Mina’s favourite books of 2021
It’s nearing the end of 2021, and it’s been an eventful year. I started the year hopping on planes around the Middle East working for a bank. I then returned back to the UK and experienced the social anxiety surrounding the lifting of lockdown restrictions, and I recently embarked on my new journey in Medicine. Something I got the chance to enjoy this year was reading, and so I would like to share my five favourite books (not that I read many more than that) of 2021.
Vaxxers by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr. Catherine Green - I came across this book by chance, but what a read it was. I finished my Masters in 2020 in Drug Discovery and Development, and having studied how long it takes to get drugs and vaccines from discovery to individuals, the speed at which the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine emerged was baffling to me. Reading how the vaccine was made and accelerated, without compromising its safety, was transfixing. It also once again highlighted one of the greatest struggles in the scientific field - funding. It is amazing what science can achieve when people invest in it because they care. Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr. Catherine Green do a magnificent job in separating the fact from fiction, and are role models, not only in their commitment to the vaccine, but in their unrelenting nature in pursuing this despite their own personal struggles.
Range by David Epstein - As I enter a career now where specialism is the goal, this book came at the right time. It’s been ingrained in so many people’s minds that success in a particular field, is a result of applying yourself to that one area over and over again until you master it and become a specialist. Range turns this concept on its head, and discusses how success can be found in any field as a result of the experiences that you accumulate from other places, using some of the most successful athletes and individuals in business as examples. For anyone who feels that they are just a generalist and sees this as their weakness, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is responsible for the confidence I had to make the switch from Banking and Finance to Medicine.
War Doctor by David Nott - A general and vascular surgeon with the NHS, leaves the comfort of the UK and willingly enters some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. The story of one of the world’s best trauma surgeons operating using a text message for instructions for a procedure he had never done before. This is a gripping story of an individual who is passionate in his craft and shows how large an impact one person can have. This book is an honest tale of someone who entered these zones not only to help the less fortunate but for the thrill that his body craved. This is an honest account of an extreme surgeon’s career, and I would recommend this to anyone, even those not in the medical field.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - A Stanford dropout heads to Silicon Valley to start up a Biotech with the hopes of revolutionising medical testing and to be able to carry out a plethora of tests with a single drop of blood. Who wouldn’t support a cause such as this? Many people supported this noble cause, but as Elizabeth Holmes abandoned her identity and attempted to mould herself into Steve Jobs, the scandals began to pile up and journalists began seeing through this, pursuing a story despite the relentless attacks conjured by Elizabeth and her lawyers. This is a story of one of the largest scandals, and it is truly amazing how intricate this operation was and how her charisma was able to deceive so many people.
Atomic Habits by James Clear - A book I had been putting off for a very long time. I am currently sitting on my chair writing this, carrying a load of holiday weight and procrastinating from the pile of work that I have put off. Although I may not completely agree with every point this book had to say, it is a powerful tool in behaviour change. If you are someone who could use consistency in their life and building better habits (I feel everyone could do with that) then this book will surely support those goals and I look forward to testing the tools this book has given me in the New Year.
Starting this blog was something I debated for a while, and for all those who are supporting me and reading my posts, I just wanted to say a big thank you! As this will be my last post of 2021, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
