Next Gen +: books

by Adam Kay

Buy from Amazon

​

‘This is Going to Hurt’ is a truly hilarious read that I would recommend to all.

For non medics, it gives a glimpse into the true reality of our profession and, for us medics, it gives a realistic narrative of the highs and lows of our profession.

Adam Kay takes the reader on an insightful journey of what our profession entails; he eloquently describes the rollercoaster of emotions we can encounter on a day to day if not minute to minute basis; the complexity of the decisions we make and the true joy that being a doctor can bring. Kay also maturely describes the pain and vulnerability that we doctors can feel when clinical situations go badly.

This book is relatable to all medics on so many levels as we can all align our own experiences with those that Kay so hilariously describes.

An excellent read and hard to put down.

​

Ami Mukherjee, Next Gen GP London

by Michael Marmot

Buy from Amazon

​Written from a public health and health economics point of view, this raised an interesting perspective of the effects of not only absolute but relative deprivation on health outcomes, something I think we all have a vague idea of but I was surprised by the degree of gradient seen in the different populations discussed and the author’s take on improving population health.

It has definitely made me more aware of the issues affecting my patient population and potential differences I can expect on moving to a city practice from my current relatively rural setting.

Jennie Cox, Next Gen GP Bristol

by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow 

Buy from Amazon

Randy Pausch was a professor of a Computer science, Human Computer interaction and Design at Carnegie Mellon University.

Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007, he was given a terminal diagnosis.

He delivered “The Last Lecture” as a way of passing his knowledge and experience to his children which became a popular video on YouTube and a New York Best Seller.
The text is both inspiring and powerful. Randy talks about achieving his childhood dreams and how he goes about it from a very young age- attributing to him winning the parent lottery(letting him use his imagination and draw and paint on walls of his room) and coach Graham for pushing him hard.

Randy admits to being arrogant and self possessed and how people around him
Who really cared about him helped him realise this so that it doesn’t limit his achievements.

​

Randy goes on to talk about his adventure and lessons learned and enabling the dreams of others.
He tells life stories that illustrate such themes as dreaming big, hard work, perseverance, sacrifice, self-confidence, modesty, courage, a positive outlook, and dealing with adversity. Randy talks about the importance of Brick Walls in our life

​

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!

The book is filled with humour, bite sizes great pieces of advice which resonated a lot with what I have heard from the leaders during the Next Generation programme.

​

The video of his speech is available on https://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

Give it a watch- there’s a clip of him doing push ups in front of the audience to prove how healthy he feels in himself!!

​

This is the second time I’m reading this book and for the life of me I couldn’t remember who recommended this book. 

So I’m making a pact with myself today on the 2 year anniversary of NextGeneration GP 
I’m going to write the name of the person who recommended it on the inside cover( I still love the feel of hard copies) so that when I open the book it doesn’t just remind me how great the book is but instantly connects me to the person who recommended it and makes me reach out to
Them with gratitude…

Why don’t you try it as well!!

​

Sonali Kinra, Next Gen GP Nottingam

by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber

Buy from Amazon

I love this book as it’s a quick, charming fable (reading time average is under an hour) from the Harvard Business School leadership and change management guru, John Kotter. It is a book that I have read and gone back to lots of times:

Being involved in change, and leading it, can be challenging: however Kotter uses this fable about a penguin colony living in Antarctica to help us. It brings his 8 step process for leading change theory to life.

I find this book useful as a way to help me reflect on where I need to concentrate my efforts and to reassure myself that the personalities that play out in different teams are all normal human behaviour- it brings me reassurance, humour and guidance every time I read it. Each time I can find myself thinking which penguin I am/which penguin others are…in this week when the NHS Long Term Plan is out it may be useful – as we know lots of change needs to happen and the direction is good – but the implementation feels tough – this book brings some leadership theory to help!

“Fables can be fun…but the power of the penguin story lies in helping you act smarter”

​Which penguin can you relate to?

​

Hannah Morgan, Next Gen GP Wessex