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
1.299	3.29	Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
1.245	3.58	The Miocene Arrow by Sean McMullen
1.233	3.87	The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Eugene Cernan
1.221	3.46	Manhattan Transfer by John E. Stith
1.199	2.67	Killing Time by Caleb Carr
1.176	3.05	For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein
1.173	3.87	Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
1.171	3.41	Light by M. John Harrison
1.17	3.43	Master of Space and Time by Rudy Rucker
1.17	3.3	The Shroud of the Thwacker by Chris Elliott
1.154	3.2	The Architecture of Desire by Mary Gentle
1.152	3.25	Destiny's Road by Larry Niven
1.152	3.09	Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris
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
1.144	3.41	Wave Without a Shore by C. J. Cherryh
1.144	3.52	The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith
1.142	3.6	Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson
1.141	4.03	Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle
1.14	3.44	Rama Revealed by Arthur C. Clarke
1.138	3.36	Hannibal by Thomas Harris
1.138	3.1	Saturn by Ben Bova
1.136	3.48	White Devils by Paul McAuley
1.131	3.83	Federation by Judith Reeves-Stevens
1.13	3.54	Freezer Burn by Joe R. Lansdale
1.13	3.43	The Rift by Walter J. Williams
1.125	3.54	Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
1.123	3.38	Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno
1.118	3.4	State of Fear by Michael Crichton
1.118	3.53	Dragonworld by Bryon Preiss
1.116	3.18	The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy
1.112	3.74	The Genesis Machine by James P. Hogan
1.11	3.89	The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn
1.109	3.42	The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1.102	3.63	The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
1.098	3.45	Three Adventure Novels: She, King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
1.096	3.58	Whirlwind by James Clavell
1.095	3.71	Eyes of the Calculor by Sean McMullen
1.093	3.53	Titan by Stephen Baxter
1.089	3.63	Antares Dawn by Michael McCollum
1.088	3.79	Improbable by Adam Fawer
1.087	3.43	I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
1.086	3.41	The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley
1.084	3.68	Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen
1.084	3.74	Souls In The Great Machine by Sean McMullen
1.084	3.33	Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke
1.082	3.23	Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
1.081	3.25	Urshurak by Gregory Hildebrandt
1.078	3.54	Shardik by Richard Adams
1.078	3.06	Cradle by Arthur C. Clarke
1.077	3.39	Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin
1.076	3.62	The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper
1.074	3.55	The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
1.073	3.73	The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
1.071	3.31	Hadrian's Wall: A Novel by William Dietrich
1.067	3.41	Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams
1.067	3.43	Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne
1.065	3.35	The Ruins by Scott Smith
1.064	3.36	Fallen Angels by Larry Niven
1.062	3.46	Harvest of Stars by Poul Anderson
1.061	3.55	Hardcase by Dan Simmons
1.061	3.82	Fortress of Dragons by C. J. Cherryh
1.06	3.46	The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy
1.06	3.93	The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
1.06	3.61	Camelot 30K by Robert L. Forward
1.059	3.68	Candle by John Barnes
1.059	3.83	Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter
1.058	3.51	Marrow by Robert Reed
1.058	3.86	Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
1.057	3.87	Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
1.056	3.48	The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold
1.055	3.55	Timeline by Michael Crichton
1.055	3.53	Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
1.053	3.32	Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein
1.053	3.18	Kaleidoscope Century by John Barnes
1.053	3.87	Cloud's Rider by C. J. Cherryh
1.053	3.64	City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison
1.051	2.78	A Song of Stone by Iain Banks
1.05	3.92	Silverlock by John Myers Myers
1.05	3.5	The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
1.049	3.4	Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan
1.049	3.79	To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Robert A. Heinlein
1.047	3.63	The Bearkeeper's Daughter by Gillian Bradshaw
1.047	3.67	The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
1.046	3.53	The Return by William Shatner
1.044	3.23	Next by Michael Crichton
1.042	3.43	Resplendent by Stephen Baxter
1.041	3.52	Galactic Patrol by E. E. "Doc" Smith
1.04	3.3	The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco
1.04	3.49	The World of Null-A by A. E. Van Vogt
1.039	3.06	Destination: Morgue!: L.A. Tales by James Ellroy
1.039	3.22	Hestia by C. J. Cherryh
1.038	3.58	The Final Encyclopedia by Gordon R. Dickson
1.038	3.67	God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
1.037	3.44	Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
1.037	3.73	The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume One by Greg Cox
1.036	3.86	Feynman’s Lost Lecture; The Motion of Planets Around the Sun by David L. Goodstein
1.036	3.73	Best Destiny by Diane Carey
1.035	3.93	Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
1.034	3.32	Cosm by Gregory Benford

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