TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial: a library of “non-medical” books for medical students: a foot in the door or an obstacle to progress? JF - Medical Humanities JO - J Med Humanit SP - 53 LP - 53 DO - 10.1136/mh.29.1.53 VL - 29 IS - 1 AU - R Meakin Y1 - 2003/06/01 UR - http://mh.bmj.com/content/29/1/53.abstract N2 - In their paper describing the reading habits of Italian medical students and their views about the place of the humanities in the medical curriculum, Piccoli and her colleagues suggest that medical schools from Mediterranean Europe have been slow in developing the role of medical humanities in educating their students.1 Their students, however, report levels of “non-medical” reading similar to those reported elsewhere2 and display an enthusiasm for inclusion of medical humanities in their medical education similar to that exhibited by their peers from elsewhere when given the opportunity.3–7 In order to respond to their students’ enthusiasm and wishing to introduce medical humanities into the medical school, they suggest establishing a collection of “non-medical” books within the medical school library. This may seem an attractive first step in such circumstances but needs closer scrutiny before being adopted.Piccoli … ER -