Controversial Books

This page shows your 100 most controversial books, as measured by the standard deviation of members star ratings. (This is also the source of the Zeitgeist category "25 Books People Can't Agree on.") To be included, a book must have been rated at least 20 times. Work titles are given.

Standard Deviation	Rating	Title
1.353	3.47	Elements of the Philosophy of Right by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
1.338	3.71	The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes
1.282	4.16	Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton
1.277	4.3	God Is a Verb by David A. Cooper
1.252	3.36	Wheel of the Year: Living the Magical Life by Pauline Campanelli
1.238	3.94	The Holy Bible: New American Bible, 2nd Edition by New American Bible
1.215	3.66	Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales by Vance Randolph
1.207	3.72	Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science by Werner Heisenberg
1.188	3.48	Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements by Paul Strathern
1.182	3.77	Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
1.182	3.29	The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle: The Viking Runes with Stones: 10th Anniversary Edition by Ralph Blum
1.181	3.07	Tintin in the New World: A Romance by Frederic Tuten
1.178	3.53	The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
1.178	4.09	Plutarch's Lives by Plutarch
1.174	4.09	Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas
1.173	3.46	The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
1.152	3.58	Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
1.15	3.63	Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Herbert F. Solow
1.148	3.34	I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein
1.147	3.86	Moby Dick by Herman Melville
1.143	3.06	Bored of the Rings by Harvard Lampoon
1.14	3.52	Fit for Life by Harvey Diamond
1.137	3.43	Tintin in America by Hergé
1.132	4.2	Catechism of the Catholic Church by Catholic Church
1.131	3.5	The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook (Lord of the Rings) by Ian Brodie
1.13	3.61	Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
1.126	3.63	The Eclogues by Virgil
1.122	3.63	A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age by William Manchester
1.113	3.8	Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
1.109	3.41	The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1.103	3.61	The Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters
1.103	3.79	Experience And Education by John Dewey
1.099	3.71	On the Road by Jack Kerouac
1.097	3.89	To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
1.097	3.75	A Tolkien Compass by Jared Lobdell
1.094	3.18	Once Upon a Number by John Allen Paulos
1.093	3.64	On the Nature of the Universe by Lucretius
1.088	3.91	As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
1.088	3.29	A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley
1.086	3.3	Einstein's Monsters by Martin Amis
1.085	3.67	Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
1.084	3.33	Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke
1.082	3.55	The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity by John McManners
1.082	3.27	Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime: Breaking Strain by Paul Preuss
1.081	3.87	The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
1.08	4	Asimov's Chronology of the World by Isaac Asimov
1.078	3.94	Uncle John's Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers' Institute
1.077	3.72	Tales of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov
1.071	3.83	The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
1.07	3.49	Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
1.069	4.13	U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D Blueprints by Rick Sternbach
1.063	3.48	Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis by Douglas H. Gresham
1.063	4.02	A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1.062	3.75	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
1.062	3.92	Star Trek: Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph
1.059	3.85	The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin
1.059	3.41	The Real Middle-Earth: Magic and Mystery in the Dark Ages by Brian Bates
1.059	3.78	Pragmatism by William James
1.055	3.5	Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life by Stephen Jay Gould
1.055	3	Tintin in the Congo by Hergé
1.053	3.07	The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts by Burke Davis
1.053	4.08	China Court: The Hours of a Country House by Rumer Godden
1.051	3.5	Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp
1.05	3.82	The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
1.05	3.9	The Critique of Judgement / The Critique of Practical Reason / The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
1.048	4.07	The Gallery Of Regrettable Food by James Lileks
1.047	3.67	The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
1.046	3.53	Discourse on the Origin of Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1.045	3.92	The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
1.045	3.87	PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon
1.044	3.56	The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel
1.043	3.59	Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
1.043	3.57	The Hobbit Companion by David Day
1.04	3.17	The Rivan Codex: Ancient Texts of the Belgariad and the Malloreon by David Eddings
1.04	3.62	Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
1.04	3.67	Faust, Part Two by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1.04	3.84	The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
1.037	3.13	Tintin and the Lake of Sharks by Hergé
1.036	3.66	It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
1.034	3.55	Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings by Sarah Arthur
1.033	3.94	Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
1.032	3.64	Flatterland by Ian Stewart
1.031	3.56	Discourse on Method / Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes
1.03	3.45	The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff
1.028	3.64	The Star Trek Encyclopedia by Michael Okuda
1.026	3.78	Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings
1.026	3.96	Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
1.024	3.68	The Crucible by Arthur Miller
1.023	3.95	Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture by Jaroslav Pelikan
1.023	3.55	The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin
1.021	3.59	Meditations on Middle Earth by Karen Haber
1.021	4.2	The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
1.021	3.77	Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien
1.02	3.93	Bilbo's Last Song by J. R. R. Tolkien
1.02	3.89	Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
1.018	3.91	The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1.018	3.79	Mr. Bliss by J. R. R. Tolkien
1.018	3.11	Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings by Lin Carter
1.018	3.74	The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
1.016	3.5	Juggling for the Complete Klutz by John Cassidy

Copyright LibraryThing and/or members of LibraryThing, authors, publishers, libraries, cover designers, Amazon, Bol, Bruna, etc. | static: /