The Greatest Books of All Time on Existence

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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
10559 Peniel And Other Poems Kevin Hart 1981 Australian English
10564 Thief Of Time Terry Pratchett 2001 British English
10634 A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge George Berkeley 1710 Irish English
10690 The Possibility Of Life Jaime Green 2023 Unknown English
10752 Selected Stories Robert Walser 1982 Swiss German
10752 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10769 Collected Poems D. J. Enright 1987 British English
10927 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10949 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
11005 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11015 Birthday César Aira 2019 Argentinian Spanish
11029 Tremor Adam Zagajewski 1985 Polish Polish
11029 Poems Of Charles Simic Charles Simic 1985 American English
11028 Ways Of Being Alive Baptiste Morizot 2020 French French
11034 The Weird Ann VanderMeer 2011 American English
11243 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11278 In The Storm Of Roses Ingeborg Bachmann 1987 Austrian German
11278 The Fly Miroslav Holub 1987 Czech Czech
11278 In Other Words May Swenson 1987 American English
11309 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11366 La Patrie Empaillée Jacques Izoard Belgian French
11366 La Vie Rêvée Antonia Pozzi Italian Italian
11366 Un Feu Au Cœur Du Vent Zéno Bianu French French
11393 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11414 Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Canadian English
11508 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11568 The Sickness Unto Death Soren Kierkegaard 1849 Danish Danish
11572 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11640 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11641 Damned If I Do Percival Everett 2013 American English
11653 The Continuous Life Mark Strand 1990 American English
11653 The World Of The Ten Thousand Things Charles Wright 1990 American English
11663 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11663 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11663 If The River Was Whiskey T. Coraghessan Boyle 1989 American English
11890 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
11921 Lake Of Urine Guillermo Stitch 2020 British English
12049 Landing Light Don Paterson 2003 British English
12385 Dark Harbor Mark Strand 1993 American English
12385 Small Congregations Thylias Moss 1993 American English
12488 Sea Of Tranquility Emily St John Mandel 2022 Canadian English
12657 Poems Of R. S. Thomas R. S. Thomas 2003 British English
12657 Poems Of Nathan Zach Nathan Zach 2020 Israeli Hebrew
12657 And The Stars Were Shining John Ashbery 1994 American English
12973 When We Were Real Daryl Gregory 2025 American Unknown
13818 Quasi Una Vita Corrado Alvaro 1950 Italian Italian
13818 Solitudes Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
13818 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
14642 Somos Luces Abismales Carolina Sanin 2018 Colombian Spanish
14779 Monsieur Teste Paul Valéry 1896 French French
14890 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14985 Ongoingness Sarah Manguso 2015 American English
15678 Religious Perplexities L. P. Jacks 1923 British English
15916 Simulacron 3 Daniel F. Galouye 1964 American English
15916 Idealism And The Endgame Of Theory F. W. J. Schelling 1800 German German
15916 Cronopios And Famas Julio Cortazar 1962 Cuban Spanish
15916 The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard Soren Kierkegaard 1938 Danish English
16650 Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff 1950 Armenian Russian
16674 Kleine Weltgeschichte Der Philosophie Hans Joachim Störig 1950 German German
17163 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17163 Staying Alive Neil Astley 2002 British English
17163 Up Ronald Sukenick 1968 American English
17163 Such Christine Brooke-Rose 1966 British English
17163 Only Begotten Daughter James K. Morrow 1990 American English
17163 The Palace Of Eternity Bob Shaw 1969 British English
16895 The Time Of Your Life William Saroyan 1939 American English
17163 Butterfly Valley Inger Christensen 1991 Danish Danish
17163 Universal Consciousness alexis karpouzos 2016 Greek Unknown
17163 The Inescapable Self Timothy Chappell 2006 British English
17163 Company Samuel Beckett 1979 Irish English
17163 Time And The Art Of Living Robert Grudin 1982 American English
17163 Map Wislawa Szymborska 2016 Polish Polish
17163 Les Goûters Philo Brigitte Labbé 1996 French French
17163 Eastern Philosophy Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad 2005 British English
17163 The Anthropic Cosmological Principle John D. Barrow, Frank J. Tipler 1986 British English
17163 The Middle Stories Sheila Heti 2001 Canadian English
17163 Rama And The Dragon Edward al Kharrat 1980 Egyptian Arabic
17163 Thus Spoke Abu Huraira Mahmoud Messadi 1973 Tunisian Unknown
17163 Rubaiyyat Bahari Mohamed Gibreel Unknown Unknown
17163 Seventh Day Of Creation Abdel Khaliq al-Rikabi 2008 Iraqi Arabic
17163 Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman 2021 British English
17163 Indian Nocturne Antonio Tabucchi 1984 Italian Italian
17163 Life On Mars Tracy K. Smith 2011 American English
17163 A Breath Of Life Clarice Lispector 1978 Brazilian Portuguese
17163 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
16914 I Am That Nisargadatta Maharaj 1973 Indian Marathi
17026 The Visible And The Invisible Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1964 French French
16968 The World As Will And Representation, Volume I Arthur Schopenhauer 1818 German German
17163 Life As No One Knows It Sara Imari Walker 2024 Unknown English
17163 Cosmic Connections Charles Taylor 2024 Unknown English
17163 Better Never To Have Been David Benatar 2006 South African English
17163 The Book Of Sand And Shakespeare's Memory Jorge Luis Borges 1977 Argentinian Spanish
17163 O Tempo Dos Simulacros Philip K. Dick American Unknown
17163 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17163 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17163 Night Etel Adnan 2016 Unknown English
17163 The Ecological Thought Timothy Morton 2010 British English
17163 The Humans Matt Haig 2013 British English
17163 Extracting The Stone Of Madness Alejandra Pizarnik 2016 Argentine Spanish
17163 The Lights Ben Lerner 2023 American Unknown
17163 A Shining Jon Fosse 2023 Norwegian Unknown
17163 Orbital Samantha Harvey 2023 Unknown Unknown
17163 How To Be Multiple Helena de Bres 2023 Unknown Unknown
17163 The Body Of The Soul Lyudmila Ulitskaya 2023 Russian Russian
17163 How To Be Adam Nicolson 2023 British English
17163 All Souls Saskia Hamilton 2023 Unknown English
17163 Skeletons Deborah Landau 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Half Known Life Pico Iyer 2023 British English
17163 The Strange Nathan Ballingrud 2023 American English
17163 Straw Dogs Of The Universe Ye Chun 2023 Unknown English
17163 Sea Wall / A Life John Stephens Unknown Unknown
17163 Earthlight André Breton 1923 French French
17163 A Fórmula De Deus José M. Sánchez Santos Unknown Unknown
17163 Infinite Ground Martin MacInnes 2016 British English
17163 A "Working Life" Eileen Myles 2023 American English