The most recommended health books

Who picked these books? Meet our 162 experts.

162 authors created a book list connected to health, and here are their favorite health books.
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Book cover of Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Blood Type Diet Solution

Pip Waller Author Of Deeply Holistic: A Guide to Intuitive Self-Care--Know Your Body, Live Consciously, and Nurture Your Spirit

From my list on what to eat, what not to eat, and why.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a naturopathic therapist, teacher, and writer working mainly with plant medicine since 1989. For decades, I’ve been teaching many aspects of natural healing and have written 5 books, published in 6 languages, on various aspects of my work. One of my favourite books is DEEPLY HOLISTIC, a Guide to Intuitive Self-Care, a synthesis of much of the advice I’ve given clients over my 30 years of practice.

Pip's book list on what to eat, what not to eat, and why

Pip Waller Why did Pip love this book?

This book is not the one-size-fits-all approach of many food books. Naturopath Dr Peter J. D’Adamo has carried on the work of his father to research the effect of various types of lectins, a type of protein found in our body, and found in many foods. One way our unique biology is expressed is in our blood type – O, A, B, or AB. Different types of lectins cause agglutination (the clumping of particles) in different blood types. ‘If you eat a food that contains lectins incompatible with your blood type, those lectins cling or bind themselves to membranes in the digestive tract causing damage such as inflammation.’

By Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo, Catherine Whitney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Eat Right 4 Your Type as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Eat Right 4 Your Type harnesses the power of our own amazing bio-chemistry to help you to cast aside the fad diets for good!

Dr Peter D'Adamo and Catherine Whitney are back with a fully updated and revised edition of their sensational book to demonstrate how working with your blood type plays a key role in losing weight, avoiding disease and promoting fitness and longevity.

After selling over a 7 million copies worldwide, this revised edition of the global phenomenon blood-type diet is packed with even more material - including a 10-Day Jump-Start Plan - to help you tailor your…


Book cover of Doctoring Freedom: The Politics of African American Medical Care in Slavery and Emancipation

Andrew M. Wehrman Author Of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution

From my list on understanding health and politics in the early US.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian of early American history who discovered the history of medicine somewhat by accident. As a history graduate student, I wanted to understand how ordinary Americans experienced the American Revolution. While digging through firsthand accounts written by average Americans, I came across a diary written by a sailor named Ashley Bowen. Although Bowen wrote made entries daily beginning in the 1760s, he hardly mentioned any of the political events that typically mark the coming of the American Revolution. Instead, day after day, he wrote about outbreaks of smallpox and how he volunteered to help his community. From then on, I began to understand just how central and inseparable health and politics are. 

Andrew's book list on understanding health and politics in the early US

Andrew M. Wehrman Why did Andrew love this book?

Gretchen Long’s book Doctoring Freedom includes remarkable stories not only of how Black people were abused and left out of American health care, such as it was in the 19th century, but centers the book on Black Americans’ efforts to support their health and their citizenship while being denied both. Long’s finely detailed case studies of Black doctors, such as John Donalson Austin who had been an enslaved herbal healer who was denied the right to practice when free, is one of many stories Long uncovers as she details the ways Black healers and doctors used clinics, hospitals, and dispensaries as sites of resistance to both medical and political authorities.

By Gretchen Long,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Doctoring Freedom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For enslaved and newly freed African Americans, attaining freedom and citizenship without health for themselves and their families would have been an empty victory. Even before emancipation, African Americans recognized that control of their bodies was a critical battleground in their struggle for autonomy, and they devised strategies to retain at least some of that control. In Doctoring Freedom, Gretchen Long tells the stories of African Americans who fought for access to both medical care and medical education, showing the important relationship between medical practice and political identity.
Working closely with antebellum medical journals, planters' diaries, agricultural publications, letters from…


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Book cover of Who Will Take Care of Me When I'm Old?: Plan Now to Safeguard Your Health and Happiness in Old Age

Who Will Take Care of Me When I'm Old? by Joy Loverde,

Everything you need to know to plan for your own safe, financially secure, healthy, and happy old age.

For those who have no support system in place, the thought of aging without help can be a frightening, isolating prospect. Whether you have friends and family ready and able to help…

Book cover of The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care

Theresa Brown Author Of Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient

From my list on having cancer.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an expert on being a cancer patient because I was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2017. I am also a former oncology and hospice nurse. A cancer diagnosis always feels like a calamity and my work with very sick cancer patients showed me how serious the disease can be. I also thought that our health care system would react to cancer with compassion, but I was wrong. I felt on my own as a patient, and that experience led me to reflect on my nursing work. Healing alternates between me being a nurse and a patient. The alteration shows the failings of our health care system, and how to make it more caring.

Theresa's book list on having cancer

Theresa Brown Why did Theresa love this book?

I found The Undying Project beautiful and bracing. Like me, the author of this book had breast cancer. Unlike me, she had an aggressive cancer that is difficult to treat and often deadly. Her fear and struggle get transformed into blocks of prose that loosely tell the story of her treatment, but also discuss more philosophical writing on suffering and its meanings. At times I found the book hard to take, but I am so glad I read it because it gave cancer a personal and intellectual context; I hadn’t realized I needed that. The Undying won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. 

