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
2469 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2494 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2689 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
2964 The History Man Malcolm Bradbury 1975 British English
3022 Pictures From An Institution Randall Jarrell 1954 American English
3036 Less Than Angels Barbara Pym 1955 British English
3105 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
4310 Death At The President's Lodging Michael Innes 1936 British English
4605 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
5092 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5782 Among Professors W.F. Hermans 1975 Dutch Dutch
6472 The Belles Lettres Papers Charles Simmons 1987 American English
6569 Nice Work David Lodge 1988 British English
7589 Moo Jane Smiley 1995 American English
7679 The Netanyahus Joshua Cohen 2021 American English
7795 The Rebel Angels Robertson Davies 1981 Canadian English
7812 The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 American English
8009 Still Life A. S. Byatt 1985 British English
8371 The Lecturer's Tale James Hynes 2001 American English
8974 The Dean's December Saul Bellow 1982 American English
10188 Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar 2017 American English
10308 The Odd Woman Gail Godwin 1974 American English
10307 The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood 2021 American English
11508 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11663 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
11876 Monday Begins On Saturday Arkadi Strugatski 1964 Russian Russian
12144 The History Manifesto Johanna Hanink 2014 American English
12441 Liquid Mariam Rahmani 2025 Unknown English
13269 Working Class Women In The Academy Michelle M. Tokarczyk, Elizabeth A. Fay 1993 American English
13597 Strangers And Brothers C. P. Snow 1940 British English
14011 The Groves Of Academe Mary McCarthy 1952 American English
14985 Wittgenstein Jr. Lars Iyer 2014 British English
14985 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14985 How I Won A Nobel Prize Julius Taranto 2024 Unknown English
14985 The Crisis Of Narration Byung-Chul Han 2023 German German
15916 An Oxford Tragedy J. C. Masterman 1933 British English
17162 The Masters In Sequence C. P. Snow 1951 British English
17162 A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall Will Chancellor 2014 American English
17162 Martians Of Science Istvan Hargittai 2006 Unknown English
17162 A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar 1998 American English
17162 The War Between The Tates Alison Lurie 1974 American English
17162 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17162 The Dictionary Of Fashionable Nonsense Ophelia Benson, Jeremy Stangroom 2004 British English
17162 Dear Committee Members Julie Schumacher 2014 American English
17162 Still Alice Lisa Genova 2007 American English
17162 Stolen Pride Arlie Russell Hochschild 2024 Unknown English
17162 Lesser Ruins Mark Haber 2024 Unknown English
17162 An Academy For Liars Alexis Henderson 2024 Unknown English
17162 The Scholar And The Last Faerie Door H.G. Parry 2024 Unknown English
17162 In The Last Analysis Amanda Cross 1964 American English
17162 Death In A Tenured Position Amanda Cross 1981 American English
17162 Blue Light Hours Bruna Dantas Lobato 2024 Unknown English
17162 Swann Carol Shields 1987 Canadian English
17162 The English Experience Julie Schumacher 2023 American English
17162 Professing Criticism John Guillory 2023 American English
17162 Loner Teddy Wayne 2016 American English