Any Good Nursing Book Suggestions?

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 21, 2005

I love Baby Catcher. I also love "Listen to me Good" Can't remember the author, but it's about a granny midwife in the Deep South. EXCELLENT book, if you are interested in history and midwifery/homebirthing.

I still say Echo Heron (there I corrected my mispelling) is good. I loved this book especially:

Tending Lives: Nurses on the Medical Front

Lots of vignettes from interview with real nurses.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=In0Ri5JAu6&isbn=0804118213&itm=2

If you are interested in OB and are a "birth junkie" like I am, I can suggest scads of great books, or you can visit the "OB nursing Book" suggestions in the OB/Midwifery/GYN forum. People there have suggested some GREAT books to read.

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 21, 2005

Found "Listen to me Good":

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=In0Ri5JAu6&isbn=0814207014&itm=1

ptadvocate81 · Jun 21, 2005

God bless your husband while he is away. Thank you and him for your sacrifice for me and my family, I am so grateful... I will let you know when I find a good book. Until then, God bless you and keep you.

Inspired_2b · Jun 21, 2005

My kids bought me Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul. Not a very long book but lots of great stories from other nurses.

I just finished reading that book. It was a great read. I have also read Tending lives; nurses on the medical front by Echo Heron while I was a student nurse. I've been trying to get more of her books ever since.

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 21, 2005

Oh and good luck while your dh is away. Military wife here, I know what you are going through. If you ever need something, feel free to PM me.

ceecel.dee, MSN, RN · Jun 21, 2005

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. It isn't a nursing story, but is about a Hmong child's (really the whole family) experience with American health care (she has epilepsy) and the great collision of the two cultures. Very educational, and a good read too!

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2005

SERIOUSLY! I borrowed it from my dad and felt compelled to remove the dust cover when I'd read it in public because there are parts where you honestly catch yourself laughing out loud (chasing the bodysnatching brothers in I believe it was Thailand - and how she stands there thnking about the woman who prepares cadavers - "she cuts off their heads!?")

She also goes to the Body Farm at UT Knoxville. It's been a while since I read it but I recommend it to anyone interested in this stuff. It's written very tongue-in-cheek and struck me as though she was sitting next to me recounting her adventures. I thought it was brilliant.

I also read THE WOMAN WITH A WORM IN HER HEAD - prompts many an "oh my GOD" under your breath. The author is an infectious disease specialist who's spent time in Africa - though the title story actually takes place in the US. Makes you look at your food a bit differently...

JULIA'S MOTHER - warning: can be heartwrenching - is told from the perspective of a pediatric ED doctor and was very good. I've retold the story of how he became a Peds ED specialist several times to friends; he tells it so vividly you can just see the hazy TV room and the guy blowing smoke rings...

I'm currently reading I KNEW A WOMAN, written by a Women's Health FNP. I've only read a couple of chapters so I don't really have a solid opinion yet. So far it seems to be pretty good.

I also liked JUST TRYING TO SAVE A FEW LIVES, written by an ED doctor.

I've also read a few on the influenza epidemic of 1918 (truly frightening) and a couple of scathing accounts of the pharmaceutical industry.

Looking at all these titles, I have to wonder what visitors to my home must think when they scan the spines of the books on my shelves....

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 21, 2005

Some intriguing suggestions, there Carolina! Thanks.

begalli · Jun 24, 2005

I'm reading a book by Echo Heron right now....
I'm not that impressed with it. The title of the book I'm reading is Intensive Care The Story of a Nurse.

Update on this book (if anyone cares :) ). I finished it a couple of days ago and it actually got better. I stick with my assessment of "boring" in the first several chapters, but I found myself with tears in my eyes when I got to the part about her son, in his adolescent angst, alienating Echo. Being a single mom and having a 16 year old son myself, it's all very real.

Her accounts of the ED and CCU were very real, except I'm puzzled by the breast CA woman? Can mold and necrosis really happen like that (I don't mean to give anything away from the book, but I'm truely curious)?

I started reading Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers last night and couldn't put in down. I can see this book being easily read in one sitting - it really grabs you. I've gotten through 3 chapters and only chuckled once though. All the reviews at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and here say it's hillarious. Maybe I just haven't gotten to the funny parts yet (parts - eh eh :chuckle ).

It's a VERY informative book and answers A LOT of questions one may have about "what happens." It also gives an incredible history of anatomy labs dating back hundreds of years.

I also bought the second Heron Book: Condition Critical.

Anyway, that's it, FWIW.

JacqueOCS · Jun 25, 2005

Thanks for the kind words. I pray the year will pass quickly and he'll be home, safe, sound and soon! Also, thanks for all the great suggestions of books. I'll be at Barnes & Noble tomorrow. Have an awesome wknd Ladies!

Hugs,

Jacque

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Jun 25, 2005

Nursing Against The Odds by Suzanne Gordon.

Just finished it, it'll make you think about nursing from several different angles.

~faith,

Timothy.

austin heart, BSN, RN · Jun 25, 2005

The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer