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
305 The Elements of Style E. B. White, William Strunk Jr. 1918 American English
432 The Joy of Cooking Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker 1931 American English
684 Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 British English
693 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
819 Quotations from Chairman Mao Mao 1964 Chinese Chinese
1072 The Principia Mathematica Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell 1910 British English
1075 Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press 1884 British English
1402 Smoking and Health Surgeon General 1964 American English
1674 I Ching China -1000 Chinese Chinese
1702 Encyclopédie Denis Diderot 1751 French French
1702 A Dictionary of the English Language Samuel Johnson 1755 British English
1818 A Field Guide to the Birds Roger Tory Peterson 1934 American English
1827 The American Language H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
1878 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
2058 A Biographical Dictionary Of Film David Thomson 1975 British English
2453 Our Bodies, Ourselves Unknown 1970 American English
2504 The House Book Terence Conran 1974 British English
2688 Natural History Pliny the Elder 77 Roman Latin
2755 On the Fabric of the Human Body Andreas Vesalius 1543 Belgian Latin
2758 Grid Systems In Graphic Design Josef Müller-Brockmann 1981 Swiss German
2833 Scouting For Boys Robert Baden-Powell 1908 British English
2904 On Food and Cooking Harold McGee 1984 American English
2976 Charter of the United Nations United Nations 1945 Multiple English
2976 Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home Emily Post 1922 American English
3070 The American Cinema Andrew Sarris 1968 American English
3086 A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander 1977 American English
3505 The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights United Nations 1948 Multiple English
3632 Micrographia Robert Hooke 1665 British English
3733 Book of Common Prayer Thomas Cranmer 1549 British English
3804 Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss 2003 British English
3837 A Dictionary Of Modern English Usage H. W. Fowler 1926 British English
4078 Basic Documents in American History Richard Brandon Morris 1958 American English
4146 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
4223 The New Guide To Modern World Literature Martin Seymour-Smith 1973 British English
4291 Birds Of America John James Audubon 1827 British-American English
4291 The Stars H. A. Rey 1952 German English
4291 Summulae De Dialectica John Buridan, Gyula Klima 1350 French Latin
4557 Chinook Texts Franz Boas 1894 American English
4557 Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing 1886 German German
4557 A History Of Russian Literature Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky 1926 Russian English
4557 Morphology Of The Folktale Vladimir Aioakovlevich Propp 1928 Russian Russian
4728 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
4729 Understanding Poetry Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks 1938 American English
4729 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
4729 Euclid's Elements Euclid -300 Greek Ancient greek
4729 Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Peter Mark Roget 1852 British English
4729 Webster's Dictionary Noah Webster 1828 American English
4729 How To Lie With Statistics Darrell Huff 1954 American English
4729 The Feynman Lectures On Physics, Vol. Iii Richard P. Feynman 1965 American English
5573 The Interpretation Of Cultures Clifford Geertz 1973 American English
5680 365 Starry Nights Chet Raymo 1982 American English
6277 Turn Left At Orion Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis 1989 American English
6314 The Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson 1220 Icelandic Old norse
6773 The Ants E. O. Wilson, Bert Hölldobler 1990 American English
6862 The Backyard Astronomer's Guide Terence Dickinson 1991 Canadian English
6862 Mistakes That Worked Charlotte Jones 1991 Unknown English
7156 What Is The World Made Of? Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 1994 American English
7175 Frank Stewart's Bridge Club Frank Stewart 2001 American English
7304 Home Comforts Cheryl Mendelson 1999 American English
7361 Basic Physics Karl F. Kuhn 1996 American English
7379 The Rest is Noise Alex Ross 2007 American English
7431 Diccionario De Autores Latinoamericanos César Aira 2001 Argentinian Spanish
7448 African American Music Mellonee V. Burnim, Portia K. Maultsby 2006 American English
7664 Global Health Ann Lindstrand 2006 Unknown English
8012 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
8132 The Code Book Simon Singh 1999 British English
8159 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
8256 The Whole Internet Ed Krol 1992 American English
8536 Kiswahili, Past, Present And Future Horizons Rocha Chimera 1998 Kenyan English
8536 The World Of Economics John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, Peter Newman 1991 British English
8701 The Oxford Book Of Letters Frank Kermode, Anita Kermode 1995 British English
8729 Microlife That Helps Us Steve Parker 2005 British English
8943 Diccionario Sánscrito Español Oscar Pujol 2011 Spanish Spanish
9067 The Periodic Table Adrian Dingle, Simon Basher 2007 British English
11039 Book Lust Nancy Pearl 2003 American English