The Greatest Books of All Time on Adaptation

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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
180 On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin 1859 British English
230 The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903 American English
372 War of the Worlds H. G. Wells 1898 British English
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
1728 The Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin 1839 British English
1762 Lady into Fox David Garnett 1922 British English
2230 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
2837 How to Cook a Wolf M. F. K. Fisher 1942 American English
2986 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
3051 Centennial James A. Michener 1974 American English
3142 The Shrinking Man Richard Matheson 1956 American English
3637 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3637 The Origins Of Intelligence In Children Jean Piaget 1936 Swiss French
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
3953 Συναξάρι Αντρέα Κορδοπάτη Thanassis Valtinos 1964 Greek Greek
4984 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
5085 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5316 The Vampire Tapestry Suzy McKee Charnas 1980 American English
5595 World War Z Max Brooks 2006 American English
5802 The Beak of the Finch Jonathan Weiner 1994 American English
6285 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6657 A Dream In Polar Fog Yuri Rytkheu 2005 Russian Russian
6671 Future Shock Alvin Toffler 1980 American English
6748 The Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 2006 Kazakh English
8250 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
8445 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8681 Adapt Tim Harford 2011 British English
8725 The Uninhabitable Earth David Wallace-Wells 2019 American English
9019 Climbing Mount Improbable Richard Dawkins 1996 British English
9191 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9261 An Immense World Ed Yong 2022 British English
9658 Brehm's Life Of Animals Alfred Edmund Brehm 2015 German German
9894 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
10171 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10638 The Country Of The Blind Andrew Leland 2023 Unknown English
11140 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11505 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
12084 Composing A Life Mary Catherine Bateson 1989 American English
12834 Fifty Russian Winters Margaret Wettlin 1992 American English
13269 Two Old Women Velma Wallis 1993 American English
13565 The Young Newcomer In The Organizational Department Wang Meng 1980 Chinese Chinese
13600 Brazil Red Jean-Christophe Rufin 2001 French French
14047 Emergent Strategy adrienne maree brown 2017 American English
14232 A Year in Provence Peter Mayle 1989 British English
14232 Under A White Sky Elizabeth Kolbert 2021 American English
14330 The Admirable Crichton J. M. Barrie 1902 British English
14788 Genetics and the Origin of Species Theodosius Dobzhansky 1937 American English
15914 Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation Alfred Adler 1907 Austrian German
15914 Evolution Julian Huxley 1942 British English
15914 The Hills Is Lonely Lillian Beckwith 1959 British English
15914 In The Hands Of The Senecas Walter D. Edmonds 1950 American English
15914 Brain Wave Poul Anderson 1954 American English
17158 The Uprooted Oscar Handlin 1951 American English
16833 Castaways Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 1542 Spanish Spanish
16983 Kabloona Gontran de Poncins 1941 French French
17158 Ever Since Darwin Stephen Jay Gould 1977 American English
17158 The Integral Trees Larry Niven 1984 American English
17158 Adventures In The Anthropocene Gaia Vince 2014 British English
17158 A (Very) Short History Of Life On Earth Henry Gee​ 2021 British English
17158 The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs Steven Brusatte 2018 American English
17158 The Chronicles Of Pern Anne McCaffrey 1993 Irish English
17158 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17158 Sex In The Sea Marah J. Hardt 2016 American English
17158 This Is Biology Ernst Mayr 1997 German English
17158 The Panda's Thumb Stephen Jay Gould 1980 American English
17158 How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand 1994 American English
17158 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17158 Life Martha Holmes, Michael Gunton 2009 British English
17158 The Secret Of Our Success Joseph Henrich 2015 American English
17158 Wild Robot Peter Brown 2016 American English
17158 Alaska James A. Michener 1988 American English
17158 The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins 1986 British English
17158 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17158 Third Wave Alvin Toffler 1980 American English
17158 Quicksand And Cactus Juanita Brooks 1982 American English
17158 Same As Ever Morgan Housel 2023 American English
17158 Good Reasons For Bad Feelings Randolph M. Nesse 2019 American English
17158 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
17158 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17158 To Be Taught, If Fortunate Becky Chambers 2019 American English
17158 Janesville Amy Goldstein Unknown Unknown
16841 No Surrender Hiroo Onoda 1974 Japanese Japanese
17158 Hollow Kingdom Bill Buxton 2019 Unknown English
17158 Paris To The Moon Adam Gopnik 2000 American English
17158 The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break Steven Sherrill 2000 American English
17158 Worlds Of Exile And Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin 1996 American English
17158 Dance Of The Tiger Bjorn Kurten 1980 Finnish English
17158 Singlestuck Bjorn Kurten 1982 Unknown English
17158 A Durable Fire Virginia Bernhard 1990 Unknown English
17158 From A Far Land Robert S. Elegant 1986 Unknown English
17158 Our Fragile Moment Michael Mann 2023 Unknown English
17158 Roman Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown English
17158 This Country Navied Mahdavian 2023 Unknown English
17158 The Migrant Chef Laura Tillman 2023 Unknown English
17158 The Great Displacement Jake Bittle 2023 Unknown English
17158 Discovering Life’s Story Joy Hakim 2023 American English
17158 The Best Possible Experience Nishanth Injam 2023 Unknown English
17158 2 A.M. In Little America Ken Kalfus 2022 American English
17158 A Penguin Year Susan Bonners 1981 Unknown English
17158 Homesick Jean Fritz 1982 American English
17158 In The Deserts Of This Earth Uwe George 1983 German German
17158 Barakamon, Vol. 1 Genzaburo Yoshino 2009 Japanese Japanese
17158 Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid Thor Hanson 2021 American English