue Basma Abdel Aziz 2013 Egyptian Arabic
8630 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
8754 The Leper Of Saint Giles Ellis Peters 1981 British English
8835 Hiroshima Notes Kenzaburō Ōe 1965 Japanese Japanese
8865 A Commotion in the Blood Stephen S. Hall 1997 American English
8880 How To Survive A Plague David France 2016 American English
8945 Letters From Egypt Florence Nightingale 1987 British English
9093 Pluto's Republic Peter B. Medawar 1982 British English
9095 The Cunning Man Robertson Davies 1994 Canadian English
9096 River God Wilbur Smith 1993 South African English
9100 Rock, Paper, Scissors And Other Stories Maxim Osipov 2019 Russian Russian
9142 George's Marvellous Medicine Roald Dahl 1981 British English
9194 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9265 Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Roz Chast 2014 American English
9290 A Leg To Stand On Oliver Sacks 1984 British English
9519 C John Diamond 1998 British English
9566 아픔이 길이 되려면 김승섭 2017 Korean Korean
9624 Curse Of The Narrows Laura Mac Donald 2005 Canadian English
9631 The Less Noble Sex Nancy Tuana 1993 Unknown English
9646 Time's Arrow Martin Amis 1991 British English
9779 The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams 1986 American English
9852 A Midwife's Tale Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 1990 American English
9860 Wife Of The Gods Kwei Quartey 2009 Ghanaian English
9942 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
10103 The People In The Trees Hanya Yanagihara 2013 American English
10176 March Geraldine Brooks 2005 American English
10196 Che Guevara Jon Lee Anderson 1997 American English
10209 Elsie Venner Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. 1861 American English
10266 The Ether Dome And Other Poems Allen Grossman 1979 American English
10379 Green City In The Sun Barbara Wood 1988 American English
10445 Two Women In One Nawal El Saadawi 1975 Egyptian Arabic
10456 The North Water Ian McGuire 2016 British English
10456 What The Eyes Don't See Mona Hanna-Attisha 2018 American English
10641 The Country Of The Blind Andrew Leland 2023 Unknown English
10894 Everything Is Tuberculosis John Green 2025 Unknown English
11022 The Story Of San Michele Axel Munthe 1929 Swedish English
11114 The Healer's War Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1988 American English
11142 Is There No Place On Earth For Me? Susan Sheehan 1982 American English
11329 The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee 2016 American English
11391 This Common Secret Susan Wicklund 2007 Unknown English
11503 State Of Wonder Ann Patchett 2011 American English
11574 The Citadel A. J. Cronin 1937 British English
11663 Under The Skin Linda Villarosa 2023 American English
11663 World Without End Francine du Plessix Gray 1981 American English
11663 American Eden Victoria Johnson 2018 Unknown English
11663 She Has Her Mother's Laugh Carl Zimmer 2018 American English
11874 Awakenings Oliver Sacks 1973 British English
11941 The Life of Sir William Osler Harvey Cushing 1925 American English
12050 The Visit Of The Royal Physician Per Olov Enquist 1999 Swedish Swedish
12085 Aids And Its Metaphors Susan Sontag 1989 American English
12111 Valley Of Forgetting Jennie Erin Smith 2025 American English
12208 Laurus Eugene Vodolazkin 2012 Russian Russian
12252 Needles Andie Dominick 1998 American English
12305 In Covid's Wake Stephen Macedo, Frances Lee 2025 American English
12320 Replaceable You Mary Roach 2025 American English
12500 No More Tears Gardiner Harris 2025 American English
12516 Doc Susie Virginia Cornell 1991 American English
12624 Unshrunk Laura Delano 2025 American English
12658 The Butchering Art Lindsey Fitzharris 2017 British English
12656 On Muscle Bonnie Tsui 2025 American English
12658 Dr Gully Elizabeth Jenkins English English
12961 The Age Of Diagnosis Suzanne O'Sullivan 2025 Irish English
13010 The Quiet Ear Raymond Antrobus British English
13047 Food Intelligence Julia Belluz, Kevin Hall 2025 Multiple English
13136 Lifeblood Mina Holland 2025 British English
13181 Our Brains, Our Selves Masud Husain 2025 British English
13322 Rainbows End Vernor Vinge 2006 American English
13363 The Amphibian Man Alexander Belyaev 1928 Russian Russian
13363 Memoirs Of A Woman Doctor Nawal El Saadawi 1958 Egyptian Arabic
13561 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
13585 Two Years Ago Charles Kingsley 1857 British English
13601 Rabevel Ou Le Mal Des Ardents Lucien Fabre French French
13816 The Checklist Manifesto Atul Gawande 2009 American English
13818 Don't Move Margaret Mazzantini 2001 Italian Italian
13937 What It Means To Be Human O. Carter Snead 2020 Unknown English
14010 The Deep Places Ross Douthat 2021 American English
14011 Dirt And Disease Naomi Rogers 1992 American English
14023 Generation Of Vipers Philip Wylie 1942 American English
14058 The Case Of Dr Sachs Martin Winckler 1998 French French
14093 The Road To Wellville T. Coraghessan Boyle 1993 American English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
14232 Neurotribes Steve Silberman 2015 American English
14348 Ship Fever and Other Stories Andrea Barrett 1996 American English
14435 The Making Of A Tropical Disease Randall M. Packard 2007 American English
14435 Vaccine Arthur Allen 2007 American English
14499 Smallpox D. A. Henderson 2009 American English
14499 The Hair Of The Dog Karl Sabbagh 2009 British English
14499 Super Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt 2009 American English
14520 The Fever Sonia Shah 2010 American English
14554 House On Fire William H. Foege 2011 American English
14587 The Harvester Gene Stratton-Porter 1911 American English
14599 The Cost Of Hope Amanda Bennett 2012 American English
14619 Ten years and Ten Cases of Hysteria Lin Jinlan 1988 Chinese Unknown
14650 How Not To Be Wrong Jordan Ellenberg 2014 American English
14650 Final Exit Derek Humphry 1991 British English
14680 Epic Measures Jeremy N. Smith 2015 American English
14698 The Doctor's Wife Brian Moore 1976 British English
14788 An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Living Beings William Harvey 1628 British Latin
14833 Outbreak Culture Pardis Sabeti 2018 American English
14833 Nine Pints Rose George 2018 British English
14892 Nicholas And Alexandra Robert K. Massie 1967 American English
14986 The March E. L. Doctorow 2005 American English
14986 How We Die Sherwin B. Nuland 1994 American English
14986 Poor Things Alasdair Gray 1992 Scottish English
14986 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English
14986 Passage Connie Willis 2001 American English
14986 Skin Tight Carl Hiaasen 1989 American English