The Greatest Books of All Time on Engineering

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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
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1400 The Great Railway Bazaar Paul Theroux 1975 American English
1463 Camera Obscura Nicolaas Beets 1839 Dutch Dutch
1542 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
1893 The Soul of a New Machine Tracy Kidder 1981 American English
2094 The Spirit of St. Louis Charles Lindbergh 1953 American English
2238 Ringworld Larry Niven 1970 American English
2384 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
3004 The Monkey's Wrench Primo Levi 1978 Italian Italian
3241 The Great Bridge David McCullough 1972 American English
3323 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3408 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
4621 Rising Tide John Barry 1997 American English
5017 High Citadel Desmond Bagley 1965 British English
5382 Longitude Dava Sobel 1995 American English
6086 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
6379 Leonardo Da Vinci Walter Isaacson 2017 American English
6381 The Mysterious Island Jules Verne 1874 French French
6623 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
6767 A Survey Of The Roads Of The United States Of America Christopher Colles 1789 American English
6983 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
7045 Invention Norbert Wiener 1948 American English
7852 Thinking In Pictures Temple Grandin 1995 American English
7878 The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C. Clarke 1979 British English
8990 Falling Free Lois McMaster Bujold 1988 American English
9661 De Architectura Vitruvius 2016 Roman Latin
10062 In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrick 2000 American English
11045 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11941 From Immigrant to Inventor Michael I. Pupin 1923 American English
11941 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Samuel Eliot Morison 1942 American English
11941 Benjamin Henry Latrobe Talbot Faulkner Hamlin 1955 American English
12065 Trustee From The Toolroom Nevil Shute 1982 British English
12326 The Truth About Chernobyl Grigory Medvedev 1991 Russian Russian
12482 Seveneves Neal Stephenson 2015 American English
12735 Space James A. Michener 1982 American English
13214 Stuff Matters Mark Miodownik 2013 British English
13533 The Path Between The Seas David McCullough 1977 American English
13559 The Inverted World Christopher Priest 1974 British English
13924 No Highway Nevil Shute 1948 British English
14180 Titan Ii David Stumpf 2000 American English
14324 How To Randall Munroe 2019 American English
14435 The Grid Phillip F. Schewe 2007 American English
14520 The Most Powerful Idea In The World William Rosen 2010 American English
14520 Xkcd Randall Munroe 2010 American English
14599 Sustainable Materials Julian M. Allwood 2012 British English
14680 Thing Explainer Randall Munroe 2015 American English
14772 The Works of Archimedes Archimedes -287 Greek Ancient greek
14899 Fer De Lance Rex Stout 1934 American English
14958 Lucky Per Henrik Pontoppidan 1898 Danish Danish
14985 Carrying the Fire Michael Collins 1974 American English
14985 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14985 Artemis Andy Weir 2017 American English
15916 A Genius In The Family Hiram Percy Maxim 1934 American English
17164 The Heavens and the Earth Walter A. McDougall 1985 American English
17164 Pure Andrew Miller 2011 British English
16868 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17164 Electric Universe David Bodanis 2005 British English
17164 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly 2016 American English
17164 Breaking The Chains Of Gravity Amy Shira Teitel 2015 American English
17164 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17164 Mythbusters Science Fair Book Samantha Margles 2011 American English
17164 Wings Of Fire APJ Abdul Kalam 1999 Indian English
17164 Engineers Of Victory Paul Kennedy 2013 British English
17164 Pillars Of Creation Richard Panek 2024 Unknown English
17164 The Things We Make Bill Hammack 2023 Unknown English