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
14434 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
14479 Adventures In Friendship David Grayson 1910 American English
14496 Blue Blood Being Ni Kuang 1985 Chinese Chinese
14517 Brev Från Nollpunkten Peter Englund 1996 Swedish Swedish
14519 The Rational Optimist Matt Ridley 2010 British English
14616 Chess King Shi-Kuo Chang 1988 Chinese Chinese
14641 Somos Luces Abismales Carolina Sanin 2018 Colombian Spanish
14666 Sacred Hunger Barry Unsworth 1992 British English
14694 Interpretations Of Literature Lafcadio Hearn 1915 British English
14694 Seven Great Statesmen In The Warfare Of Humanity With Unreason Andrew Dickson White 1915 American English
14759 The Outline Of History H. G. Wells 1920 British English
14821 The Face Of War Martha Gellhorn 1959 American English
14887 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14894 The Collected Works Kahlil Gibran 1920 Lebanese Arabic
14874 Scivias Hildegard of Bingen 1151 German Latin
14936 The City And The Stars Arthur C. Clarke 1956 British English
14965 Greybeard Brian Aldiss 1964 British English
14960 The Sovereignty Of Good Iris Murdoch 1970 British English
14983 How We Die Sherwin B. Nuland 1994 American English
14983 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Jon McGregor 2002 British English
14983 Skinny Legs and All Tom Robbins 1990 American English
14974 The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1968 Peruvian Spanish
14983 The Complete Short Stories of Jack London Jack London 1993 American English
14983 Ka John Crowley 2017 American English
14983 Exit Strategy Martha Wells 2018 American English
14983 Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut 1985 American English
14983 Hothouse Brian Aldiss 1962 British English
14983 Tokyo Ghoul Sui Ishida 2011 Japanese Japanese
14983 Foundation And Earth Isaac Asimov 1986 American English
14983 The Long Earth Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter 2012 British English
14983 Metro 2033 Dmitri Glukhovsky 2005 Russian Russian
14983 The Rediscovery Of Man Cordwainer Smith 1975 American English
14983 The Cellist Of Sarajevo Steven Galloway 2008 Canadian English
14983 No One Belongs Here More Than You Miranda July 2007 American English
14983 A Psalm For The Wild Built Becky Chambers 2021 American English
14983 Stalingrad Antony Beevor 1998 British English
14983 The Road To Roswell Connie Willis 2023 American English
15582 Accepting The Universe John Burroughs 1920 American English
15584 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
15658 The Collected Poems Of John Masefield John Masefield 1923 British English
15670 Religious Perplexities L. P. Jacks 1923 British English
15724 Passionate Journey Frans Masereel 1919 Belgian German
15742 Selected Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
15870 Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers Pierre Guyotat 1967 French French
15897 The Word of God and the Word of Man Karl Barth 1928 Swiss German
15897 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian
15897 One Man's Meat E. B. White 1942 American English
15897 The Animals' Conference Erich Kästner 1949 German German
16498 The Machine Stops E. M. Forster 1909 British English
16488 The Iron Giant Ted Hughes 1968 British English
16497 The Zoo Story Edward Albee 1958 American English
15897 Watsuji Tetsuro's Rinrigaku Watsuji Tetsuro 1937 Japanese Japanese
15897 The Works Of Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne 1686 British English
15897 Navigator Of The Flood Mario Brelich 1967 Italian Italian
15897 Three Days To See Helen Keller 1933 American English
15897 Stray Birds Rabindranath Tagore 1916 Indian Bengali
15897 Evening Descends Upon The Hills Anna Maria Ortese 1961 Italian Italian
15883 God Emperor Of Dune Frank Herbert 1981 American English
15897 10,000 Light Years From Home James Tiptree Jr. 1973 American English
15886 At The Mind's Limits Jean Améry 1966 German German
16499 O Sonho De Um Homem Ridículo Fyodor Dostoevsky 1877 Russian Russian
15897 Long Remember MacKinlay Kantor 1934 American English
15897 Brain Wave Poul Anderson 1954 American English
16588 Profiles Of The Future Arthur C. Clarke 1962 British English
16612 Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff 1950 Armenian Russian
16740 The Ship Who Sang Anne McCaffrey 1969 American English
16643 The Seven Who Were Hanged Leonid Andreyev 1908 Russian Russian
16700 The Skin Of Our Teeth Thornton Wilder 1942 American English
16657 The Sea And Poison Shūsaku Endō 1958 Japanese Japanese
16669 Le Dernier Jour D'un Condamné Victor Hugo 1829 French French
17119 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17119 Staying Alive Neil Astley 2002 British English
17119 Easy Travel to Other Planets Ted Mooney 1981 American English
17119 The Edward Hoagland Reader Edward Hoagland 1979 American English
17119 Titan John Varley 1979 American English
17119 The Rise of Endymion Dan Simmons 1997 American English
17119 Vn Madeline Ashby 2012 Canadian English
17119 The Reality Dysfunction Peter F. Hamilton 1996 British English
17119 Burning Chrome William Gibson 1986 Canadian English
17119 The Songs Of Distant Earth Arthur C. Clarke 1986 British English
16826 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17119 The Engines Of God Jack McDevitt 1994 American English
17050 Little Fuzzy H. Beam Piper 1962 American English
17119 Earth David Brin 1990 American English
17119 Doctor Copernicus John Banville 1976 Irish English
17119 Only Begotten Daughter James K. Morrow 1990 American English
17119 Towing Jehovah James K. Morrow 1994 American English
17119 A Mirror For Observers Edgar Pangborn 1954 American English
17119 Journey Beyond Tomorrow Robert Sheckley 1962 American English
17119 Dr. Bloodmoney Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
17119 The Palace Of Eternity Bob Shaw 1969 British English
17119 The Walking Shadow Brian Stableford 1979 British English
17119 The Complete Roderick John Sladek 1982 American English
17119 The Great World David Malouf 1990 Australian English
17119 Mudlarking Lara Maiklem 2019 British English
16854 The Time Of Your Life William Saroyan 1939 American English
17119 The Mysteries Tony Harrison 1985 British English
17119 Bingo Edward Bond 1973 British English
17119 Andymon Angela Steinmüller, Karlheinz Steinmüller 1982 German German
17119 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17119 We Were Out Of Our Minds With Joy David Marusek 1995 American English
17119 Helliconia Winter Brian Aldiss 1985 British English
17119 Brontomek! Michael G. Coney 1976 British English
17119 The Moment Of Eclipse Brian Aldiss 1970 British English
17119 The Night Of The Triffids Simon Clark 2001 British English
17119 One Conrad Williams 2009 British English
17119 Humanity's End Nicholas Agar 2010 New Zealand English
17119 Evil In Modern Thought Susan Neiman 2002 American English
17119 The Inescapable Self Timothy Chappell 2006 British English
17119 All Rivers Run To The Sea Elie Wiesel 1995 American French
17119 The Hostage Brendan Behan 1958 Irish English
17119 The Object Of Morality G. J. Warnock 1971 British English
17119 Great Books David Denby 1996 American English
17119 Vacuum Diagrams Stephen Baxter 1997 British English
17119 Critical Path R. Buckminster Fuller 1981 American English
17119 Forests Robert Pogue Harrison 1992 American English
17119 I Was A Stranger Sir John Winthrop Hackett 1977 Irish Unknown
17119 A Dresser Of Sycamore Trees Garret Keizer 1991 American English
17119 A Palpable God Reynolds Price 1978 American English
17119 Map Wislawa Szymborska 2016 Polish Polish