The Greatest Books of All Time on Genius

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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
135 Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann 1947 German German
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2490 The Moon And Sixpence W. Somerset Maugham 1919 British English
2833 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
3204 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
4586 The Loser Thomas Bernhard 1983 Austrian German
5360 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5889 Louis Lambert Honoré de Balzac 1832 French French
6002 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6288 Out Of My Mind Sharon M. Draper 2010 American English
6506 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
7215 Representative Men Ralph Waldo Emerson 1850 American English
7980 The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman 1998 American English
8627 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
9328 Decoded Mai Jia 2002 Chinese Chinese
9985 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
14055 City Alessandro Baricco 1999 Italian Italian
14434 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
15897 A Woman Of Genius Mary Austin 1912 American English
17117 Amadeus Peter Shaffer 1979 British English
17117 Proof David Auburn 2000 American English
17117 Conversations With Glenn Gould Jonathan Cott 1983 Canadian English
17117 A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar 1998 American English
17117 Michelangelo The Florentine Sidney Alexander 1957 Unknown English
17117 The Hand Of Michelangelo Sidney Alexander 1976 Unknown English
17117 The Agony And The Ecstacy Irving Stone 1961 American English
17117 Mozart In Motion Patrick Mackie 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Best Minds Jonathan Rosen 2023 Unknown English
17117 Могила Шелли Уайльд Оскар Irish Unknown