Rating: 
Summary: Doctors Without Lives
Review: After reading Konner's book, I kept wondering the whole time......where does this story take place? In what city is Galen Hospital? These are questions which remain elusive and deter from the book's quality. I understand maybe Konner was attempting to show how 3rd and 4th year medical students have no life outside of the hospital, but neither is this completely true or objective. Dr. Konner, what did you do on the weekends? How did your obsessive work habits affect your family life? These are important questions which you neglect throughout the book. IF the hospital is a microcosm of the harsh, unpredictable world we live in.....then how do these worlds interact? there must be some comparisons that can be drawn from the clinical setting and the world we walk through on a daily basis. Despite the books biases, I found the medical knowledge that imparted to be interesting, especially for an aspiring medical student. It's just hard for me to believe that nearly every doctor Konner worked with was rude, arrogant, and condescending. Of course, as a patient we would never see this facet of a doctor, but I think Konner is just completely wrong. And another thing that bothered me......why was every one of Konner's icons and role models Jewish doctors or professions? I guess that's enough of my ranting. But come on, these questions bug me and I find Konner to be unrealistic and selfish at times - he keeps count of how many medical procedures he does. That seems ludicrous. Do our doctors really have no lives outside of the hospital?
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but seriously flawed and dated
Review: Although I did enjoy portions of this book, I was also particularly annoyed at his constant misogynistic tone -- women, be they patients or fellow physicians -- are often first described physically, with particular note paid to their attractiveness. It seems that Konner clearly believes he is superior to many of his co-workers, as he repeatedly interrupts the medical narrative to mention his status in the anthropological field. This isn't a terrible book, but it certainly isn't a book I'd recommend to very many people.
Rating:
Summary: Physician, Heal Thyself
Review: As someone who's had 2 serious operations in just 6 months, I am now obsessed with all things medical/surgical. I did like this book for its "behind the scenes" look at what a doctor's training is like. However, if I had never had an operation at a great hospital with a great surgeon, with great results, I'd be afraid to go to the hospital, the way some of Konner's peers are described. Obviously, it takes all kinds, but I agree with the reviewers who felt that the more negative personalities received emphasis.
Also...while many people criticized Konner for being arrogant and pompous, I was very surprised that no one noticed something that, to me, was disturbingly obvious; and that was his salacious descriptions of VERY young women. There is a passage, in the Pediatrics chapter, I believe, where he describes, with great zeal, how attractive he found a 15 year old girl. You can almost hear him drooling as you read it. There is another spot in the book where he talks about listening to a teenage girl's chest with a stethoscope, and while he does say he feels awkward, you can't also help but sense he was diggin' it.
Like I said, there were some informative things in this book, but I'm glad I had a positive surgical experience BEFORE I read this book. I am a much bigger fan of "Complications" by Atul Gawande.
Rating: 
Summary: Becoming a Doctor...
Review: By the time I had read about 1/2 of this book, I realized that the same thought kept occurring to me over and over....'Konner is writing about everything that I despise in medicine and medical education'. Everything he said and every story he told simply reinforced the old stereotypes of big hospitals, residents, and medical students. Thankfully, my experience with medical education thus far is not representative of what Konner is writing about, which is what enabled me to take the things he said with a grain of salt and remember that I was only reading his opinion. He writes well and I found his stories entertaining and engaging, even if they were a bit discouraging at times. I appreciated his comments regarding being upset that patient care did not always seem to be a top priority of those he was working with, and that this bothered him. It is true that this book may be eye-opening and a little taste of reality for anyone anticipating a career in medicine, however, it is important to remember that his is experience is not necessarily universal. I was also turned off by the arrogant, self-promoting approach that Konner took to presenting this information. He certainly took advantage of this public forum to promote himself and remind all of his readers of his accomplishments and how he smart he is (as though I cared that he applied to 18 medical schools including Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, etc.). In the end, I actually think that reading this book was a valuable experience. Although I have written about disagreeing with Konner, and not appreciating some of the things he has to say, there are things to be gained from having read his stories. It is valuable to be reminded that in spite of my idealism, the embodiment of the negative stereotypes still exist and I will most likely run into them and have to deal with them in the not-so-distant future. It is also important for me to be reminded that I can be thankful for a positive experience in my medical education to date, and to be able to explain to others that not all of medicine is as Konner reports it to be. I will do everything in my power, both now and in the future, to be a catalyst of positive change regarding issues in medicine that continue to frustrate students and professionals in this field.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading title
