The Greatest Books of All Time on Empathy

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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
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
184 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 American English
471 Waiting for the Barbarians J. M. Coetzee 1980 South African English
528 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick 1968 American English
1207 How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie 1936 American English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1766 The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1771 British English
2080 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2182 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 American English
2620 The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain 1881 American English
2779 Lay Down Your Arms! Bertha von Suttner 1889 Austrian German
2934 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3622 A Small, Good Thing Raymond Carver 1981 American English
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4420 Trifles Susan Glaspell 1916 American English
4542 Ingenious Pain Andrew Miller 1997 British English
4850 Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, And Wear Cows Melanie Joy 2010 American English
5256 Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5926 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
6535 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
8063 A Paradise Built In Hell Rebecca Solnit 2009 American English
8256 Strangers In Their Own Land Arlie Russell Hochschild 2016 American English
8419 The Green Mile Stephen King 1996 American English
8513 Os Escravos Castro Alves 1883 Brazilian Portuguese
9188 The Death Class Erika Hayasaki 2014 American English
9921 Children Of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 2015 British English
10632 The Country Of The Blind Andrew Leland 2023 Unknown English
10770 The Invisible Child Tove Jansson 1962 Finnish Swedish
10936 The 57 Bus Dashka Slater 2017 American English
11134 The Undying Anne Boyer 2019 American English
11660 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2018 American English
11872 Awakenings Oliver Sacks 1973 British English
12733 Living, Loving And Learning Leo Buscaglia 1982 American English
13080 Talk To Me Rich Benjamin 2025 American English
13276 Marzahn, Mon Amour Katja Oskamp 2019 German German
13256 The Photographer Emmanuel Guibert 2003 French English
13256 True Notebooks Mark Salzman 2003 American English
13941 Daring Greatly Brené Brown 2012 American English
14210 The Word For World Is Forest Ursula K. Le Guin 1972 American English
14730 Hit Refresh Satya Nadella 2017 American English
14983 Last Stop On Market Street Matt de la Peña 2015 American English
15559 Beyond Words Carl Safina 2015 American English
15897 A Fortunate Man John Berger 1967 American English
15897 Pierre Maurice Sendak 1962 American English
16556 Twelve Angry Men Reginald Rose 1954 American English
16683 How To Win Friends & Influence People Dale Carnegie 1936 American English
17117 Wolf Hollow Lauren Wolk 2016 American English
17117 The Day You Begin Jacqueline Woodson 2018 American English
17117 Explaining Humans Camilla Pang 2020 British English
17117 The Beauty And The Sorrow Peter Englund 2011 Swedish Swedish
17117 Craigslist Confessional Helena Dea Bala 2020 American English
17117 Each Kindness Jacqueline Woodson 2012 American English
17117 Fox 8 George Saunders 2013 American English
17117 The Galaxy, And The Ground Within Becky Chambers 2021 American English
17117 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17117 Social Matthew D. Lieberman 2013 American English
17117 Pay It Forward Catherine Ryan Hyde 1999 American English
17117 Almond Sohn Won-Pyung 2017 Korean Korean
17117 The Humans Matt Haig 2013 British English
16765 And Walk In Love Henrietta Buckmaster 1956 American English
17117 Alfie & Me Carl Safina 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Vulnerables Sigrid Nunez 2023 American Unknown
17117 We Should Not Be Friends Will Schwalbe 2023 American English
17117 Life On Delay John Hendrickson 2023 Unknown English
17117 The People’s Hospital Ricardo Nuila 2023 Unknown English
17117 Time To Think Hannah Barnes 2023 Unknown English
17117 Small Great Things Jodi Picoult 2016 American English
17117 Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind Molly McGhee 2023 Unknown English
17117 Running With Sherman Chris McDougall 2019 American English
17117 The Hero Code William H. McRaven 2021 American English
17117 Translation As Transhumance Mireille Gansel 2017 French French
17117 What Is A Doctor? Dr Phil Whitaker 2023 Unknown English
17117 Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change And Grow William R. Miller 1991 American English
17117 O Jardim Dos Animais Com Alma José M. Sánchez Santos Portuguese Unknown
17117 Humans Brandon Stanton 2020 American English
17117 Humans Of New York Brandon Stanton 2015 American English
17117 ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン 1 Kana Akatsuki 2015 Japanese Japanese
17117 The Boy At The Bottom Of The Fountain Jay Bell 2017 American English