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
2489 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2492 The Moon And Sixpence W. Somerset Maugham 1919 British English
2835 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
4587 The Loser Thomas Bernhard 1983 Austrian German
5362 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5891 Louis Lambert Honoré de Balzac 1832 French French
6005 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6291 Out Of My Mind Sharon M. Draper 2010 American English
6508 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
7216 Representative Men Ralph Waldo Emerson 1850 American English
7981 The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman 1998 American English
8631 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
9333 Decoded Mai Jia 2002 Chinese Chinese
9989 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
14055 City Alessandro Baricco 1999 Italian Italian
14435 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
15914 A Woman Of Genius Mary Austin 1912 American English
17159 Amadeus Peter Shaffer 1979 British English
17159 Proof David Auburn 2000 American English
17159 Conversations With Glenn Gould Jonathan Cott 1983 Canadian English
17159 A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar 1998 American English
17159 Michelangelo The Florentine Sidney Alexander 1957 Unknown English
17159 The Hand Of Michelangelo Sidney Alexander 1976 Unknown English
17159 The Agony And The Ecstacy Irving Stone 1961 American English
17159 Mozart In Motion Patrick Mackie 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Best Minds Jonathan Rosen 2023 Unknown English
17159 Могила Шелли Уайльд Оскар Irish Unknown