The best health books, according to hackers
5 health books were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one. None of them earns the Hacker Approved badge yet.
All 5 health books, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outliveby Peter Attia and Bill Gifford | 7 | 3 | 70% | 6 | — | — |
| 2 | Starting Strengthby Mark Rippetoe | 6 | 2 | 75% | 5 | — | — |
| 3 | In Defense of Foodby Michael Pollan | 5 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | Where There Is No Doctorby David Werner and Carol Thuman and Jane Maxwell and Andrew Pearson and C. Sathyamala and David B. Werner | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | Body By Scienceby McGuff and Little | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same health book in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to health books that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.