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
10154 A Bell for Adano John Hersey 1944 American English
10259 The Ether Dome And Other Poems Allen Grossman 1979 American English
10273 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10304 Walls Hiltgunt Zassenhaus 1974 German English
10304 Mimesis Erich Auerbach 1946 German German
10304 Sense And Non Sense Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1948 French French
10304 The Need For Roots Simone Weil 1949 French French
10401 Oh Pure And Radiant Heart Lydia Millet 2005 American English
10407 Selected Longer Poems A. R. Ammons 1980 American English
10423 Abaddon's Gate James S. A. Corey 2013 American English
10419 Internal Ecology Morals For Xxi Century Dario Salas Sommer 2007 Chilean Spanish
10449 War Trash Ha Jin 2004 Chinese English
10449 Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino 1983 Italian Italian
10514 The Bird Man And The Lap Dancer Eric Hansen 2004 American English
10568 Caliban's War James S. A. Corey 2012 American English
10641 The Abstract Wild Jack Turner 1996 Unknown English
10685 The Possibility Of Life Jaime Green 2023 Unknown English
10731 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10747 Selected Poems Galway Kinnell 1982 American English
10747 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10888 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10902 The Drone Eats With Me Atef Abu Saif 2015 Palestinian English
10942 Latitudes Of Longing Shubhangi Swarup 2018 Indian English
10997 City Of Joy Dominique Lapierre 1985 French French
11014 Desolation Island Adolfo García Ortega 2014 Spanish Unknown
11023 Ways Of Being Alive Baptiste Morizot 2020 French French
11040 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11048 An Imagined World June Goodfield 1981 British English
11063 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11072 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
11108 2312 Kim Stanley Robinson 2012 American English
11135 Ravage René Barjavel 1943 French French
11136 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture David Brion Davis 1966 American English
11136 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11158 The Dark Forest Cixin Liu 2008 Chinese Chinese
11162 Krilon Eyvind Johnson 1941 Swedish Swedish
11163 The Creators Daniel J. Boorstin 1992 American English
11195 Silence Of The Sea Jean Bruller 1942 French French
11201 Ninety Three Victor Hugo 1874 French French
11198 The Lost Pianos Of Siberia Sophy Roberts 2020 British English
11230 The Mote In God's Eye Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1974 American English
11238 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11250 Éthiopiques Léopold Sédar Senghor 1956 Senegalese French
11273 The Playmaker Thomas Keneally 1987 Australian English
11273 In Other Words May Swenson 1987 American English
11304 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11324 The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee 2016 American English
11361 Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1977 American English
11389 Collected Poems Primo Levi 1988 Italian Italian
11404 Here Gather the Stars Clifford D. Simak 1963 American English
11410 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm 1976 American English
11410 Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Canadian English
11413 Half Earth E. O. Wilson 2016 American English
11544 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11650 Above The River James Wright 1990 American English
11660 War Margaret MacMillan 2020 Canadian English
11660 Conrad In The Nineteenth Century Ian Watt 1979 British English
11660 The Fate Of The Earth Jonathan Schell 1982 American English
11660 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11795 A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958 American English
11825 Lilith's Brood Octavia E. Butler 1987 American English
11888 The Rabbiter's Bounty Les A. Murray 1991 Australian English
11930 Bad Dirt Annie Proulx 2004 American English
11932 Animals Strike Curious Poses Elena Passarello 2017 American English
11939 Whitman Emory Holloway 1926 American English
11939 God Jack Miles 1995 American English
12048 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12065 Les Thanatonautes Bernard Werber 1994 French French
12112 No Nature Gary Snyder 1992 American English
12324 Holocaust Testimonies Lawrence L. Langer 1991 American English
12324 The Island Gustaw Herling 1958 Polish Polish
12324 A Moment Of War Laurie Lee 1991 American English
12324 Reading The Holocaust Inga Clendinnen 1999 Australian English
12383 Small Congregations Thylias Moss 1993 American English
12410 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12468 Figuring Maria Popova 2019 American English
12480 Seveneves Neal Stephenson 2015 American English
12486 Sea Of Tranquility Emily St John Mandel 2022 Canadian English
12642 The Restless Clock Jessica Riskin 2016 American English
12655 Poems Of R. S. Thomas R. S. Thomas 2003 British English
12655 Poems Of Nathan Zach Nathan Zach 2020 Israeli Hebrew
12655 Earthly Measures Edward Hirsch 1994 American English
12701 Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol 2002 Spanish Catalan
12970 When We Were Real Daryl Gregory 2025 American Unknown
12971 Once Was Willem M. R. Carey 2025 Unknown Unknown
13225 An Evil Cradling Brian Keenan 1991 British English
13241 Poussières D'étoiles Hubert Reeves 1984 French French
13276 Marzahn, Mon Amour Katja Oskamp 2019 German German
13318 Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh 1981 American English
13359 The Great Tradition F. R. Leavis 1948 British English
13498 The Power Of Horses And Other Stories Elizabeth Cook 2021 British Unknown
13359 The Amphibian Man Alexander Belyaev 1928 Russian Russian
13359 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
13506 Train To Pakistan Khushwant Singh 1956 Indian English
13532 A Life In Letters Anton Chekhov 1973 Russian Russian
13542 Mr. Sammler's Planet Saul Bellow 1970 American English
13559 The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons 1990 American English
13565 Old Man's War John Scalzi 2005 American English
13730 Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick 2002 American English
13742 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian
13793 The Ghost In The Shell Shirow Masamune 1989 Japanese Japanese
13817 Il Clandestino Mario Tobino 1962 Italian Italian
13817 The Worldwide Machine Paolo Volponi 1965 Italian Unknown
13817 Solitudes Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
13817 Tolstoy Pietro Citati 1986 Italian Italian
13817 Microcosms Claudio Magris 1997 Italian Italian
13933 The Body William Sansom 1949 British English
14068 Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Raymond Carver 1976 American English
14088 La Part De L'autre Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2001 French French
14122 Life 3.0 Max Tegmark 2017 Swedish English
14138 They'd Rather Be Right Mark Clifton 1954 American English
14138 The Lesser Evil Victor Klemperer German Unknown
14172 The Human Comedy William Saroyan 1943 American English
14207 Planet Of The Apes Pierre Boulle 1963 French French
14232 The Passage Justin Cronin 2010 American English
14232 View With A Grain Of Sand Wislawa Szymborska 1995 Polish Polish
14331 Changing Planes Ursula K. Le Guin 2003 American English
14347 Middle Passage Charles R. Johnson 1990 American English
14347 Ship Fever and Other Stories Andrea Barrett 1996 American English
14376 The Complete Poetical Works Of James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell 1890 American English