The Greatest Books of All Time on Academia

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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
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
392 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 1954 British English
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
617 Pnin Vladimir Nabokov 1957 Russian English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
1196 Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943 American English
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1754 Changing Places David Lodge 1975 British English
1921 Anglo Saxon Attitudes Angus Wilson 1956 British English
2467 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2492 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2688 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
2962 The History Man Malcolm Bradbury 1975 British English
3019 Pictures From An Institution Randall Jarrell 1954 American English
3033 Less Than Angels Barbara Pym 1955 British English
3104 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie 1984 American English
3577 The Possessed Elif Batuman 2010 Turkish English
3595 Thick Tressie McMillan Cottom 2019 American English
3619 Porterhouse Blue Tom Sharpe 1974 British English
4309 Death At The President's Lodging Michael Innes 1936 British English
4603 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
5089 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5779 Among Professors W.F. Hermans 1975 Dutch Dutch
6470 The Belles Lettres Papers Charles Simmons 1987 American English
6567 Nice Work David Lodge 1988 British English
7588 Moo Jane Smiley 1995 American English
7678 The Netanyahus Joshua Cohen 2021 American English
7793 The Rebel Angels Robertson Davies 1981 Canadian English
7811 The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 American English
8008 Still Life A. S. Byatt 1985 British English
8368 The Lecturer's Tale James Hynes 2001 American English
8970 The Dean's December Saul Bellow 1982 American English
10183 Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar 2017 American English
10303 The Odd Woman Gail Godwin 1974 American English
10302 The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood 2021 American English
11505 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11660 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
11874 Monday Begins On Saturday Arkadi Strugatski 1964 Russian Russian
12143 The History Manifesto Johanna Hanink 2014 American English
12439 Liquid Mariam Rahmani 2025 Unknown English
13266 Working Class Women In The Academy Michelle M. Tokarczyk, Elizabeth A. Fay 1993 American English
13596 Strangers And Brothers C. P. Snow 1940 British English
14011 The Groves Of Academe Mary McCarthy 1952 American English
14983 Wittgenstein Jr. Lars Iyer 2014 British English
14983 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14983 How I Won A Nobel Prize Julius Taranto 2024 Unknown English
14983 The Crisis Of Narration Byung-Chul Han 2023 German German
15897 An Oxford Tragedy J. C. Masterman 1933 British English
17117 The Masters In Sequence C. P. Snow 1951 British English
17117 A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall Will Chancellor 2014 American English
17117 Martians Of Science Istvan Hargittai 2006 Unknown English
17117 A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar 1998 American English
17117 The War Between The Tates Alison Lurie 1974 American English
17117 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17117 The Dictionary Of Fashionable Nonsense Ophelia Benson, Jeremy Stangroom 2004 British English
17117 Dear Committee Members Julie Schumacher 2014 American English
17117 Still Alice Lisa Genova 2007 American English
17117 Stolen Pride Arlie Russell Hochschild 2024 Unknown English
17117 Lesser Ruins Mark Haber 2024 Unknown English
17117 An Academy For Liars Alexis Henderson 2024 Unknown English
17117 The Scholar And The Last Faerie Door H.G. Parry 2024 Unknown English
17117 In The Last Analysis Amanda Cross 1964 American English
17117 Death In A Tenured Position Amanda Cross 1981 American English
17117 Blue Light Hours Bruna Dantas Lobato 2024 Unknown English
17117 Swann Carol Shields 1987 Canadian English
17117 The English Experience Julie Schumacher 2023 American English
17117 Professing Criticism John Guillory 2023 American English
17117 Loner Teddy Wayne 2016 American English