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
1.088	3.78	LaTeX: A Document Preparation System by Leslie Lamport
1.015	4.31	Java Concurrency in Practice by Brian Goetz
1.013	3.86	XSLT Programmer's Reference 2nd Edition by Michael Kay
0.985	4.03	Head First Java, 2nd Edition by Kathy Sierra
0.981	3.77	Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development by Craig Larman
0.96	3.88	TeXbook by Donald E. Knuth
0.9	3.78	The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond
0.868	4.14	Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma
0.866	3.4	The Java Programming Language by Ken Arnold
0.865	3.33	A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge by Project Management Institute
0.864	3.88	The LaTeX Companion by Michel Goossens
0.862	3.8	Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering (Agile Software Development) by Robert L. Glass
0.84	3.97	Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas
0.838	4.44	Effective Java by Joshua Bloch
0.824	3.88	Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World by Bruce Schneier
0.823	3.83	Practical Cryptography by Niels Ferguson
0.808	3.73	The Existential Pleasures of Engineering by Samuel C. Florman
0.773	4.44	The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Staff
0.768	4.4	Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software by Eric Evans
0.766	4.23	Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition by Bruce Schneier
0.759	4.4	The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
0.755	4.38	Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco
0.746	3.85	Smart and Gets Things Done by Joel Spolsky
0.729	4.08	Head First Servlets and JSP: Passing the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (SCWCD) by Bryan Basham
0.698	4.07	Java(TM) Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases by Joshua Bloch
0.695	3.53	The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are by Donald A. Norman
0.693	3.97	The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming by Hal Fulton
0.686	4.38	Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler
0.629	4.25	A Guide to LATEX: Document Preparation for Beginners and Advanced Users (3rd Edition) by Helmut Kopka

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