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
1.783.33The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith
1.5313.48Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong by Jonathan Wells
1.53.41The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism by Michael J. Behe
1.4923.49Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky
1.4611.87The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey
1.4132.7The Gold of the Gods by Erich von Däniken
1.3923.53Pornography: Men Possessing Women by Andrea Dworkin
1.3483.37Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days by Tim LaHaye
1.3363.47Darwin's Black Box by Michael J. Behe
1.3183.26Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H. A. Rey
1.3173.51The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1.3142.71Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past by Erich von Däniken
1.3113.96The History of Zadig, or Destiny: An Oriental Tale by Voltaire
1.3083.44QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life by John G. Miller
1.3072.79Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
1.3042.99Suicide Blonde by Darcey Steinke
1.2873.03Dutch : A Memoir of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris
1.2783.14How to Argue & Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Everyday by Gerry Spence
1.2783.4Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity by Samuel P. Huntington
1.2763.71The End of Racism by Dinesh D'Souza
1.2622.42Barry Trotter and the Shameless Parody by Michael Gerber
1.2623.7Pierre, Or, The Ambiguities by Herman Melville
1.2582.54Gods From Outer Space by Erich von Däniken
1.2563.72The Book of J by David Rosenberg
1.2493.5The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J. Herrnstein
1.2443.06Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking by Darrell L. Bock
1.2353.49SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas
1.2343.5Poison by Ed McBain
1.2333.87The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Eugene Cernan
1.2253.86The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
1.2243.91Reptiles and Amphibians: Eastern Central North America (Peterson Field Guides) by Roger Conant
1.2122.87Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide by Maureen Dowd
1.1963.76The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen
1.1943.64Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike
1.1883.12Duluth by Gore Vidal
1.1863.63Then and Now by W. Somerset Maugham
1.1823.35Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
1.1783.53The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
1.1773.56Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot by J. Randy Taraborrelli
1.1753.1A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
1.1712.76The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
1.1654.2Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards
1.1653.85From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (2 Vols. in 1) by John Hope Franklin
1.1643.41Something Happened by Joseph Heller
1.1623.39Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl-A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship by Sherry Argov
1.1623.65All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat by Suzy Becker
1.1593.38Beyond Freedom & Dignity by B. F. Skinner
1.1573.07Tarantula by Bob Dylan
1.1563.07Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui
1.1553.8Boys and Girls Together by William Goldman
1.1553.38The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley
1.1553.92Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
1.1523.58Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
1.1493.15Traci Lords: Underneath It All by Traci Lords
1.1483.34I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein
1.1473.86Moby Dick by Herman Melville
1.1443.12What Happened by Scott McClellan
1.1443.95Boy Scout Handbook by Boy Scouts of America
1.1434Something Fishy by P. G. Wodehouse
1.1433.06Bored of the Rings by Harvard Lampoon
1.1393.34Caravan to Vaccares by Alistair MacLean
1.1393.29Walden Two by B. F. Skinner
1.1393.19Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals by Rupert Sheldrake
1.1393San Andreas by Alistair MacLean
1.1393.29Ten Philosophical Mistakes by Mortimer J. Adler
1.1392.97Santorini by Alistair MacLean
1.1383.36Hannibal by Thomas Harris
1.1383.59Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives by Frank J. Sulloway
1.1373.39The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse by Gregg Easterbrook
1.1373.48The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization by Patrick J. Buchanan
1.1363.44Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare
1.1364.06The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell
1.1353.67The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible by Robin Lane Fox
1.1343.2Love Me by Garrison Keillor
1.1333.56A History of the End of the World by Jonathan Kirsch
1.1323.49The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty by William Bligh
1.1323.71Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham
1.1323.76The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
1.1313.59The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
1.1313.52The painted word by Tom Wolfe
1.133.61Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
1.1273.33Love Story by Erich Segal
1.1273.61The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
1.1273.32The Prairie: A Tale by James Fenimore Cooper
1.1243.73The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders
1.1233.31Liberty by Garrison Keillor
1.1233.55Telling the Truth About History by Joyce Oldham Appleby
1.1223.63A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age by William Manchester
1.1223.51Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
1.1223.84The Chalice and The Blade by Riane Eisler
1.1213.43The Fox by D. H. Lawrence
1.123.16Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray
1.1193.43Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
1.1193.18A Season in Hell by Jack Higgins
1.1193.64The Dead Sea Scrolls by Michael O. Wise
1.1153.81The Sea Around Us by Rachel L. Carson
1.1153.64Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier
1.1143.64The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain by George Lakoff
1.1143.66The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought by Marilynne Robinson
1.1123.4Macroscope by Piers Anthony
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