The Greatest Books of All Time on Disease

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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
121 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
166 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
274 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
1384 Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond 1997 American English
1760 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
2014 A Journal Of The Plague Year Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
2085 The Sheep Look Up John Brunner 1972 British English
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2262 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
3396 Cities of the Red Night William S. Burroughs 1981 American English
4677 Of Love And Other Demons Gabriel García Márquez 1994 Colombian Spanish
5262 The Great Influenza John Barry 2004 American English
5529 The White Disease Karel Čapek 1937 Czech Czech
6480 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
6652 Beauty Salon Mario Bellatin 1994 Mexican Spanish
6655 Organon Of The Rational Art Of Healing Samuel Hahnemann 1989 German German
6896 Doomsday Book Connie Willis 1992 American English
7024 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers Robert Sapolsky 1994 American English
7143 Black Hole Charles Burns 1995 American English
7215 The Scarlet Plague Jack London 1912 American English
7942 The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
9043 Death as a Side Effect Ana María Shua 1997 Argentinian Spanish
9972 Legend Marie Lu 2011 American English
11842 The Fate Of Rome Kyle Harper 2017 American English
12250 Needles Andie Dominick 1998 American English
13532 The Path Between The Seas David McCullough 1977 American English
13599 Rabevel Ou Le Mal Des Ardents Lucien Fabre French French
14011 Dirt And Disease Naomi Rogers 1992 American English
14434 The Making Of A Tropical Disease Randall M. Packard 2007 American English
14519 The Fever Sonia Shah 2010 American English
14679 Epic Measures Jeremy N. Smith 2015 American English
14814 Old Yeller Fred Gipson 1956 American English
14830 Nine Pints Rose George 2018 British English
14983 Chasm City Alastair Reynolds 2001 British English
15559 The Mosquito Timothy C. Winegard 2019 Canadian English
17117 The Child Garden Geoff Ryman 1989 British English
17117 Xenocide Orson Scott Card 1991 American English
17117 Living With Risk the British Medical Association Board of Science 2003 British English
17117 Plague's Progress Arno Karlen 1995 American English
17117 Plagues And People William H. McNeill 1976 American English
17117 The Medical Detectives Berton Roueché 1980 American English
17117 Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2000 American English
17117 The Epidemic Hani al-Raheb 1981 Syrian Unknown
17117 The Ghost Map Steven Johnson 2006 American English
17117 Hocus Pocus Kurt Vonnegut 1990 American English
17117 In The Wake Of The Plague Norman F. Cantor 2001 American English
16967 The Masque Of The Red Death Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
17117 Hansen’s Children Ognjen Spahić 2004 Montenegrin Montenegrin
17117 Molokai O.A. Bushnell 1960 Unknown English
17117 Foreign Bodies Simon Schama 2023 British English
17117 The Plague Jacqueline Rose 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 The Living Death Stefan Wul French French
17117 Strange Practice Vivian Shaw 2017 American English