What kind of books should I read that would look good on a personal statement/when discussed in an interview?

The most important thing about your reading is that you enjoy and are interested in subject that you are reading about. There is absolutely no point in picking up a book that bores you to death for several reasons - most importantly being that you're unlikely to finish it! Even if you do manage to wade through the entire thing, you will struggle to make it appear interesting in the interview - how are you supposed to make someone else interested in what you have to say if you are not interested in it yourself. For example, I tried to read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre, and while I respect that he is a very good writer and scientist, trawling through statistics about drugs was something I found really difficult. Instead, I then read a book that described how sampling viral strains in ape populations that inhabit remote jungles may be useful in predicting outbreaks of viruses in human populations across the world (the book is called Viral Storm - highly recommend it). This innovative concept was something I found really interesting, meaning that when asked in interviews what improvements I would make to healthcare, I had an interesting example to use that I clearly had thought about. It is also important to remember that reading doesn't have to involve massive books with thousands of pages. Publications such as the New Scientist contain really interesting new developments from all across the world of healthcare, and are a really useful way of finding interesting new topics to discuss at interview. Obviously staying up to date with the news that concerns healthcare is really important too, as it shows you are aware of the challenges facing the profession which you are ultimately going to enter into.