,

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 — 56,688 ratings
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4.49 avg rating — 221,446 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 463,428 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 122,856 ratings
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4.06 avg rating — 45,070 ratings
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13

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4.10 avg rating — 9,368 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 — 7,068 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,454 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 2,388 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,422 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 — 45,332 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,679 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 — 52,196 ratings
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23

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4.12 avg rating — 3,457 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,058 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 — 4,592 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 — 56,884 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 6,057 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,466 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,729 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 — 2,212 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 18,119 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,087 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 — 333 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 — 4,864 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 — 3,376 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 — 439 ratings
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46

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3.69 avg rating — 3,670 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 — 1,203 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 — 332 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 — 500 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 — 4,935 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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4.31 avg rating — 295 ratings
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46

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46

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3.63 avg rating — 347 ratings
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62

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3.82 avg rating — 10,240 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 — 151,750 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 — 101,609 ratings
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65

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4.51 avg rating — 287 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 — 10,741 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 — 33,727 ratings
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72

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4.19 avg rating — 1,095 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 — 1,779 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 — 1,227 ratings
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81

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3.65 avg rating — 301 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 — 8,443 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 — 866 ratings
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86

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3.94 avg rating — 539 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 — 3,320 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 — 2,652 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 1416 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 1024 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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