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
RatingTitle
1.3032.93The Stones Of Summer by Dow Mossman
1.1733.88Wicked French by Howard Tomb
1.1543.97The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image by Leonard Shlain
1.1213.07Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters
1.0933.41Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
1.0853.59The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson
1.0833.77No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan
1.0813.87The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
1.0743.29Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
1.0733.51Virgins of Paradise by Barbara Wood
1.0673.92Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
1.0673.88The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
1.0633.812-at-a-time socks : the secret of knitting two at once on one circular needle by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
1.0633.98The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles by Bruce H. Lipton
1.0614.18Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life and Times, and More by Charles Boyce
1.0544DK Handbooks: Gemstones by Cally Hall
1.0533.34The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
1.0493.87Somewhere In Time by Richard Matheson
1.0463.73Knitting for Dummies by Pam Allen
1.0454.19Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
1.0443.83Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds
1.0413.84Lysistrata by Aristophanes
1.043.43The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
1.0363.66It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
1.0333.6American Rust by Philipp Meyer
1.0254.02Animals of the Ocean, in Particular the Giant Squid (HOW) by Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-On-Whey
1.0243.82Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming by Paul Hawken
1.0233.43Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez
1.0183.74My New York Diary by Julie Doucet
1.0153.9The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
1.0053.63A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett
1.0033.89Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
1.0023.74Dewey by Vicki Myron
0.9933.35Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain
0.9923.89The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
0.9913.73Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs* by Chuck Klosterman
0.9834.03A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
0.9833.77A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
0.983.1Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine
0.9793.26The Golden Age of Myth & Legend by Thomas Bulfinch
0.9794.03Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
0.9793.84The Random House College Dictionary - Revised, Unabridged, Indexed by Random House
0.9774.14Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa
0.9693.54The Buddhist Handbook: A Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice, and History by John Snelling
0.9683.93The Bhagavad Gita by Anonymous
0.9674.23The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller; Revised and Updated Edition by Sogyal Rinpoche
0.9643.88Up Country by Nelson DeMille
0.9643.44You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs
0.9623.54A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits by Carol K. Mack
0.9624Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
0.9613.94Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
0.9594.16The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
0.9533.93My Ántonia by Willa Cather
0.9513.75Story of Philosophy by Bryan Magee
0.954.01More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl
0.953.64Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form by Scott McCloud
0.9473.79Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
0.9463.71Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine by Randolph M. Nesse
0.9443.98I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
0.9433.59Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn
0.9433.84The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 by Inge Aicher-Scholl
0.9413.39The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics by Michael Shermer
0.9413.86An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by Dalai Lama
0.944.09Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
0.9393.76Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall
0.9343.78The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle
0.9343.49The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes by Mark Frost
0.9313.81I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
0.933.89Lost Girls by Alan Moore
0.9283.95Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston
0.9283.91Clyde Fans: Book 1 by Seth
0.9274.17501 French Verbs by Christopher Kendris
0.9263.78March by Geraldine Brooks
0.9263.79Cerebus, Volume 1 by Dave Sim
0.9214.05Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality by Brad Warner
0.9193.77Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
0.9193.79The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs
0.9173.9O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
0.9134.1The Secret History by Donna Tartt
0.9133.6Essential Tibetan Buddhism by Robert A. F. Thurman
0.914.19Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch
0.9094.03Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
0.9083.68Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding
0.9074.01Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
0.9043.53The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers
0.9043.96Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel by Jean Kilbourne
0.9044.1The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon by Sei Shonagon
0.9033.73Poor People by William T. Vollmann
0.8983.71The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux
0.8954.45Above the River: The Complete Poems by James Wright
0.8943.67The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey
0.8933.6Life Sucks by Jessica Abel
0.8894.02Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! by Christen Haden
0.8873.88Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
0.8874.07The New York Public Library Desk Reference by The New York Public Library Project
0.8863.98The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
0.8863.99Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl
0.8844.15Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
0.8823.89Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution (Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters) by Wally Lamb
0.883.63Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
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