Procrastinating.

It's most A Level students biggest vice. And it's kind of nearly always preferable to revising the Krebs cycle.

But what about ways to positively procrastinate? Which is almost an oxymoron.

So.. what do I do when I'm trying not to stress about which Uni's haven't replied to me yet *ahem, Bristol I mean you* which A Levels are too difficult and what to do on my gap year?

Reading
Books seem like a pretty good time-wasting tool. I mean, they make you look intelligent and stuff, innit? Joke completely intended.

Here I thought I'd post a little list of things I've read over the last year which have some how contributed to my medical knowledgy persona type thing.

Suburban Shaman by Cecil Helman

There's lots of books that practically every medical student wannabe has read and this isn't one of them.

I stumbled across this gem as part of my Extended Project (on the Psychology of Tribal Healing don't you know?) and absolutely loved it, possibly more than the other more mainstream books I've read as prep.

Cecil Helman is the author of a famous textbook called Culture, Health and Illness which is used by most medical schools, and Helman himself studied both medicine and anthropology which he combines in his career as a GP in London (I believe it's London - I did read this nearly a year ago).

Anyway, the book essentially tells the story of how Helman became interested in anthropology (mostly due to his experiences as a medical student in South Africa pre-apartheid) and offers examples of how lateral thinking and cultural awareness can be appplied in British healthcare.

A particularly memorable example was of an Indian lady who presented with symptoms of paranoia and some seemingly random story of love and grudges and family hatred. She would most likely be prescribed antidepressants (apparently) but Helman instead suggested she visit an Ayurveda healer who cures her by explaining and treating her illness in ways that comply with her cultural background.

Essentially, it's all very interesting.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I felt really mixed about this book – Skloot’s clearly tried to blend the science behind Henrietta’s story into the main focal point which is the humanistic element. Which is fine, except it feels really lost at times.

For those that haven’t heard of Henrietta Lacks, essentially her cells were the first human cells to be successfully grown in a laboratory – and they never stopped. They were used for all sorts of experimental purposes: testing the effects of radiation and space travel, discovering the polio vaccine and developing in vitro fertilisation, yet Henrietta herself was never credited or even gave consent for her tissue to be used.

This in itself is fascinating enough; the ethics surrounding consent and the treatment of black people is explained at great lengths – drawing on famous studies (such as the Tuskegee syphilis study) and unique lawsuits. All of this, Skloot writes about brilliantly.

What isn’t so brilliant is the weirdly obsessive, rambling chapters about Skloot’s surviving daughter, Deborah. I understand the human interest behind a novel like this but surely that human interest should revolve around Henrietta and what she had to endure, rather than her children? Just saying.

Oh, and as a side note I thought you’d like to know my absolute favourite quote from the book, although I’m not sure why it’s so interesting to me; I think it’s the internal clinician, the fascination with the human body as a mechanism, and the understanding of how, and why, things can be broken beyond repair.

“Tumours the size of baseballs had nearly replaced her kidneys, bladder, ovaries, and uterus. And her other organs were so covered in small white tumours it looked as if someone had filled her with pearls.”

Tribe by Bruce Parry

Again, this was a book I read as part of my extended research project. It focuses primarily on the anthropology of different tribes, as opposed to anything medical related but I still found it very interesting.

If you view the book as a whole, it gives an insightful commentary into the dynamic nature of human existence; the way in which social structure and culture has developed in different areas, and the themes that are common to all, namely;  love, family and health.

There are a couple of chapters that do touch on medical anthropology, but not much. However, one of the best chapters (if you can call it that) was on the practice of FGM. FGM, or female genital mutilation, is condemned by the Western world and most international health organisations. The practice is mostly carried out in small village tribes by an untrained elder using rudimentary instruments; making it unhygienic, agonising and extremely dangerous. It is easy to be disgusted by such practice as a Westerner, yet to empathise with these individuals and truly understand them is much harder. 

I won’t go into a huge analysis or debate on the topic, partly because I’ve already covered it in my own project but also because I think sometimes controversial topics are best answered by personal reflection and contemplation. So I’ll leave you this quote to contemplate, it’s from an elder, after being asked why FGM is still practiced in this particular tribe:

“It’s the most important tradition for us... changing our culture about this is impossible... If a woman with a clitoris gives birth, she, her child and everyone will die. Her clitoris will come up to her head. It’ll come out of her nose and then back into her head. It’ll kill her; she’ll die. Her father will die, her mother will die. That is why we cannot stop circumcising girls.”

Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown


Bit of an odd choice but bear with me. I didn’t actually pick this up for any career-related purpose; I just really like Derren Brown.

Well, that’s a bit of an untruth... My two main interests in medicine at the moment are 1) medical anthropology, hence the extended project and 2) the interaction of body and mind, including mental disorders, hallucinations, psychosomatic disorders, stress disorders etc. Also, there is a clear link between the two topics.

Derren’s book is mostly about techniques he has learnt and acquired which involve manipulating the normal abilities of the mind. I’m not going to lie, I’m only halfway through at the moment, but there’s some interesting stuff on ideomotor movements and some fabulous memory techniques which would be very useful for any A Level student crammer. And I’m also going to watch Derren’s show next month and wanted some insider information.


Trust Me: I’m a Junior Doctor by Max Pemberton*

I’m not going to lie; this is sat on my desk unopened, but I have every intention of reading it at some point. A word of warning: from what I’ve heard about this book it’s very popular with wannabe medical students, but not the most flattering text to quote in an interview/personal statement.

*Also, the fact that I misquoted the title in my original blog probably says something about my motivation to read it. Or Freud would say it references some sexual desire. Who knows.










AND, part of this blog is I want it to feel like a community- medical wannabes helping eachother out... so if you've read any good books, let me know...