,

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

by
4.34 avg rating — 117,034 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.34 avg rating — 57,301 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.49 avg rating — 223,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.07 avg rating — 5,819 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.04 avg rating — 467,246 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.98 avg rating — 43,126 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.42 avg rating — 20,917 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.01 avg rating — 906,489 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.16 avg rating — 124,035 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.06 avg rating — 45,194 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.16 avg rating — 4,042 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.09 avg rating — 9,446 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.11 avg rating — 3,136 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.23 avg rating — 7,134 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.09 avg rating — 25,562 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.09 avg rating — 2,405 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.95 avg rating — 1,430 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.45 avg rating — 857 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.04 avg rating — 45,501 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.71 avg rating — 446 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.93 avg rating — 52,547 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,476 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.02 avg rating — 2,066 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,278 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.86 avg rating — 29 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.89 avg rating — 57,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.07 avg rating — 6,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,471 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.90 avg rating — 8,757 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,271 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.73 avg rating — 2,218 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.28 avg rating — 18,297 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.07 avg rating — 17,129 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.10 avg rating — 68 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.07 avg rating — 72 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.60 avg rating — 338 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.66 avg rating — 4,877 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.11 avg rating — 457 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.82 avg rating — 3,383 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.01 avg rating — 346 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 24 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.42 avg rating — 401 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.51 avg rating — 39 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.24 avg rating — 441 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.69 avg rating — 3,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.21 avg rating — 24 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.05 avg rating — 19 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.91 avg rating — 338 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.65 avg rating — 506 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.27 avg rating — 91 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.39 avg rating — 4,982 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.59 avg rating — 17 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.29 avg rating — 303 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.42 avg rating — 40 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.63 avg rating — 383 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.82 avg rating — 10,355 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.46 avg rating — 92 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.73 avg rating — 124 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.05 avg rating — 152,758 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.44 avg rating — 43 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.31 avg rating — 103,004 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.50 avg rating — 292 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.31 avg rating — 672 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.05 avg rating — 10,777 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.30 avg rating — 33,926 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.19 avg rating — 1,098 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.02 avg rating — 219 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.08 avg rating — 1,794 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.81 avg rating — 62 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.37 avg rating — 1,245 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.66 avg rating — 307 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.11 avg rating — 148 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.01 avg rating — 8,500 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.78 avg rating — 328 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.05 avg rating — 868 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.93 avg rating — 546 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.02 avg rating — 102 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.02 avg rating — 3,332 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.82 avg rating — 67 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.11 avg rating — 249 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.68 avg rating — 674 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.15 avg rating — 884 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.92 avg rating — 133 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

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


Adam 1425 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 804 books
8 friends
Steven 10830 books
235 friends
Mark 1 book
10 friends
Anna 1033 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.


back to top



Related News

Springtime is in full swing—here in the northern hemisphere, anyway—and it’s quite glorious. The flowers are blooming, the temperatures are...

Anyone can add books to this list.