The Greatest Books of All Time on Humanity

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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
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
76 The Plague Albert Camus 1947 French French
77 Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman 1855 American English
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
126 If This Is a Man Primo Levi 1947 Italian Italian
207 Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis 1946 Greek Greek
214 Life and Fate Vasily Grossman 1980 Russian Russian
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
294 The Time Machine H. G. Wells 1895 British English
368 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein 1961 American English
372 War of the Worlds H. G. Wells 1898 British English
413 The Naked and the Dead Norman Mailer 1948 American English
451 Hiroshima John Hersey 1946 American English
459 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
460 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
471 Waiting for the Barbarians J. M. Coetzee 1980 South African English
477 Fateless or Fatelessness Imre Kertész 1975 Hungarian Hungarian
528 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick 1968 American English
582 Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl 1946 Austrian German
621 Analects Confucius -479 Chinese Classical chinese
631 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder 1927 American English
635 Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo 1939 American English
645 A Study of History Arnold J. Toynbee 1934 British English
681 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963 American English
706 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
713 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara 1974 American English
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
776 War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
777 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 American English
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
917 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951 British English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1004 2001 Arthur C. Clarke 1968 British English
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1114 Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor 1955 American English
1138 The Unwomanly Face Of War Svetlana Alexievich 1985 Russian Russian
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1199 This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Tadeusz Borowski 1947 Polish Polish
1237 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
1269 The Unknown Soldier Väinö Linna 1954 Finnish Finnish
1303 The Seventh Cross Anna Seghers 1942 German German
1323 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1960 American English
1349 Gitanjali Rabindranath Tagore 1910 Indian Bengali
1357 I and Thou Martin Buber 1923 Austrian German
1401 Silence of the Sea Vercors 1942 French French
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1453 The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1950 American English
1470 Wind, Sand and Stars Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1939 French French
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1545 Understanding Media Marshall McLuhan 1964 Canadian English
1579 The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel Isaac Babel 1934 Russian Russian
1599 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1600 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1632 The Roots of Heaven Romain Gary 1956 French French
1724 Logbook George Seferis 1940 Greek Greek
1738 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
1769 Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas 1954 British English
1813 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon 1987 American English
1814 Christ Recrucified Nikos Kazantzakis 1948 Greek Greek
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1891 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1897 The Ice People René Barjavel 1968 French French
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1933 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
1967 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
1974 The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010 American English
2053 Spain, Take This Chalice from Me César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
2064 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
2105 Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey 1968 American English
2147 Aniara Harry Martinson 1956 Swedish Swedish
2151 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2161 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2230 The Cathedral Folk Nikolai Leskov 1872 Russian Russian
2234 Last And First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930 British English
2245 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2257 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2326 The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu 2006 Chinese Chinese
2347 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2352 Contact Carl Sagan 1985 American English
2357 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1955 American English
2396 The Drowned and the Saved Primo Levi 1986 Italian Italian
2415 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2432 The Forever War Joe Haldeman 1974 American English
2462 Poems Of William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant 1821 American English
2484 The Good War Studs Terkel 1984 American English
2494 Rogue Moon Algis Budrys 1960 American English
2525 The Everlasting Man G. K. Chesterton 1925 British English
2527 Life of Christ Giovanni Papini 1921 Italian Italian
2547 The Enormous Room E. E. Cummings 1922 American English
2552 The Last Temptation of Christ Nikos Kazantzakis 1955 Greek Greek
2560 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2563 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2566 The Caves Of Steel Isaac Asimov 1954 American English
2600 Out Of The Silent Planet C. S. Lewis 1938 British English
2616 The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman Andrzej Szczypiorski 1986 Polish Polish
2728 La légende des siècles Victor Hugo 1859 French French
2729 Overcoat Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
2778 Lay Down Your Arms! Bertha von Suttner 1889 Austrian German
2822 Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky 1972 Russian Russian
2873 The Horseman on the Roof Jean Giono 1951 French French
2899 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
2923 The Poems of Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1855 American English
2934 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2984 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
3081 Under the Skin Michel Faber 2000 British English
3120 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3190 Trilce César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
3194 The Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas 1974 American English
3223 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3242 Death Is My Trade Robert Merle 1952 French French