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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10

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4.16 avg rating — 121,333 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 44,802 ratings
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4.16 avg rating — 3,978 ratings
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13

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4.10 avg rating — 9,274 ratings
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14

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4.10 avg rating — 3,114 ratings
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15

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4.23 avg rating — 6,959 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,291 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 2,351 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,401 ratings
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19

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3.45 avg rating — 850 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 44,997 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,665 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 — 51,564 ratings
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23

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4.11 avg rating — 3,441 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,045 ratings
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26

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4.20 avg rating — 2,265 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,579 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 — 56,181 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 5,967 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,457 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,673 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,247 ratings
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34

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3.74 avg rating — 2,193 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 17,819 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 16,991 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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3.59 avg rating — 326 ratings
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39

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3.70 avg rating — 1,557 ratings
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41

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3.66 avg rating — 4,829 ratings
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42

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4.11 avg rating — 455 ratings
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43

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3.82 avg rating — 3,361 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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3.43 avg rating — 400 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 — 3,646 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 — 1,175 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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3.90 avg rating — 328 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 — 497 ratings
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46

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4.29 avg rating — 84 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 4,861 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 — 278 ratings
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46

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4.11 avg rating — 18 ratings
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61

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3.82 avg rating — 9,972 ratings
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61

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4.45 avg rating — 91 ratings
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63

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3.74 avg rating — 121 ratings
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64

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4.05 avg rating — 150,084 ratings
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64

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3.44 avg rating — 43 ratings
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64

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4.31 avg rating — 99,094 ratings
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67

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4.31 avg rating — 666 ratings
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68

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4.04 avg rating — 10,671 ratings
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68

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3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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70

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4.30 avg rating — 33,384 ratings
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70

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4.19 avg rating — 1,086 ratings
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72

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4.02 avg rating — 216 ratings
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73

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4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings
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74

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4.09 avg rating — 1,741 ratings
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75

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4.19 avg rating — 16 ratings
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76

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3.95 avg rating — 43 ratings
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77

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3.79 avg rating — 63 ratings
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78

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4.37 avg rating — 1,183 ratings
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79

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3.65 avg rating — 299 ratings
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80

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4.12 avg rating — 147 ratings
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81

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4.01 avg rating — 8,359 ratings
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82

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3.78 avg rating — 325 ratings
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83

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4.04 avg rating — 865 ratings
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84

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3.93 avg rating — 536 ratings
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85

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4.01 avg rating — 103 ratings
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86

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4.02 avg rating — 3,289 ratings
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87

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3.82 avg rating — 66 ratings
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88

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4.11 avg rating — 247 ratings
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89

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings
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90

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3.68 avg rating — 668 ratings
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91

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4.19 avg rating — 2,601 ratings
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92

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
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93

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3.45 avg rating — 190 ratings
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94

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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95

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4.15 avg rating — 876 ratings
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96

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3.92 avg rating — 132 ratings
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97

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3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings
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98

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3.68 avg rating — 44 ratings
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99

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4.16 avg rating — 1,039 ratings
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100

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4.01 avg rating — 10,822 ratings
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131 books · 101 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
141 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1392 books
1 friend
James 153 books
0 friends
Beyond Words 169 books
56 friends
Dania 804 books
8 friends
Steven 10802 books
235 friends
Mark 1 book
10 friends
Anna 1002 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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