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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 — 118,648 ratings
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4.34 avg rating — 58,221 ratings
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4.49 avg rating — 227,258 ratings
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4.07 avg rating — 5,828 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 473,562 ratings
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3.98 avg rating — 43,444 ratings
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4.42 avg rating — 21,179 ratings
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3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings
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9

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4.01 avg rating — 911,948 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 125,536 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 45,420 ratings
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12

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4.16 avg rating — 4,067 ratings
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13

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4.09 avg rating — 9,530 ratings
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14

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4.11 avg rating — 3,151 ratings
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15

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4.23 avg rating — 7,231 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,682 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 2,453 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,435 ratings
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19

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3.45 avg rating — 861 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 45,790 ratings
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21

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3.99 avg rating — 2,697 ratings
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22

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3.70 avg rating — 447 ratings
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23

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3.93 avg rating — 53,055 ratings
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23

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4.11 avg rating — 3,493 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,086 ratings
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26

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4.19 avg rating — 2,285 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,620 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 — 57,819 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 6,165 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,484 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,807 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,283 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 2,228 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 18,555 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,216 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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4.11 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 — 1,566 ratings
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41

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3.66 avg rating — 4,900 ratings
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42

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4.12 avg rating — 457 ratings
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43

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3.82 avg rating — 3,398 ratings
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44

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4.01 avg rating — 347 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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3.43 avg rating — 399 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 — 3,709 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 — 1,240 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 — 341 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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4.29 avg rating — 94 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 5,049 ratings
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46

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4.56 avg rating — 18 ratings
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46

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4.30 avg rating — 318 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 — 417 ratings
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46

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 17 ratings
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46

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4.49 avg rating — 292 ratings
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64

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3.82 avg rating — 10,512 ratings
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64

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4.46 avg rating — 93 ratings
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64

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4.39 avg rating — 465 ratings
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64

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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68

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3.73 avg rating — 124 ratings
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68

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4.56 avg rating — 202 ratings
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70

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4.05 avg rating — 154,504 ratings
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70

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3.44 avg rating — 43 ratings
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70

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4.31 avg rating — 105,078 ratings
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70

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4.49 avg rating — 300 ratings
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74

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4.30 avg rating — 674 ratings
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75

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4.05 avg rating — 10,819 ratings
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75

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3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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77

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4.30 avg rating — 34,246 ratings
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77

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4.19 avg rating — 1,105 ratings
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79

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4.03 avg rating — 220 ratings
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80

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4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
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81

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4.07 avg rating — 1,832 ratings
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82

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4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
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83

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3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
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84

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3.81 avg rating — 62 ratings
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85

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4.37 avg rating — 1,263 ratings
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86

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3.66 avg rating — 311 ratings
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87

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4.11 avg rating — 149 ratings
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88

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4.01 avg rating — 8,582 ratings
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89

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3.79 avg rating — 330 ratings
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90

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4.04 avg rating — 868 ratings
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91

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3.93 avg rating — 548 ratings
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92

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4.02 avg rating — 102 ratings
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93

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4.02 avg rating — 3,354 ratings
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94

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3.82 avg rating — 67 ratings
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95

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4.11 avg rating — 249 ratings
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96

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
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97

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3.68 avg rating — 678 ratings
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98

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4.19 avg rating — 2,711 ratings
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99

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
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100

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3.45 avg rating — 192 ratings
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138 books · 104 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
140 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1444 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 815 books
8 friends
Steven 10908 books
231 friends
Mark 2 books
10 friends
Anna 1029 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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