By Anne Boyer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Undying as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION

"The Undying is a startling, urgent intervention in our discourses about sickness and health, art and science, language and literature, and mortality and death. In dissecting what she terms 'the ideological regime of cancer,' Anne Boyer has produced a profound and unforgettable document on the experience of life itself." ―Sally Rooney, author of Normal People

"Anne Boyer’s radically unsentimental account of cancer and the 'carcinogenosphere' obliterates cliche. By demonstrating how her utterly specific experience is also irreducibly social, she opens up new spaces for thinking and feeling together. The Undying is…


Book cover of The Successful Caregiver’s Guide

Iris Waichler Author Of Role Reversal: How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents

From my list on caregiving and the challenges it brings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a medical social worker for over 40 years working with people who have had a catastrophic illness. I counseled them and their family members. Because of this experience, I have a lot of knowledge, experience, and training regarding the challenges caregivers face. In addition, I was the primary caregiver for my parents and helped take care of 2 friends helping them to die with dignity. Finally, I am the author of an 8-time award-winning book called Role Reversal How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents. I have written hundreds of articles on health-related topics including aging and caregiving.

Iris' book list on caregiving and the challenges it brings

Iris Waichler Why did Iris love this book?

Rick Lauber is another caregiving expert that I turn to for information and advice when I was a caregiver. This book is jam-packed with practical guidelines, tips, and resources for caregivers. It helps caregivers assess their needs and what care options are available to them as they care for the needs of their loved one changes and their ability to be a caregiver also changes. 

By Rick Lauber,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Successful Caregiver’s Guide as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

You may be among the tens of millions of Americans who provide care for your parent — or you may be among the ten of millions who will. So many children are caught unprepared when physical and mental health declines in aging parents. Life cannot readily prepare you to furnish excellent eldercare while balancing the demands on your time. This book provides practical tips, realistic guidance, encouragement and insight into the time ahead. Among other things, it answers: • How do you decide when your parent stays at home or moves to assisted living? • What should you expect when…


Book cover of The Sober Girl Society Handbook: An Empowering Guide to Living Hangover Free

Hilary Sheinbaum Author Of The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Other Alcohol-Free Month

From my list on dry months and dry lifestyles.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been completing Dry Januarys (and other sober months) since 2017! In turn, I’ve felt more energized, more positive, have experienced better sleep and better skin, among other benefits. I think giving up alcohol for any amount of time is beneficial and I encourage people to try it.

Hilary's book list on dry months and dry lifestyles

Hilary Sheinbaum Why did Hilary love this book?

As the founder of The Sober Girl Society -- and one of the voices leading the sobriety movement in the UK -- Mille Gooch offers personal advice and tips on how to abstain from alcohol in a world where so many social activities revolve around booze. The book is for anyone curious about sobriety or looking to adopt a sober lifestyle for the long term.

By Millie Gooch,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sober Girl Society Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

UPDATED WITH A BRAND NEW CHAPTER ON SOBER CURIOSITY

*Voted an Independent best self-care book for 2021*
*Voted one of Heat's best self-help books to help you reach your full potential*

If you've ever woken up feeling anxious, or cringing with embarrassment, about something you did or said whilst drunk the night before, this book may just change your life.

Whichever way you look at it, it's hard to avoid how alcohol really makes us feel: terrible. After years of partying and hangovers started taking a toll on her mental health, Millie Gooch gave up alcohol and has never looked…


Book cover of Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse

Tylia L. Flores Author Of Trapped in Heaven

From Tylia's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Creative Knowledgeable Determined Compassionate Imaginative

Tylia's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Plus, Tylia's 5-year-old's favorite books.

Tylia L. Flores Why did Tylia love this book?

Strangers Assume My Nurse Is My Girlfriend is the perfect book to tackle the stigma against disability and dating, and it shows that everyone deserves love and that love is full of diversity.

If you're looking to find motivation and inspiration within a beautiful love story full of humor and life lessons, this book is definitely for you to read. What I loved most about this book was that it dives deeply into how disability does not conquer. Love and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder, and society shouldn't judge someone or assume that a person with a disability can never find love because they can.

By Shane Burcaw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

With his signature wit, twenty-something author, blogger, and entrepreneur Shane Burcaw is back with an essay collection about living a full life in a body that many people perceive as a tragedy. From anecdotes about first introductions where people patted him on the head instead of shaking his hand, to stories of passersby mistaking his able-bodied girlfriend for a nurse, Shane tackles awkward situations and assumptions with humor and grace.

On the surface, these essays are about day-to-day life as a wheelchair user with a degenerative disease, but they are actually about family, love, and coming of age.

Shane Burcaw…


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Book cover of Rewriting Illness

Rewriting Illness by Elizabeth Benedict,

What happens when a novelist with a “razor-sharp wit” (Newsday), a “singular sensibility” (Huff Post), and a lifetime of fear about getting sick finds a lump where no lump should be? Months of medical mishaps, coded language, and Doctors who don't get it.

