The Greatest Reference Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
302 The Elements of Style E. B. White, William Strunk Jr. 1918 American English
418 The Joy of Cooking Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker 1931 American English
679 Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 British English
845 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
959 Quotations from Chairman Mao Mao 1964 Chinese Chinese
1390 Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press 1884 British English
1416 A Dictionary of the English Language Samuel Johnson 1755 British English
1499 The Principia Mathematica Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell 1910 British English
1563 I Ching China -1000 Chinese Chinese
1592 Encyclopédie Denis Diderot 1751 French French
1738 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1822 The American Language H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
1990 Our Bodies, Ourselves Unknown 1970 American English
2021 A Biographical Dictionary Of Film David Thomson 1975 British English
2116 Smoking and Health Surgeon General 1964 American English
2426 Natural History Pliny the Elder 77 Roman Latin
2452 The House Book Terence Conran 1974 British English
2496 On the Fabric of the Human Body Andreas Vesalius 1543 Belgian Latin
2735 Grid Systems In Graphic Design Josef Müller-Brockmann 1981 Swiss German
2817 Scouting For Boys Robert Baden-Powell 1908 British English
2862 On Food and Cooking Harold McGee 1984 American English
2940 A Field Guide to the Birds Roger Tory Peterson 1934 American English
2940 Charter of the United Nations United Nations 1945 Multiple English
2940 Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home Emily Post 1922 American English
3033 The American Cinema Andrew Sarris 1968 American English
3052 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
3066 Micrographia Robert Hooke 1665 British English
3182 Book of Common Prayer Thomas Cranmer 1549 British English
3382 A Dictionary Of Modern English Usage H. W. Fowler 1926 British English
3781 Summulae De Dialectica John Buridan, Gyula Klima 1350 French Latin
4049 Basic Documents in American History Richard Brandon Morris 1958 American English
4087 Euclid's Elements Euclid -300 Greek Ancient greek
4104 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
4191 The New Guide To Modern World Literature Martin Seymour-Smith 1973 British English
4246 Birds Of America John James Audubon 1827 British-American English
4246 The Stars H. A. Rey 1952 German English
4464 Chinook Texts Franz Boas 1894 American English
4464 Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing 1886 German German
4464 A History Of Russian Literature Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky 1926 Russian English
4464 Morphology Of The Folktale Vladimir Aioakovlevich Propp 1928 Russian Russian
4642 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
4643 Understanding Poetry Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks 1938 American English
4643 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
4643 Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Peter Mark Roget 1852 British English
4643 Webster's Dictionary Noah Webster 1828 American English
4643 How To Lie With Statistics Darrell Huff 1954 American English
4643 The Feynman Lectures On Physics, Vol. Iii Richard P. Feynman 1965 American English
5066 The Interpretation Of Cultures Clifford Geertz 1973 American English
5502 365 Starry Nights Chet Raymo 1982 American English
6015 Turn Left At Orion Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis 1989 American English
6049 The Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson 1220 Icelandic Old norse
6505 The Ants E. O. Wilson, Bert Hölldobler 1990 American English
6591 The Backyard Astronomer's Guide Terence Dickinson 1991 Canadian English
6591 Mistakes That Worked Charlotte Jones 1991 Unknown English
6830 Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss 2003 British English
6870 What Is The World Made Of? Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 1994 American English
6890 Frank Stewart's Bridge Club Frank Stewart 2001 American English
7048 Home Comforts Cheryl Mendelson 1999 American English
7093 Basic Physics Karl F. Kuhn 1996 American English
7109 The Rest is Noise Alex Ross 2007 American English
7173 African American Music Mellonee V. Burnim, Portia K. Maultsby 2006 American English
7369 Global Health Ann Lindstrand 2006 Unknown English
7857 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
7941 The World Of Economics John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, Peter Newman 1991 British English
7962 The Code Book Simon Singh 1999 British English
7986 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
8082 The Whole Internet Ed Krol 1992 American English
8306 Kiswahili, Past, Present And Future Horizons Rocha Chimera 1998 Kenyan English
8463 The Oxford Book Of Letters Frank Kermode, Anita Kermode 1995 British English
8486 Microlife That Helps Us Steve Parker 2005 British English
8802 The Periodic Table Adrian Dingle, Simon Basher 2007 British English
9853 Book Lust Nancy Pearl 2003 American English