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
10159 A Bell for Adano John Hersey 1944 American English
10264 The Ether Dome And Other Poems Allen Grossman 1979 American English
10278 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10309 Walls Hiltgunt Zassenhaus 1974 German English
10309 Mimesis Erich Auerbach 1946 German German
10309 Sense And Non Sense Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1948 French French
10309 The Need For Roots Simone Weil 1949 French French
10406 Oh Pure And Radiant Heart Lydia Millet 2005 American English
10412 Selected Longer Poems A. R. Ammons 1980 American English
10428 Abaddon's Gate James S. A. Corey 2013 American English
10424 Internal Ecology Morals For Xxi Century Dario Salas Sommer 2007 Chilean Spanish
10454 War Trash Ha Jin 2004 Chinese English
10454 Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino 1983 Italian Italian
10519 The Bird Man And The Lap Dancer Eric Hansen 2004 American English
10573 Caliban's War James S. A. Corey 2012 American English
10646 The Abstract Wild Jack Turner 1996 Unknown English
10690 The Possibility Of Life Jaime Green 2023 Unknown English
10736 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10752 Selected Poems Galway Kinnell 1982 American English
10752 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10893 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10907 The Drone Eats With Me Atef Abu Saif 2015 Palestinian English
10947 Latitudes Of Longing Shubhangi Swarup 2018 Indian English
11002 City Of Joy Dominique Lapierre 1985 French French
11019 Desolation Island Adolfo García Ortega 2014 Spanish Unknown
11028 Ways Of Being Alive Baptiste Morizot 2020 French French
11045 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11053 An Imagined World June Goodfield 1981 British English
11068 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11077 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
11113 2312 Kim Stanley Robinson 2012 American English
11140 Ravage René Barjavel 1943 French French
11141 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture David Brion Davis 1966 American English
11141 So Human an Animal René Dubos 1968 French English
11163 The Dark Forest Cixin Liu 2008 Chinese Chinese
11167 Krilon Eyvind Johnson 1941 Swedish Swedish
11168 The Creators Daniel J. Boorstin 1992 American English
11200 Silence Of The Sea Jean Bruller 1942 French French
11206 Ninety Three Victor Hugo 1874 French French
11203 The Lost Pianos Of Siberia Sophy Roberts 2020 British English
11235 The Mote In God's Eye Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1974 American English
11243 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11255 Éthiopiques Léopold Sédar Senghor 1956 Senegalese French
11278 The Playmaker Thomas Keneally 1987 Australian English
11278 In Other Words May Swenson 1987 American English
11309 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11329 The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee 2016 American English
11365 Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1977 American English
11393 Collected Poems Primo Levi 1988 Italian Italian
11408 Here Gather the Stars Clifford D. Simak 1963 American English
11414 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm 1976 American English
11414 Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Canadian English
11417 Half Earth E. O. Wilson 2016 American English
11547 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11653 Above The River James Wright 1990 American English
11663 War Margaret MacMillan 2020 Canadian English
11663 Conrad In The Nineteenth Century Ian Watt 1979 British English
11663 The Fate Of The Earth Jonathan Schell 1982 American English
11663 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11797 A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958 American English
11827 Lilith's Brood Octavia E. Butler 1987 American English
11890 The Rabbiter's Bounty Les A. Murray 1991 Australian English
11932 Bad Dirt Annie Proulx 2004 American English
11934 Animals Strike Curious Poses Elena Passarello 2017 American English
11941 Whitman Emory Holloway 1926 American English
11941 God Jack Miles 1995 American English
12050 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12066 Les Thanatonautes Bernard Werber 1994 French French
12113 No Nature Gary Snyder 1992 American English
12326 Holocaust Testimonies Lawrence L. Langer 1991 American English
12326 The Island Gustaw Herling 1958 Polish Polish
12326 A Moment Of War Laurie Lee 1991 American English
12326 Reading The Holocaust Inga Clendinnen 1999 Australian English
12385 Small Congregations Thylias Moss 1993 American English
12412 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12470 Figuring Maria Popova 2019 American English
12482 Seveneves Neal Stephenson 2015 American English
12488 Sea Of Tranquility Emily St John Mandel 2022 Canadian English
12644 The Restless Clock Jessica Riskin 2016 American English
12657 Poems Of R. S. Thomas R. S. Thomas 2003 British English
12657 Poems Of Nathan Zach Nathan Zach 2020 Israeli Hebrew
12657 Earthly Measures Edward Hirsch 1994 American English
12703 Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol 2002 Spanish Catalan
12973 When We Were Real Daryl Gregory 2025 American Unknown
12974 Once Was Willem M. R. Carey 2025 Unknown Unknown
13228 An Evil Cradling Brian Keenan 1991 British English
13244 Poussières D'étoiles Hubert Reeves 1984 French French
13279 Marzahn, Mon Amour Katja Oskamp 2019 German German
13321 Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh 1981 American English
13362 The Great Tradition F. R. Leavis 1948 British English
13500 The Power Of Horses And Other Stories Elizabeth Cook 2021 British Unknown
13362 The Amphibian Man Alexander Belyaev 1928 Russian Russian
13362 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
13508 Train To Pakistan Khushwant Singh 1956 Indian English
13533 A Life In Letters Anton Chekhov 1973 Russian Russian
13543 Mr. Sammler's Planet Saul Bellow 1970 American English
13560 The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons 1990 American English
13566 Old Man's War John Scalzi 2005 American English
13731 Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick 2002 American English
13743 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian
13794 The Ghost In The Shell Shirow Masamune 1989 Japanese Japanese
13818 Il Clandestino Mario Tobino 1962 Italian Italian
13818 The Worldwide Machine Paolo Volponi 1965 Italian Unknown
13818 Solitudes Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
13818 Tolstoy Pietro Citati 1986 Italian Italian
13818 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
14332 Changing Planes Ursula K. Le Guin 2003 American English
14348 Middle Passage Charles R. Johnson 1990 American English
14348 Ship Fever and Other Stories Andrea Barrett 1996 American English
14377 The Complete Poetical Works Of James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell 1890 American English