,

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 — 56,172 ratings
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4.49 avg rating — 219,461 ratings
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4.01 avg rating — 900,157 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 122,077 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 44,945 ratings
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4.16 avg rating — 4,001 ratings
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13

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4.10 avg rating — 9,317 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 — 7,021 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,378 ratings
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17

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4.09 avg rating — 2,367 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,409 ratings
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19

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3.45 avg rating — 854 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 45,178 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,677 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 — 51,916 ratings
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23

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4.11 avg rating — 3,451 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,051 ratings
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26

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4.20 avg rating — 2,268 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,586 ratings
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28

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3.90 avg rating — 30 ratings
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29

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3.89 avg rating — 56,554 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 6,016 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,459 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,705 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,260 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 2,203 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 17,966 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,032 ratings
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36

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4.10 avg rating — 67 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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3.59 avg rating — 329 ratings
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39

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3.70 avg rating — 1,560 ratings
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41

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3.66 avg rating — 4,844 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 — 3,370 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 — 23 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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4.54 avg rating — 37 ratings
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46

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4.24 avg rating — 438 ratings
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46

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3.69 avg rating — 3,656 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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4.31 avg rating — 1,191 ratings
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46

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 20 ratings
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46

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3.91 avg rating — 331 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 — 499 ratings
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46

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4.30 avg rating — 89 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 4,885 ratings
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46

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4.62 avg rating — 16 ratings
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46

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4.32 avg rating — 285 ratings
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46

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4.49 avg rating — 37 ratings
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46

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3.65 avg rating — 313 ratings
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62

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3.82 avg rating — 10,154 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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3.74 avg rating — 121 ratings
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65

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4.05 avg rating — 150,949 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 — 100,388 ratings
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68

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4.30 avg rating — 669 ratings
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69

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4.04 avg rating — 10,708 ratings
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69

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3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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71

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4.30 avg rating — 33,564 ratings
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71

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4.19 avg rating — 1,090 ratings
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73

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4.02 avg rating — 217 ratings
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74

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4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
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75

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4.09 avg rating — 1,758 ratings
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76

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4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
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77

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3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
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78

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3.81 avg rating — 62 ratings
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79

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4.37 avg rating — 1,209 ratings
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80

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3.64 avg rating — 300 ratings
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81

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4.13 avg rating — 147 ratings
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82

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4.01 avg rating — 8,401 ratings
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83

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3.78 avg rating — 325 ratings
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84

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4.05 avg rating — 867 ratings
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85

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3.93 avg rating — 537 ratings
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86

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4.01 avg rating — 103 ratings
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87

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4.02 avg rating — 3,307 ratings
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88

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3.84 avg rating — 67 ratings
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89

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4.10 avg rating — 248 ratings
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90

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
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91

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3.67 avg rating — 670 ratings
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92

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4.19 avg rating — 2,628 ratings
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93

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
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94

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3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings
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95

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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96

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4.15 avg rating — 880 ratings
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97

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3.92 avg rating — 133 ratings
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98

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3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings
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99

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3.68 avg rating — 44 ratings
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100

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4.16 avg rating — 1,046 ratings
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132 books · 102 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
140 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1404 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 804 books
8 friends
Steven 10803 books
235 friends
Mark 1 book
10 friends
Anna 1010 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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