Review: I bought this book because of its title: Becoming a Doctor. I realized that it would be one "student's initiation" story, but was more than slightly disappointed when what I came across was the autobiographical story of a very accomplished non-traditional student and his own personal experiences of situations which I may or may not be confronted with myself on any of my rotations in medical school. I had hoped from what I had read, that it would be a book geared towards how medical students (especially non-traditional ones) are recruited by schools and descriptions on the wards and rotations in the clinical years. Dr. Konner, however, comes from a strong background in anthropology and came upon medicine as a second career choice when he was 33. This book tells his autobiography - how HE got into medicine and why, and who he liked and who he didn't on his different rotations. His purpose was to expose some of the inhuman practices of medical doctors and their pompous attitudes towards their patients, which, for the most part, he succeeds in doing. But as one man regaling his personal experiences, his voice is not an objective one about medical internships in the United States or anywhere else. Had this book been entitled "How I Became a Doctor" or something else along those lines, I would have been much more forgiving in my review of this book. That said, it must be highlighted that Dr. Konner is a fine author. Even though I was wondering if the cover of my book had somehow landed on another books' pages, it was very well written and it shows that he is an experienced man with a real conscience and a great aptitude towards medical science. This book would have gotten one star had it not been for the author's fine writing and descriptive style. Shame he got the title wrong, though.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading title
Review: I can hardly believe some of the reviews here. Perhaps some readers are threatened by Konner's words and views? I find his writing to be engaging, his attitudes to be refreshing, and his honesty about the profession and some of its practitioners amazing. I certainly hope he decides to practice medicine, especially psychiatry, as he seems empathetic and kind. It is true that he didn't focus much on his personal life, but this was not the purpose of his book. I found this a fascinating and informative read.
Rating: 
Summary: Must read
Review: I will fall into the camp of reviewers who found this book to be insightful and valuable. People who see Konner as arrogant, pompous, and overly critical of the medical field are missing the point. It is Konner's prior experience as an anthropologist that allows him to analyze the social and cultural dynamics of medical workers. I don't know where Konner's arrogance is being perceived. Konner certainly judges actions and deeds according to his own values, but those values are neither elitism or pomposity, but empathy and humanism. The premise of the book is such: at Harvard Medical School, the "best" in the country, one should receive the finest medical education and be exposed to medicine at its best. Read the book and find out what it's really like.
Rating: 
Summary: Candid, yet Idealistic
Review: Konner's "Becoming A Doctor" chronicles the experiences, perceptions, & problems he had as a third-year medical student. Konner repeatedly remarks that he was much older than most of his peers as well as many of the residents, but what he doesn't explicitly articulate is his different perspective on patient care and, well, his compassion. He seems more idealistic than most of the other characters in his narrative -- I suspect this may be a consequence of his age & life experiences. Nevertheless, I enjoyed and appreciated the experiences he shared, especially since they are told from the perspective of a man in a different phase of life. There are several books that chronicle life as a medical student --- this is just one --- and this book ought to be regarded as one that deserves a peek for what it is: medical school as experienced from a well-educated man on the verge of middle-age.
Rating:
Summary: good for the infor, but bad for his personality.
Review: The author himself has lots of personality problems. You can read his book to get an insight of the 3rd and 4th year. Beyond that, there is nothing that you will learn from him. I certainly hope that you won't learn anything about how he deals and sees the world. He is very pompous. I am really glad that he didn't chose to actually practice medicine. He will make a bad doctor, and I doubt that he won't have lots of lawsuits piled up against him. With his personality, he won't go far. He can't take critism. He likes to say bad things about those people who taught him without positive proves. For example, he wrote "an immigrant physician who happened to be a superb if slightly pompous neurologist." I don't know where he came up with the "pompous" conclusion, because he did not explain further. First of all, everyone should respect his own teaching doctor. Second, even if the doctor was, this is not a book for it. It is simply rude to call someone pompous in a book, which people of generations later can still read.
And he is very self centered. "Hardly anybody I worked with at the hospital even knew I had written a book, much less one that was considered to be quite good." He obviously has an egoistic problem. We all know that anyone has some money can publish a book easily. Why is it necessary that everyone should pay attention to his book nomination, which "would ceremoniously not receive the award in the science category? It is even funny that he wrote, "Ceremoniously not receive." It means that his book was not good at all. This guy likes to show off, and he doesn't even know it. "It was not usual for me to scoop the residents, or even the other medical students in this type of exercise, so I felt good." I don't see the big deal of giving a correct answer when all others fail. Everyone does that once in a while. I have taken some time to digest the whole book page by page. If you are interested, email me, I will show you.
Rating:
Summary: An autobiographical account of medical school
Review: This book was an excellent read. I am a pre-medical student, and Dr. Konner gave me a realistic view of the medical field and medical school. I have talked with and shadowed doctors, and their sentiments and observations closely match his. His views on what makes a good doctor influenced the way I feel about my future profession. I would recommend this book to any considering a career in medicine.
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