HSL Reading Area

On Call by Anthony Fauci #1 New York Times Bestseller The memoir by the doctor who became a beacon of hope for millions through the COVID pandemic, and whose six-decade career in high-level public service put him in the room with seven presidents "An eventful autobiography [and] a classic American story...Gripping."--The Washington Post "One of the most consequential and most prominent [careers] in American medicine in the past fifty years."--Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker Anthony Fauci is arguably the most famous - and most revered - doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero. His memoir reaches back to his boyhood in Brooklyn, New York, and carries through decades of caring for critically ill patients, navigating the whirlpools of Washington politics, and behind-the-scenes advising and negotiating with seven presidents on key issues from global AIDS relief to infectious disease  preparedness at home. ON CALL will be an inspiration for readers who admire and are grateful to him and for those who want to emulate him in public service. He is the embodiment of "speaking truth to power," with dignity and results.

Women Physician Pioneers of The 1960s by Susan E. Detweiler Women Physician Pioneers of the 1960s is a biographical account of a group of classmates from UCSF medical school whose lives and careers were tracked by social scientist Lillian Cartwright for 50 years.

Passing for Human by Liana Finck A visually arresting graphic memoir about a young artist struggling against what's expected of her as a woman, and learning to accept her true self, from an acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist.

Ejaculate Responsibly by Gabrielle Stanley Blair Gabrielle Blair offers a provocative reframing of the abortion issue in post-Roe America.

Skid Road by Josephine Ensign A timely story in light of the ongoing health care reform debate, the affordable housing crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the stories from Skid Road illuminate issues surrounding poverty and homelessness throughout America.

The Doc and the Duchess: The Life and Legacy of George H. A. Clowes by Alexander W. Clowes

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

White Fragility: Why it's so Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people' (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family--past and present--is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life by Ellen Forney

Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist: Doctor-writers share their experiences by Lee Gutkind

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth

Catching Homelessness: A Nurse's Story of Falling through the Safety Net by Josephine Ensign

The Disappearing Spoon: And other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz Thomas Mutter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anaesthesia, the sterilisation of surgical tools and a compassion-based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed with the sentiments of the mid-nineteenth century.

A Fierce Radiance: A Novel by Lauren Belfer

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States by Seth M. Holmes

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast In her first memoir, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents.

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light--less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are.

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington

Medicine's Michelangelo: The Life & Art of Frank H. Netter, MD

The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik; Monica Murphy In this fascinating exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years in the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies.

Stiff : The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

The Real Grey's Anatomy: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Real Lives of Surgical Residents by Andrew Holtz

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart