Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Read advance reader review of How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, page 2 of 3

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman

How Doctors Think

by Jerome Groopman
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (8):
  • Readers' Rating (21):
  • First Published:
  • Mar 19, 2007, 320 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2008, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews


Page 2 of 3
There are currently 17 member reviews
for How Doctors Think
Order Reviews by:
  • Vera (Salem OR)
    How Doctors Think
    This book, while written for the layman, should be required reading for every doctor. The author uses interesting cases to illustrate the many pitfalls that can occur in a physician's thinking. The epilogue is perhaps the most helpful part of the book: questions that patients or their families can ask the doctor which may help him or her redefine the problem. Highly recommended for the general reader.
  • Mercedes (Cross River NY)
    A must read for every patient
    This book should be given to every patient, so they can be on an equal footing and now how the system works and why it works the way it does. Well researched and explained from the inside out, it demystifies a whole area of life that all of us will have to deal with at some stage, it helps the patient understand the doctor and thus the doctor to understand the patient, and here is to understanding!
  • Kathleen (Ridgewood NJ)
    Insightful and enlightening
    In today's labyrinth of medical care, it is critical to be an educated and involved patient. How Doctors Think is an invaluable aid in understanding how doctors arrive at an accurate diagnosis. The epilogue is particularly useful for patients and caregivers who want to be partners with their doctors in their health care.
  • Peggy (Erie PA)
    Do Patients Think about how Doctors Think?
    I never really thought that much about how doctors came to their diagnoses or conclusions. To a certain extent like my parents and grandparents, doctors have held a more than human status in my mind.

    This book does not really tell me anything that logically, I could have figured out for myself, given some time and thought regarding the subject. However, it is highly unlikely that I WOULD have given the time to the subject unless facing some type of medical emergency (which, thank god, I have not had to). But it does bring the thought processes of doctors in various situations down to a more human level--and, as a result, helps me with any interactions with doctors that I may have in the future.

    An easy, interesting, and sometimes disturbing and thought-provoking read.
  • Julie (Fort Myers FL)
    How Doctors Think
    A very readable account of how doctors form the medical diagnoses that they do and ways that we, as patients, can help. The real-life cases are fascinating, and I appreciated the fact that they all pretty much had happy endings. This book proved to be a real mind opener into the critical thinking skills that doctors must employ. Only once or twice did the author lose me in medical details. My favorite parts of the book were the real-life patients and how eventually their medical mysteries were resolved by physicians who listened to their patients.
  • Elizabeth (Des Moines IA)
    Interesting and informative
    How Doctors Think is an interesting examination of the ways in which doctors arrive at medical diagnosis. By explaining the methods students are taught to use when dealing with patients, Groopman illustrates how misdiagnoses can occur, and steps doctors and patients can take to avoid them.

    Groopman uses real case studies to demonstrate the many ways doctors good intentions can go wrong. In the initial chapters, he also offers suggestions to lay people about how to ask questions that can direct doctors to different ways of thinking. Towards the end of the book, however, he seems to be focusing more specifically on doctors themselves, and the advice for the patient is omitted. I found the book to be interesting and informative, with some good suggestions to take to my next doctor's appointment.
  • Rosemary (San Antonio TX)
    How Doctors Think
    This is a must read for anyone who is dealing with a health problem or knows of someone who doesn't feel that they have been properly diagnosed. The author describes the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, often driven by the fear of failure, pressure from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, patient overload, and money.

    The book cites examples describing why some doctors succeed and others err, but also shows how we can help doctors avoid snap judgments, acknowledge uncertainty, communicate effectively and deploy other skills that can impact our health. Most informative was the ways in which we, the patient, can help the physician look "outside the box" when a diagnosis doesn't seem to fit us or a loved one.

    I found the book very informative and feel that it has given me an insight in how to communicate better with my doctor and also ask the right questions should the need arise.
  • Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    The Frozen River
    by Ariel Lawhon
    "I cannot say why it is so important that I make this daily record. Perhaps because I have been ...
  • Book Jacket
    Prophet Song
    by Paul Lynch
    Paul Lynch's 2023 Booker Prize–winning Prophet Song is a speedboat of a novel that hurtles...
  • Book Jacket: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    by Lynda Cohen Loigman
    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Rose Arbor
by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl's disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense.
Book Jacket
The Story Collector
by Evie Woods
From the international bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop!
Who Said...

To win without risk is to triumph without glory

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.