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 — 55,816 ratings
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4.49 avg rating — 218,008 ratings
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3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings
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9

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4.01 avg rating — 897,948 ratings
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10

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4.16 avg rating — 121,599 ratings
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11

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4.06 avg rating — 44,848 ratings
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12

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4.16 avg rating — 3,989 ratings
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13

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4.10 avg rating — 9,289 ratings
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14

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4.10 avg rating — 3,119 ratings
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15

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4.23 avg rating — 6,982 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 25,321 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 2,355 ratings
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18

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3.95 avg rating — 1,407 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 — 45,059 ratings
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21

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,668 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 — 51,685 ratings
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23

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4.12 avg rating — 3,447 ratings
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25

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4.02 avg rating — 2,048 ratings
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26

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4.20 avg rating — 2,266 ratings
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27

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4.11 avg rating — 4,581 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 — 56,324 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 5,987 ratings
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31

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3.76 avg rating — 1,458 ratings
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32

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3.90 avg rating — 8,685 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 4,246 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 2,200 ratings
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35

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4.28 avg rating — 17,862 ratings
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36

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4.07 avg rating — 17,005 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 — 326 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 — 4,836 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 — 3,363 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 — 3,649 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 — 1,176 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 — 329 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 — 85 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 4,866 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 — 279 ratings
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46

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4.11 avg rating — 18 ratings
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46

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3.64 avg rating — 284 ratings
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62

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3.82 avg rating — 10,001 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 — 150,406 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 — 99,561 ratings
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68

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4.30 avg rating — 667 ratings
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69

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4.04 avg rating — 10,689 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 — 33,445 ratings
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71

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4.19 avg rating — 1,086 ratings
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73

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4.02 avg rating — 216 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 — 1,745 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 — 1,193 ratings
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80

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3.65 avg rating — 299 ratings
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81

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4.12 avg rating — 147 ratings
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82

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4.01 avg rating — 8,380 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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4.04 avg rating — 866 ratings
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85

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3.93 avg rating — 536 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 — 3,297 ratings
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88

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3.82 avg rating — 66 ratings
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89

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4.11 avg rating — 247 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 — 2,611 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 — 876 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 — 1,043 ratings
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132 books · 102 voters · list created January 14th, 2014 by Adam Sawyer (votes) .
141 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Adam 1396 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 1006 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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