The Greatest Books of All Time on Growth

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
38 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1860 British English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
429 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
645 A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee 1934 British English
1250 The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Selma Lagerlöf 1906 Swedish Swedish
1436 Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke 1929 Austrian German
1477 An Essay on the Principle of Population Thomas Robert Malthus 1798 British English
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1821 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle 1969 American English
2090 Parkinson's Law C. Northcote Parkinson 1957 British English
2132 Seven Brothers Aleksis Kivi 1870 Finnish Finnish
2196 The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein 1964 American English
2284 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 British English
2297 The Limits To Growth Donella H. Meadows 1972 American English
2977 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 American English
2997 Childhood Leo Tolstoy 1852 Russian Russian
3240 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
3456 Ян Бибиян Elin Pelin 1923 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3547 Five Children And It Edith Nesbit 1902 British English
3638 The Endless Adventure F. S. Oliver 1930 British English
3638 Maya The Bee And Her Adventures Waldemar Bonsels 1912 German German
4141 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4310 The Shrimp And The Anemone L. P. Hartley 1944 British English
5264 The Golden Key George MacDonald 1980 British English
5616 Vuk István Fekete 1965 Hungarian Hungarian
5626 The Richard Trilogy Paul Horgan 1970 American Unknown
5628 School At The Frontier Géza Ottlik 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
6137 Iron John Robert Bly 1990 American English
6568 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
6764 The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke Theodore Roethke 1966 American English
7067 Adventures Of A Breath Hayam Abbas Al-Homi 1989 Egyptian Unknown
7216 The Road To The City Natalia Ginzburg 1942 Italian Italian
7717 The Southpaw Mark Harris 1953 American English
8107 Islanders Helen R. Hull 1927 American English
8336 The Light Years Elizabeth Jane Howard 1990 British English
8712 Sweet Talk Stephanie Vaughn 1990 American English
8764 Prentice Alvin Orson Scott Card 1989 American English
8901 Midshipman Easy Frederick Marryat 1836 British English
9036 Jouer Juste François Bégaudeau 2008 French French
9192 The Rise Sarah Lewis 2014 Unknown English
10777 The Invisible Child Tove Jansson 1962 Finnish Swedish
10784 The Wide, Wide World Elizabeth Wetherell 1850 American English
10798 Elsewhere Gabrielle Zevin 2005 American English
11897 Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1834 British English
12084 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12588 Jim The Boy Tony Earley 2000 American English
12979 Lessons In Magic And Disaster Charlie Jane Anders 2025 Unknown Unknown
13220 10th Grade Joe Weisberg 2002 American English
13362 The Chronicles Of Prydain Lloyd Alexander 1964 American English
13362 Toby Tyler James Otis 1881 American English
13565 The Young Newcomer In The Organizational Department Wang Meng 1980 Chinese Chinese
13739 Mindset Carol S. Dweck 2006 American English
13818 La Vita Ingenua Vittorio Gorresio 1956 Italian Unknown
14001 A Chronicle Of Ancient Sunlight Henry Williamson 1951 British English
14342 The Man From Glengarry Ralph Connor 1901 Canadian English
14411 Youth, A Narrative Joseph Conrad 1898 British English
14554 The Cat's Table Michael Ondaatje 2011 Canadian English
14630 Poor Numbers Morten Jerven 2013 Norwegian English
14630 The Bet Paul Sabin 2013 American English
14731 Measure What Matters John Doerr 2017 American English
14833 Blitzscaling Reid Hoffman 2018 American English
14985 The Warrior's Apprentice Lois McMaster Bujold 1986 American English
14985 The Woman Who Rides Like A Man Tamora Pierce 1986 American English
14985 I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett 2010 British English
15567 Growth Vaclav Smil 2019 Canadian English
15567 Good Economics For Hard Times Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo 2019 American English
15616 Play Nice But Win Michael Dell 2021 American English
15916 Jacob Faithful Frederick Marryat 1834 British English
15916 Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner 1894 Australian English
15916 Paddle To The Sea Holling C. Holling 1941 American English
15916 Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens J. M. Barrie 1906 British English
15916 Pierre Maurice Sendak 1962 American English
15916 The Crossing Winston Churchill 1904 American English
16596 Anne Of Avonlea L. M. Montgomery 1909 Canadian English
17163 An American Childhood Annie Dillard 1987 American English
17163 A House Of Children Joyce Cary 1941 British English
17163 Doughnut Economics Kate Raworth 2017 British English
17163 A Mirror For Observers Edgar Pangborn 1954 American English
17163 On A Sunbeam Tillie Walden 2018 American English
17163 Milk And Honey & The Sun And Her Flowers By Rupi Kaur 2 Books Collection Set Rupi Kaur 2014 Canadian English
17163 She Fits Inside These Words r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake, Samantha King Holmes 2021 American English
17163 Empty Bottles Full Of Stories r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake 2019 American English
17163 A Wind In The Door Madeleine L'Engle 1973 American English
17163 Madeleine's World Brian Hall 1997 American English
17163 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership John C. Maxwell 1998 American English
17163 The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren 2002 American English
17163 Good To Great Jim Collins 2001 American English
17163 A Closed And Common Orbit Becky Chambers 2016 American English
17163 The Story Of A New Name Elena Ferrante 2012 Italian Italian
17163 The Comfort Crisis Michael Easter 2021 American English
17163 Failing Forward John C. Maxwell 2000 American English
16900 Taran Wanderer Lloyd Alexander 1967 American English
17163 Ego Is The Enemy Ryan Holiday 2016 American English
17163 Ms. Hempel Chronicles Sarah Shun-lien Bynum 2008 American English
17163 Wintersmith Terry Pratchett 2006 British English
17163 The Midwife's Apprentice Karen Cushman 1995 American English
17163 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17163 Okay For Now Gary D. Schmidt 2011 American English
17067 Bambi Felix Salten 1923 Austrian German
17163 The Stories Julian Tells Ann Cameron 1981 American English
17163 Almond Sohn Won-Pyung 2017 Korean Korean
17163 Mother Of Learning Domagoj Kurmaić 2011 Unknown English
16808 And Walk In Love Henrietta Buckmaster 1956 American English
17163 Jonathan Dearborn Willard M. Wallace Unknown Unknown
17163 Maya & Natasha Elyse Durham Unknown Unknown
17163 You, Bleeding Childhood Michele Mari 2023 Italian Italian
17163 Spring Rain Marc Hamer 2023 British English
17163 Bunny & Tree Balint Zsako 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Tree And The River Aaron Becker 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Shade Tree Suzy Lee, Helen Mixter 2023 Unknown English
17163 Do You Remember? Sydney Smith 2023 Unknown English
17163 Scaling People Claire Hughes Johnson 2023 Unknown English
17163 Count The Ways Joyce Maynard 2021 American English
17163 A Walk In The Woods Nikki Grimes 2023 Unknown English
16964 Moon Rising Tui T. Sutherland 2014 American English
17163 Beware Of Chicken 4 CasualFarmer Unknown Unknown
17163 Beware Of Chicken 3 CasualFarmer 2023 Unknown English
17163 Beware Of Chicken 2 CasualFarmer 2023 Unknown English