Love science? Want to learn about medicine that works? An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a good book keeps the quacks away for life.

Check out these books that received positive reviews and recommendations by the folks at ScienceBasedMedicine. Vote for your favorites, but please don't add random medical books that haven't already been discussed.

www.sciencebasedmedicine.org


NOTE: Several people have added books to this list that have not necessarily been endorsed by ScienceBasedMedicine. While recommendations are always appreciated, please be wary of books that have questionable standards of evidence!
1

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4.35 avg rating — 57,254 ratings
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4.49 avg rating — 223,525 ratings
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4.07 avg rating — 5,818 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 467,001 ratings
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3.98 avg rating — 43,111 ratings
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4.42 avg rating — 20,906 ratings
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3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings
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9

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4.01 avg rating — 906,255 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 123,923 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 45,187 ratings
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12

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4.16 avg rating — 4,040 ratings
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13

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4.09 avg rating — 9,442 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 3,134 ratings
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15

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4.23 avg rating — 7,126 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,558 ratings
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17

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4.09 avg rating — 2,403 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,428 ratings
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19

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3.45 avg rating — 857 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 45,494 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,685 ratings
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22

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3.71 avg rating — 446 ratings
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23

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3.93 avg rating — 52,527 ratings
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23

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4.12 avg rating — 3,475 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,063 ratings
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26

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4.19 avg rating — 2,277 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,600 ratings
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28

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3.86 avg rating — 29 ratings
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29

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3.89 avg rating — 57,185 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 6,093 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,472 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,755 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,270 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 2,218 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 18,281 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,127 ratings
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36

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4.10 avg rating — 68 ratings
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38

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4.07 avg rating — 72 ratings
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39

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3.60 avg rating — 338 ratings
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39

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3.70 avg rating — 1,567 ratings
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41

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3.66 avg rating — 4,875 ratings
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42

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4.11 avg rating — 457 ratings
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43

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3.82 avg rating — 3,383 ratings
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44

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4.01 avg rating — 346 ratings
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45

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 24 ratings
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46

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3.42 avg rating — 401 ratings
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46

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4.51 avg rating — 39 ratings
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46

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4.24 avg rating — 441 ratings
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46

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3.69 avg rating — 3,684 ratings
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46

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4.21 avg rating — 24 ratings
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46

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4.32 avg rating — 1,213 ratings
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46

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4.05 avg rating — 19 ratings
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46

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3.91 avg rating — 338 ratings
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46

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3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
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46

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4.65 avg rating — 506 ratings
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46

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4.27 avg rating — 91 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 4,978 ratings
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46

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4.59 avg rating — 17 ratings
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46

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4.29 avg rating — 303 ratings
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46

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4.42 avg rating — 40 ratings
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46

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3.63 avg rating — 379 ratings
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46

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings
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63

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3.82 avg rating — 10,351 ratings
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63

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4.46 avg rating — 92 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 124 ratings
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66

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4.05 avg rating — 152,688 ratings
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66

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3.44 avg rating — 43 ratings
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66

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4.31 avg rating — 102,913 ratings
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66

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4.50 avg rating — 292 ratings
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70

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4.31 avg rating — 672 ratings
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71

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4.05 avg rating — 10,777 ratings
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71

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3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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73

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4.30 avg rating — 33,916 ratings
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73

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4.19 avg rating — 1,098 ratings
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75

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4.02 avg rating — 219 ratings
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76

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4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
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77

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4.08 avg rating — 1,794 ratings
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78

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4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
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79

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3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
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80

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3.81 avg rating — 62 ratings
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81

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4.37 avg rating — 1,245 ratings
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82

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3.66 avg rating — 307 ratings
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83

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4.11 avg rating — 148 ratings
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84

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4.01 avg rating — 8,493 ratings
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85

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3.78 avg rating — 328 ratings
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86

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4.05 avg rating — 868 ratings
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87

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3.93 avg rating — 546 ratings
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88

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4.02 avg rating — 102 ratings
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89

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4.02 avg rating — 3,332 ratings
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90

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3.82 avg rating — 67 ratings
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91

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4.11 avg rating — 249 ratings
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92

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
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93

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3.68 avg rating — 674 ratings
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94

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4.19 avg rating — 2,676 ratings
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95

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
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96

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3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings
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97

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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98

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4.15 avg rating — 883 ratings
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99

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3.92 avg rating — 133 ratings
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100

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3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings
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134 books · 103 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
141 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1424 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 804 books
8 friends
Steven 10829 books
235 friends
Mark 1 book
10 friends
Anna 1027 books
40 friends
Robert 1 book
5 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by immisceo (new)

immisceo Thanks for putting this together! Saw it in the comments section of Harriet's article yesterday. Extremely helpful!


message 2: by Adam (new)

Adam Sawyer shn525 wrote: "Thanks for putting this together! Saw it in the comments section of Harriet's article yesterday. Extremely helpful!"

You're welcome. Goodreads has lots of lists of books on science, medicine, and skepticism, but they all tend to have the same 20 books or so at the top. I was happy to discover such a wide variety of books that undoubtedly deserve a bigger audience.


message 3: by Marian (new)

Marian Deegan Delighted to have this list. Thank you!


message 4: by James (last edited Jan 16, 2014 05:39AM) (new)

James Thomas Great work Sawyer. Adding a few now. - windriven


message 5: by Adam (new)

Adam Sawyer James wrote: "Great work Sawyer. Adding a few now. - windriven"

Glad you figured out how to vote for stuff, but I'm curious about some of your selections. Is there useful content about medicine in the Fermat book or in Freakonomics? These are certainly interesting reads but not really in line with the other books on the list. I vaguely recall some brief coverage of abortion statistics in Freakonomics.

Sorry for being such a stickler. Your Diamond and Pinker selections are certainly good choices. I noticed that despite several books on neurology, there was only one real psychology book on my list, and nothing along the lines of tackling consciousness or innate behaviors. Need to force Dr. Novella to do some book reviews.


message 6: by James (new)

James Thomas Adam, I added the Fermat because I loved the process. It doesn't have squat to do with medicine. But it is appropriate to logic and reason. Still, I'll delete it if you'd like.

Really, the Diamond doesn't have anything much to do with medicine either. But again, the reasoning made me think it was an appropriate addition.

I have more to come and I'll try to toe a closer line.


message 7: by Trenton (new)

Trenton James wrote: "Great work Sawyer. Adding a few now. - windriven"

I wish this book list was exactly what it said it is. A list of books from Dr. Novella. I added a book because it didn't appear on this list and Steve said it was " a rip-roaring good read"


message 8: by Adam (new)

Adam Sawyer Trenton, I originally intended it to solely be books explicitly recommended on the SBM blog, but those rules got bent pretty quickly. Feel free to add anything from the SBM/SGU/Orac/etc. sphere. Since I'm not a Goodreads librarian I can't remove the handful of books that clearly *don't* belong on this list, so the more positive stuff the better.


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