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
1.348	3.84	The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton
1.334	3.44	The Shack by William P. Young
1.21	3.47	Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield
1.21	3.24	Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
1.203	3.61	The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
1.201	3	Rancid Aluminium by James Hawes
1.196	3.63	Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
1.189	3.56	How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman
1.18	3.38	The Unlimited Dream Company by J. G. Ballard
1.169	3.49	Barcelona Plates by Alexei Sayle
1.167	3.29	The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
1.164	3.5	Crash by J. G. Ballard
1.137	3.54	Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
1.128	3.49	Ramses: The Son Of The Light by Christian Jacq
1.126	3.52	Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho
1.121	3.36	By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness by Paulo Coelho
1.12	3.75	The Atrocity Exhibition by J. G. Ballard
1.116	3.16	The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho
1.111	3.31	The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho
1.106	3.58	The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada
1.102	3.73	Legend of a Suicide by David Vann
1.098	3.91	Northline: A Novel (P.S.) by Willy Vlautin
1.091	3.37	The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom by Paulo Coelho
1.09	2.98	The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Work by Joshua Piven
1.089	3.48	The Sea by John Banville
1.088	3.24	The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent
1.085	3.34	Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids by Jim Marrs
1.085	3.67	Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
1.084	3.8	The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Ольга Грушина
1.084	3.04	The Gathering by Anne Enright
1.081	3.48	Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
1.078	3.38	The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
1.074	3.53	La variante di Lüneburg by Paolo Maurensig
1.069	3.36	An American Dream by Norman Mailer
1.068	3.69	There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya
1.062	3.92	A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
1.055	3.73	An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge) by John O'Farrell
1.049	3.21	BLACKBOX: A Novel in 840 Chapters by Nick Walker
1.045	3.92	The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
1.043	3.42	The Information by Martin Amis
1.039	3.61	The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard
1.038	3.67	Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
1.037	3.48	Inishowen by Joseph O'Connor
1.031	2.1	The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
1.029	3.09	Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
1.028	3.64	The Day After Tomorrow by Allan Folsom
1.028	3.57	The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard
1.025	3.42	The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs
1.025	3.62	Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
1.024	3.47	Firmin by Sam Savage
1.022	3.01	Rushing to Paradise by J. G. Ballard
1.021	3.9	That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
1.021	3.41	Audition by Ryū Murakami
1.017	3.55	Pulp by Charles Bukowski
1.013	4.17	On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
1.013	3.5	Flights of Love by Bernhard Schlink
1.01	3.9	Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
1.008	3.47	In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami
1.007	3.72	The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
1.006	4.31	Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before by Alastair Fothergill
1.006	3.37	The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
1.002	3.13	Winterwood by Patrick McCabe
1	3.14	Millennium People by J. G. Ballard
1	3.56	Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
0.997	4.06	The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
0.995	3.19	Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard
0.994	3.97	The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
0.993	3.47	Filth by Irvine Welsh
0.992	3.9	Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
0.992	3.76	Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
0.992	3.59	Super-Cannes by J. G. Ballard
0.991	3.74	Full Circle by Michael Palin
0.99	3.59	The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio
0.99	3.41	The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
0.989	3.55	Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World: A novel by Donald Antrim
0.986	3.57	The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
0.985	3.82	Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
0.985	3.82	The Twits by Roald Dahl
0.982	3.7	Money by Martin Amis
0.981	3.64	The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles by Roy Jacobsen
0.979	3.67	Black Mass by John Gray
0.978	3.44	Cocaine Nights by J. G. Ballard
0.977	3.75	Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals by John Gray
0.977	3.62	On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
0.974	3.97	Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
0.972	3.74	White Teeth by Zadie Smith
0.971	4.09	The Road by Cormac McCarthy
0.97	3.77	This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann
0.969	3.86	Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
0.968	3.98	Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
0.965	3.89	The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
0.963	3.69	Saturday by Ian McEwan
0.963	4.04	The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
0.962	3.5	The Drought by J. G. Ballard
0.962	4.14	The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
0.962	3.49	The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh
0.961	3.45	Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
0.96	3.72	Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure by Michael Palin
0.959	3.83	Of Love and other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez
0.958	3.69	Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland

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