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
1727 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
2836 How to Cook a Wolf M. F. K. Fisher 1942 American English
2985 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
3050 Centennial James A. Michener 1974 American English
3141 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
3947 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
3954 Συναξάρι Αντρέα Κορδοπάτη Thanassis Valtinos 1964 Greek Greek
4986 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
5086 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5318 The Vampire Tapestry Suzy McKee Charnas 1980 American English
5596 World War Z Max Brooks 2006 American English
5803 The Beak of the Finch Jonathan Weiner 1994 American English
6286 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6658 A Dream In Polar Fog Yuri Rytkheu 2005 Russian Russian
6672 Future Shock Alvin Toffler 1980 American English
6749 The Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 2006 Kazakh English
8251 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
8446 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8683 Adapt Tim Harford 2011 British English
8728 The Uninhabitable Earth David Wallace-Wells 2019 American English
9022 Climbing Mount Improbable Richard Dawkins 1996 British English
9194 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9265 An Immense World Ed Yong 2022 British English
9662 Brehm's Life Of Animals Alfred Edmund Brehm 2015 German German
9898 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
10174 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10640 The Country Of The Blind Andrew Leland 2023 Unknown English
11141 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11506 The White Masai Corinne Hofmann 1998 Swiss German
12085 Composing A Life Mary Catherine Bateson 1989 American English
12835 Fifty Russian Winters Margaret Wettlin 1992 American English
13270 Two Old Women Velma Wallis 1993 American English
13566 The Young Newcomer In The Organizational Department Wang Meng 1980 Chinese Chinese
13601 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
15922 Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation Alfred Adler 1907 Austrian German
15922 Evolution Julian Huxley 1942 British English
15922 The Hills Is Lonely Lillian Beckwith 1959 British English
15922 In The Hands Of The Senecas Walter D. Edmonds 1950 American English
15922 Brain Wave Poul Anderson 1954 American English
17173 The Uprooted Oscar Handlin 1951 American English
16842 Castaways Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 1542 Spanish Spanish
16999 Kabloona Gontran de Poncins 1941 French French
17173 Ever Since Darwin Stephen Jay Gould 1977 American English
17173 The Integral Trees Larry Niven 1984 American English
17173 Adventures In The Anthropocene Gaia Vince 2014 British English
17173 A (Very) Short History Of Life On Earth Henry Gee​ 2021 British English
17173 The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs Steven Brusatte 2018 American English
17173 The Chronicles Of Pern Anne McCaffrey 1993 Irish English
17173 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17173 Sex In The Sea Marah J. Hardt 2016 American English
17173 This Is Biology Ernst Mayr 1997 German English
17173 The Panda's Thumb Stephen Jay Gould 1980 American English
17173 How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand 1994 American English
17173 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17173 Life Martha Holmes, Michael Gunton 2009 British English
17173 The Secret Of Our Success Joseph Henrich 2015 American English
17173 Wild Robot Peter Brown 2016 American English
17173 Alaska James A. Michener 1988 American English
17173 The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins 1986 British English
17173 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17173 Third Wave Alvin Toffler 1980 American English
17173 Quicksand And Cactus Juanita Brooks 1982 American English
17173 Same As Ever Morgan Housel 2023 American English
17173 Good Reasons For Bad Feelings Randolph M. Nesse 2019 American English
17173 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
17173 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17173 To Be Taught, If Fortunate Becky Chambers 2019 American English
17173 Janesville Amy Goldstein Unknown Unknown
16854 No Surrender Hiroo Onoda 1974 Japanese Japanese
17173 Hollow Kingdom Bill Buxton 2019 Unknown English
17173 Paris To The Moon Adam Gopnik 2000 American English
17173 The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break Steven Sherrill 2000 American English
17173 Worlds Of Exile And Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin 1996 American English
17173 Dance Of The Tiger Bjorn Kurten 1980 Finnish English
17173 Singlestuck Bjorn Kurten 1982 Unknown English
17173 A Durable Fire Virginia Bernhard 1990 Unknown English
17173 From A Far Land Robert S. Elegant 1986 Unknown English
17173 Our Fragile Moment Michael Mann 2023 Unknown English
17173 Roman Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown English
17173 This Country Navied Mahdavian 2023 Unknown English
17173 The Migrant Chef Laura Tillman 2023 Unknown English
17173 The Great Displacement Jake Bittle 2023 Unknown English
17173 Discovering Life’s Story Joy Hakim 2023 American English
17173 The Best Possible Experience Nishanth Injam 2023 Unknown English
17173 2 A.M. In Little America Ken Kalfus 2022 American English
17173 A Penguin Year Susan Bonners 1981 Unknown English
17173 Homesick Jean Fritz 1982 American English
17173 In The Deserts Of This Earth Uwe George 1983 German German
17173 Barakamon, Vol. 1 Genzaburo Yoshino 2009 Japanese Japanese
17173 Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid Thor Hanson 2021 American English