By EMS1 Staff
Whether you’re seeking inspiration, looking to sharpen your leadership skills or aiming to expand your clinical expertise, reading is a powerful tool for professional growth in EMS.
We’ve gathered book recommendations from EMS leaders and EMS1 contributors, as well as book excerpts showcasing reads that cater to EMTs, paramedics and EMS supervisors. These picks cover leadership, clinical practice, personal development and even children’s books to inspire the next generation of EMS professionals.
Let these titles motivate you to learn, grow, and lead in the ever-evolving world of emergency medical services.
Top book picks from EMS leaders, EMS1 contributors
Advance in your career, climb the ladder and inspire the next generation of EMTs with these top EMS picks.
Book excerpts
From reflections on harrowing calls, to communication tips, legal advise and even a children’s book, check out these excerpts before choosing your next read.
Shop the recommendations
Leadership picks
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
- The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
- The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
- Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise and Other Bribes
- People Care
- Flow-based leadership
- Barn Boss Leadership: Make the Difference
- Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations
- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
- Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People
- What Millennials Want from Work: How to Maximize Engagement in Today’s Workforce
- Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want
- The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth
- Pass it on: The 2nd Alarm
EMS memoirs
- Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine
- Rescuing Providence
- I Am Not An Ambulance Driver
- ‘Paramedic chief - Extraordinary experiences from the streets of Los Angeles’
- Friday Night Lights: A Compilation of Calls for Real Life Pre-Hospital Case-Based Learning
- Streetsense: Communication, Safety, and Control
- Wreck and Return: An EMT’s journey into and out of darkness
- Sirens, Lights, and Lawyers: The Law & Other Really Important Stuff EMS Providers Never Learned in School
- First responder: A paramedic’s memoir
- The Firefighter Family Academy: A Guide to Educate and Prepare Spouses for the Career Ahead
Clinical picks
- 12-Lead ECG: The Art of Interpretation
- 12-Lead ECG for Acute and Critical Care Providers
- The 12-Lead ECG in Acute Coronary Syndromes
- Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide
- Toxicologic Emergencies
- Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
- Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary
- The Physicians’ Desk Reference
- The Nursing Drug Handbook
Children’s books
- Frederick the Paramedic: Respond to the Allergic Reaction
- Please Don’t Dance In My Ambulance
- Frederick the Paramedic
- Ambulance in Action
- Ambulances on the Move
- Paramedics to the Rescue
- Roscoe the Volunteer EMT
- Ambulances to the Rescue Around the World
- Ambulances (Seedlings)
EMS1 is using generative AI to create some content that is edited and fact-checked by our editors. This article, originally published in December 2024, has been updated.