The Greatest Books of All Time on Existence

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
10552 Peniel And Other Poems Kevin Hart 1981 Australian English
10557 Thief Of Time Terry Pratchett 2001 British English
10626 A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge George Berkeley 1710 Irish English
10683 The Possibility Of Life Jaime Green 2023 Unknown English
10745 Selected Stories Robert Walser 1982 Swiss German
10745 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10762 Collected Poems D. J. Enright 1987 British English
10920 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10942 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
10998 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11008 Birthday César Aira 2019 Argentinian Spanish
11022 Tremor Adam Zagajewski 1985 Polish Polish
11022 Poems Of Charles Simic Charles Simic 1985 American English
11021 Ways Of Being Alive Baptiste Morizot 2020 French French
11027 The Weird Ann VanderMeer 2011 American English
11236 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11271 In The Storm Of Roses Ingeborg Bachmann 1987 Austrian German
11271 The Fly Miroslav Holub 1987 Czech Czech
11271 In Other Words May Swenson 1987 American English
11302 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11360 La Patrie Empaillée Jacques Izoard Belgian French
11360 La Vie Rêvée Antonia Pozzi Italian Italian
11360 Un Feu Au Cœur Du Vent Zéno Bianu French French
11387 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11408 Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Canadian English
11505 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11566 The Sickness Unto Death Soren Kierkegaard 1849 Danish Danish
11569 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11637 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11638 Damned If I Do Percival Everett 2013 American English
11650 The Continuous Life Mark Strand 1990 American English
11650 The World Of The Ten Thousand Things Charles Wright 1990 American English
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11660 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11660 If The River Was Whiskey T. Coraghessan Boyle 1989 American English
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
11919 Lake Of Urine Guillermo Stitch 2020 British English
12047 Landing Light Don Paterson 2003 British English
12383 Dark Harbor Mark Strand 1993 American English
12383 Small Congregations Thylias Moss 1993 American English
12486 Sea Of Tranquility Emily St John Mandel 2022 Canadian English
12655 Poems Of R. S. Thomas R. S. Thomas 2003 British English
12655 Poems Of Nathan Zach Nathan Zach 2020 Israeli Hebrew
12655 And The Stars Were Shining John Ashbery 1994 American English
12970 When We Were Real Daryl Gregory 2025 American Unknown
13817 Quasi Una Vita Corrado Alvaro 1950 Italian Italian
13817 Solitudes Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
13817 Microcosms Claudio Magris 1997 Italian Italian
13933 The Body William Sansom 1949 British English
13971 Hotel World Ali Smith 2001 British English
14105 The Character Of Rain Amélie Nothomb 2000 Belgian French
14232 Einstein's Dreams Alan Lightman 1992 American English
14232 View With A Grain Of Sand Wislawa Szymborska 1995 Polish Polish
14641 Somos Luces Abismales Carolina Sanin 2018 Colombian Spanish
14777 Monsieur Teste Paul Valéry 1896 French French
14887 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14983 Ongoingness Sarah Manguso 2015 American English
15670 Religious Perplexities L. P. Jacks 1923 British English
15897 Simulacron 3 Daniel F. Galouye 1964 American English
15897 Idealism And The Endgame Of Theory F. W. J. Schelling 1800 German German
15897 Cronopios And Famas Julio Cortazar 1962 Cuban Spanish
15897 The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard Soren Kierkegaard 1938 Danish English
16613 Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff 1950 Armenian Russian
16641 Kleine Weltgeschichte Der Philosophie Hans Joachim Störig 1950 German German
17117 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17117 Staying Alive Neil Astley 2002 British English
17117 Up Ronald Sukenick 1968 American English
17117 Such Christine Brooke-Rose 1966 British English
17117 Only Begotten Daughter James K. Morrow 1990 American English
17117 The Palace Of Eternity Bob Shaw 1969 British English
16854 The Time Of Your Life William Saroyan 1939 American English
17117 Butterfly Valley Inger Christensen 1991 Danish Danish
17117 Universal Consciousness alexis karpouzos 2016 Greek Unknown
17117 The Inescapable Self Timothy Chappell 2006 British English
17117 Company Samuel Beckett 1979 Irish English
17117 Time And The Art Of Living Robert Grudin 1982 American English
17117 Map Wislawa Szymborska 2016 Polish Polish
17117 Les Goûters Philo Brigitte Labbé 1996 French French
17117 Eastern Philosophy Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad 2005 British English
17117 The Anthropic Cosmological Principle John D. Barrow, Frank J. Tipler 1986 British English
17117 The Middle Stories Sheila Heti 2001 Canadian English
17117 Rama And The Dragon Edward al Kharrat 1980 Egyptian Arabic
17117 Thus Spoke Abu Huraira Mahmoud Messadi 1973 Tunisian Unknown
17117 Rubaiyyat Bahari Mohamed Gibreel Unknown Unknown
17117 Seventh Day Of Creation Abdel Khaliq al-Rikabi 2008 Iraqi Arabic
17117 Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman 2021 British English
17117 Indian Nocturne Antonio Tabucchi 1984 Italian Italian
17117 Life On Mars Tracy K. Smith 2011 American English
17117 A Breath Of Life Clarice Lispector 1978 Brazilian Portuguese
17117 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
16882 I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj 1973 Indian Marathi
16977 The Visible And The Invisible Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1964 French French
16958 The World As Will And Representation, Volume I Arthur Schopenhauer 1818 German German
17117 Life As No One Knows It Sara Imari Walker 2024 Unknown English
17117 Cosmic Connections Charles Taylor 2024 Unknown English
17117 Better Never To Have Been David Benatar 2006 South African English
17117 The Book Of Sand And Shakespeare's Memory Jorge Luis Borges 1977 Argentinian Spanish
17117 O Tempo Dos Simulacros Philip K. Dick American Unknown
17117 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17117 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17117 Night Etel Adnan 2016 Unknown English
17117 The Ecological Thought Timothy Morton 2010 British English
17117 The Humans Matt Haig 2013 British English
17117 Extracting The Stone Of Madness Alejandra Pizarnik 2016 Argentine Spanish
17117 The Lights Ben Lerner 2023 American Unknown
17117 A Shining Jon Fosse 2023 Norwegian Unknown
17117 Orbital Samantha Harvey 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 How To Be Multiple Helena de Bres 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 The Body Of The Soul Lyudmila Ulitskaya 2023 Russian Russian
17117 How To Be Adam Nicolson 2023 British English
17117 All Souls Saskia Hamilton 2023 Unknown English
17117 Skeletons Deborah Landau 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Half Known Life Pico Iyer 2023 British English
17117 The Strange Nathan Ballingrud 2023 American English
17117 Straw Dogs Of The Universe Ye Chun 2023 Unknown English
17117 Sea Wall / A Life John Stephens Unknown Unknown
17117 Earthlight André Breton 1923 French French
17117 A Fórmula De Deus José M. Sánchez Santos Unknown Unknown
17117 Infinite Ground Martin MacInnes 2016 British English
17117 A "Working Life" Eileen Myles 2023 American English