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 743 '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
1399 The Great Railway Bazaar Paul Theroux 1975 American English
1463 Camera Obscura Nicolaas Beets 1839 Dutch Dutch
1540 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
1892 The Soul of a New Machine Tracy Kidder 1981 American English
2089 The Spirit of St. Louis Charles Lindbergh 1953 American English
2226 Ringworld Larry Niven 1970 American English
2375 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
2998 The Monkey's Wrench Primo Levi 1978 Italian Italian
3236 The Great Bridge David McCullough 1972 American English
3318 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3404 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3466 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
4612 Rising Tide John Barry 1997 American English
5005 High Citadel Desmond Bagley 1965 British English
5372 Longitude Dava Sobel 1995 American English
6076 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
6367 Leonardo Da Vinci Walter Isaacson 2017 American English
6369 The Mysterious Island Jules Verne 1874 French French
6609 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
6755 A Survey Of The Roads Of The United States Of America Christopher Colles 1789 American English
6972 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
7032 Invention Norbert Wiener 1948 American English
7836 Thinking In Pictures Temple Grandin 1995 American English
7862 The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C. Clarke 1979 British English
8973 Falling Free Lois McMaster Bujold 1988 American English
9639 De Architectura Vitruvius 2016 Roman Latin
10040 In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrick 2000 American English
11012 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11913 From Immigrant to Inventor Michael I. Pupin 1923 American English
11913 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Samuel Eliot Morison 1942 American English
11913 Benjamin Henry Latrobe Talbot Faulkner Hamlin 1955 American English
12039 Trustee From The Toolroom Nevil Shute 1982 British English
12296 The Truth About Chernobyl Grigory Medvedev 1991 Russian Russian
12451 Seveneves Neal Stephenson 2015 American English
12704 Space James A. Michener 1982 American English
13181 Stuff Matters Mark Miodownik 2013 British English
13490 The Path Between The Seas David McCullough 1977 American English
13513 The Inverted World Christopher Priest 1974 British English
13871 No Highway Nevil Shute 1948 British English
14114 Titan Ii David Stumpf 2000 American English
14256 How To Randall Munroe 2019 American English
14364 The Grid Phillip F. Schewe 2007 American English
14445 The Most Powerful Idea In The World William Rosen 2010 American English
14445 Xkcd Randall Munroe 2010 American English
14521 Sustainable Materials Julian M. Allwood 2012 British English
14599 Thing Explainer Randall Munroe 2015 American English
14685 The Works of Archimedes Archimedes -287 Greek Ancient greek
14810 Fer De Lance Rex Stout 1934 American English
14873 Lucky Per Henrik Pontoppidan 1898 Danish Danish
14901 Carrying the Fire Michael Collins 1974 American English
14901 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14901 Artemis Andy Weir 2017 American English
15787 A Genius In The Family Hiram Percy Maxim 1934 American English
17010 The Heavens and the Earth Walter A. McDougall 1985 American English
17010 Pure Andrew Miller 2011 British English
16717 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17010 Electric Universe David Bodanis 2005 British English
17010 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly 2016 American English
17010 Breaking The Chains Of Gravity Amy Shira Teitel 2015 American English
17010 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17010 Mythbusters Science Fair Book Samantha Margles 2011 American English
17010 Wings Of Fire APJ Abdul Kalam 1999 Indian English
17010 Engineers Of Victory Paul Kennedy 2013 British English
17010 Pillars Of Creation Richard Panek 2024 Unknown English
17010 The Things We Make Bill Hammack 2023 Unknown English