What I Learned in Medical School: Personal Stories of Young Doctors Book

I simply lacked sympathy for most of these medical students. Medical school is hard; it is demanding and it requires compassion and a love of science. One of the writers complained how her classmates were shallow for enjoying their science classes and how they didn't care that she didn't have time for poetry, which she claimed was the underlying discipline that drove her to medicine. Whatever made her think that being a doctor and being a poet were the same job is beyond me.

Some of the stories were touching -- a lesbian mother and an older student with sickle cell syndrome both had stories that called to me. But others simply were naive, self-centered and at the end of the day, whiners. The stories were prosaic, although it was clear the authors thought they were insightful and the writing was amateur.