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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4.34 avg rating — 116,155 ratings
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4.35 avg rating — 56,804 ratings
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3

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4.49 avg rating — 221,815 ratings
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4.07 avg rating — 5,819 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 464,147 ratings
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6

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3.98 avg rating — 42,932 ratings
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4.42 avg rating — 20,741 ratings
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8

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3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings
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9

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4.01 avg rating — 903,643 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 123,007 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 45,094 ratings
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12

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4.16 avg rating — 4,019 ratings
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13

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4.10 avg rating — 9,380 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 3,133 ratings
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15

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4.23 avg rating — 7,077 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,470 ratings
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17

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4.09 avg rating — 2,393 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,425 ratings
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19

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3.45 avg rating — 855 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 45,366 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,680 ratings
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22

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3.71 avg rating — 447 ratings
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23

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3.93 avg rating — 52,247 ratings
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23

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4.12 avg rating — 3,461 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,059 ratings
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26

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4.19 avg rating — 2,272 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,594 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 — 56,947 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 6,060 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,467 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,733 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,259 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 2,213 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 18,155 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,095 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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4.32 avg rating — 44 ratings
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39

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3.60 avg rating — 335 ratings
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39

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3.70 avg rating — 1,565 ratings
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41

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3.66 avg rating — 4,865 ratings
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42

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4.11 avg rating — 456 ratings
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43

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3.82 avg rating — 3,377 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 — 402 ratings
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46

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4.51 avg rating — 37 ratings
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46

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4.24 avg rating — 440 ratings
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46

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3.69 avg rating — 3,671 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 — 1,204 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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3.90 avg rating — 333 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 — 501 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 — 4,940 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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4.30 avg rating — 298 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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3.62 avg rating — 353 ratings
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62

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3.82 avg rating — 10,252 ratings
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62

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4.45 avg rating — 91 ratings
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64

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3.72 avg rating — 123 ratings
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65

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4.05 avg rating — 151,928 ratings
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65

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3.44 avg rating — 43 ratings
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65

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4.31 avg rating — 101,864 ratings
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65

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4.50 avg rating — 289 ratings
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69

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4.31 avg rating — 672 ratings
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70

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4.05 avg rating — 10,748 ratings
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70

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3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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72

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4.30 avg rating — 33,760 ratings
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72

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4.19 avg rating — 1,097 ratings
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74

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4.02 avg rating — 218 ratings
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75

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4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
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76

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4.08 avg rating — 1,782 ratings
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77

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4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
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78

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3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
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79

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3.81 avg rating — 62 ratings
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80

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4.37 avg rating — 1,229 ratings
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81

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3.65 avg rating — 303 ratings
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82

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4.13 avg rating — 147 ratings
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83

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4.01 avg rating — 8,457 ratings
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84

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3.78 avg rating — 326 ratings
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85

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4.05 avg rating — 868 ratings
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86

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3.94 avg rating — 540 ratings
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87

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4.02 avg rating — 102 ratings
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88

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4.02 avg rating — 3,322 ratings
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89

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3.84 avg rating — 67 ratings
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90

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4.11 avg rating — 249 ratings
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91

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
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92

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3.68 avg rating — 675 ratings
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93

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4.19 avg rating — 2,654 ratings
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94

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
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95

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3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings
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96

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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97

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4.15 avg rating — 879 ratings
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98

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3.92 avg rating — 133 ratings
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99

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3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings
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100

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3.68 avg rating — 44 ratings
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133 books · 102 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
141 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1418 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 804 books
8 friends
Steven 10808 books
235 friends
Mark 1 book
10 friends
Anna 1025 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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