The One Book All Aspiring Medics (and Even Dentists) Should Read- 'Dear Life' by Rachel Clarke

There are those generic books you find when you type into google 'books for studying medicine,' and you will find books such as Do No Harm, Being Mortal, Trust Me I'm a Junior Doctor etc- and there's no doubt these books are amazing.

But, if I could recommend one book to anyone it would be this less 'generic' one: Dear Life by Rachel Clarke. I divide this post into 3 sections:

1. Overview

2. Key Lessons

3. Conclusions

1. Overview

Published in early 2020, I think this new book has remained relatively under the radar since people who applied to med/ dental school before us did not have this resource. Nevertheless, I encourage all aspiring medics and even dentists (I'm one of them) to pick this up and give it a good read.

Dr Rachel Clarke is a palliative doctor which involves working with patients who are at the end of their lives. In general, it is written in a similar tone to the other 'doctor' books (similar to the 6 or 7 I've read) but I feel as if it gives deeper and more meaningful insights into topics hardly discussed in other books, most notably death and Clarke covers death with stories which will for sure resonate with everyone. Despite the looming theme of death, Clarke likes to bring up the theme of life with which every insight is significant (hence the very appropriately name, Dear Life.)

The whole theme of this book is death and how one should deal with death as a doctor. Though the theme of death is unlikely to come up explicitly in interview (bar euthanasia, abortion and all that good stuff), the insights and dilemmas provided in the book will definitely be useful in some way or another (I'm not really sure in what way yet- I haven't started interview prep yet!)

2. Key Lessons

From a purely read books to get into dental school (or med school) perspective, a idea I found interesting was the contradiction between 2 of the 4 pillars of medical ethics: beneficence and autonomy. With regards to death, I think the contradiction here is clear- when does a patient's autonomy overrides a doctors' duty to the patient to keep them alive (beneficence.) Clarke brings this up in several stories with which although there is no clear cut answer, one can harvest insightful arguments for and against.

The most important insight I feel that the book provides, is an insight into human nature- how people should deal with death, both from a doctor's perspective but also from a layman's. Ideas such as a doctor's detachment from death and dying patients are brought to centre stage while being compared to Clarke's own experiences in everyday life. I find that this comparison resonated with me the most.

3. Conclusions

I do not think I have described the book and its ideas fully or successfully highlighted how meaningful its insights are. However, I hope it is somewhat evident that I have the highest praise for Dear Life, it being very well written and entertaining but still educational. Definitely the best thing I've read in a long, long time.

I cannot emphasise enough how important I think that everyone reads it. I'm sure it will resonate with all.