With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling…

Book cover of Wellness

Joan Gelfand Author Of Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution

From Joan's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Joan's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Joan Gelfand Why did Joan love this book?

By Nathan Hill,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Wellness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'American storytelling at its era-spanning best . . . An immersive, multi-layered portrait of a marriage, Nathan Hill's follow-up to The Nix is a work of quiet genius.' - The Observer

'The incredible scope of this dazzlingly detailed state-of-the-nation satire almost defies description . . . Brilliant doesn't begin to describe it, but I'll say it anyway.' - Daily Mail

'I doubt I'll enjoy many books this year as much as Wellness.' - The Times

An Oprah's Book Club Pick.

Moving from the gritty 90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home renovation hysteria, Wellness is…


Book cover of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Timber Hawkeye Author Of The Opposite of Namaste

From Timber's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Timber's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Timber Hawkeye Why did Timber love this book?

By Gabor Maté, Daniel Maté,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Myth of Normal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'It all starts with waking up... to what our bodies are expressing and our minds are suppressing'

Western countries invest billions in healthcare, yet mental illness and chronic diseases are on a seemingly unstoppable rise. Nearly 70% of Americans are now on prescription drugs. So what is 'normal' when it comes to health?

Over four decades of clinical experience, renowned physician and addiction expert Dr Gabor Mate has seen how health systems neglect the role that trauma exerts on our bodies and our minds. Medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today's culture stresses our bodies, burdens…


Book cover of Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

Shalene Gupta Author Of The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD

From my list on books for if your periods are a painful bloody hell.

Why am I passionate about this?

For years, I suffered from extremely painful periods and terrible mood swings before my period. I chalked this up to being a bad person. When I was in my thirties, I found out I had PMDD: premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Researchers have known about PMDD for years, yet it still takes over a decade to get a diagnosis. I got mad, and I got curious. What was going on? I went hunting for books to explain what we know about periods and why we don’t talk about them. The books on this list answered many of my questions—I hope they answer yours.

Shalene's book list on books for if your periods are a painful bloody hell

Shalene Gupta Why did Shalene love this book?

If you have questions, Dr. Gunter has answers. Periods come and go, but we’re not actually taught that much about them in health class. Dr. Jen Gunter is here to fix that.

She’s informative, humorous, and personal, both expert and friend at the same time. I wish someone had handed this book to me in my early teens and asked me to reread it until all of it was burned into my memory.

By Jen Gunter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestselling author, internationally known ob/gyn, and internet superstar who has become the go-to expert for women’s health issues now takes on a topic that affects more than 72 million Americans every month, bashing myths about menstruation and giving readers the knowledge they need to make the best decisions for their bodies.

Most women can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. So why is real information so hard to find? Despite its significance, most education about menstruation focuses either on increasing the chances of pregnancy or preventing it. And while both are crucial, women…


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Book cover of Free Your Joy: The Twelve Keys to Sustainable Happiness

Free Your Joy by Lisa McCourt,

We all want peace. We all want a life of joy and meaning. We want to feel blissfully comfortable in our own skin, moving through the world with grace and ease. But how many of us are actively taking the steps to create such a life? 

In Free Your Joy…

Book cover of The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law

Zara Stone Author Of Killer Looks: The Forgotten History of Plastic Surgery in Prisons

From my list on how pretty privilege has infiltrated America.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by the way people respond to physical beauty since childhood—my teachers heaped praise on the pretty kids, reserving hard words for the less genetically blessed. This experience drove me to explore the pervasive ways in which unconscious beauty bias perpetuates injustice, and how it intersects with racism and privilege. Prison plastic surgery might sound like a punchline but for many, it was a lifeline. UK-born, I now live in San Francisco and have a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York. My work has been published by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, and Fast Company, among others.

Zara's book list on how pretty privilege has infiltrated America

Zara Stone Why did Zara love this book?

This book is an eye-opening, mind-boggling, data-driven analysis of just how skewed society is against those who don’t conform to the standard of pretty. The author, a Stanford law professor, takes a deep dive into how legally ingrained physical discrimination has become, drawing on pertinent examples to illustrate what could, in other hands, be dry reading.

The examples will fire you up – a Reno bartender fired for not wearing makeup, a New Jersey cocktail waitress fired for gaining a dress size, a straight-A student expelled due to a high BMI…none of whom had any legal recourse, as it stands today. The lack of legal protection for appearance bias has clear social and psychological costs, and this book is a great call to arms for change.

By Deborah L. Rhode,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Beauty Bias as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"It hurts to be beautiful" has been a cliche for centuries. What has been far less appreciated is how much it hurts not to be beautiful. The Beauty Bias explores our cultural preoccupation with attractiveness, the costs it imposes, and the responses it demands.

Beauty may be only skin deep, but the damages associated with its absence go much deeper. Unattractive individuals are less likely to be hired and promoted, and are assumed less likely to have desirable traits, such as goodness, kindness, and honesty. Three quarters of women consider appearance important to their self image and over a third…


Book cover of Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Blood Type Diet Solution
Book cover of Doctoring Freedom: The Politics of African American Medical Care in Slavery and Emancipation
Book cover of The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care

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