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
14435 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
14480 Adventures In Friendship David Grayson 1910 American English
14497 Blue Blood Being Ni Kuang 1985 Chinese Chinese
14518 Brev Från Nollpunkten Peter Englund 1996 Swedish Swedish
14520 The Rational Optimist Matt Ridley 2010 British English
14617 Chess King Shi-Kuo Chang 1988 Chinese Chinese
14642 Somos Luces Abismales Carolina Sanin 2018 Colombian Spanish
14667 Sacred Hunger Barry Unsworth 1992 British English
14695 Interpretations Of Literature Lafcadio Hearn 1915 British English
14695 Seven Great Statesmen In The Warfare Of Humanity With Unreason Andrew Dickson White 1915 American English
14760 The Outline Of History H. G. Wells 1920 British English
14822 The Face Of War Martha Gellhorn 1959 American English
14890 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14895 The Collected Works Kahlil Gibran 1920 Lebanese Arabic
14874 Scivias Hildegard of Bingen 1151 German Latin
14939 The City And The Stars Arthur C. Clarke 1956 British English
14966 Greybeard Brian Aldiss 1964 British English
14962 The Sovereignty Of Good Iris Murdoch 1970 British English
14985 How We Die Sherwin B. Nuland 1994 American English
14985 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Jon McGregor 2002 British English
14985 Skinny Legs and All Tom Robbins 1990 American English
14976 The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1968 Peruvian Spanish
14985 The Complete Short Stories of Jack London Jack London 1993 American English
14985 Ka John Crowley 2017 American English
14985 Exit Strategy Martha Wells 2018 American English
14985 The Songs Of Distant Earth Arthur C. Clarke 1986 British English
14985 Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut 1985 American English
14985 Hothouse Brian Aldiss 1962 British English
14985 Tokyo Ghoul Sui Ishida 2011 Japanese Japanese
14985 Foundation And Earth Isaac Asimov 1986 American English
14985 The Long Earth Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter 2012 British English
14985 Metro 2033 Dmitri Glukhovsky 2005 Russian Russian
14985 The Rediscovery Of Man Cordwainer Smith 1975 American English
14985 The Cellist Of Sarajevo Steven Galloway 2008 Canadian English
14985 No One Belongs Here More Than You Miranda July 2007 American English
14985 A Psalm For The Wild Built Becky Chambers 2021 American English
14985 Stalingrad Antony Beevor 1998 British English
14985 The Road To Roswell Connie Willis 2023 American English
15590 Accepting The Universe John Burroughs 1920 American English
15592 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
15666 The Collected Poems Of John Masefield John Masefield 1923 British English
15678 Religious Perplexities L. P. Jacks 1923 British English
15732 Passionate Journey Frans Masereel 1919 Belgian German
15750 Selected Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
15883 Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers Pierre Guyotat 1967 French French
15916 The Word of God and the Word of Man Karl Barth 1928 Swiss German
15916 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian
15916 One Man's Meat E. B. White 1942 American English
15916 The Animals' Conference Erich Kästner 1949 German German
16519 The Machine Stops E. M. Forster 1909 British English
16502 The Iron Giant Ted Hughes 1968 British English
16517 The Zoo Story Edward Albee 1958 American English
15916 Watsuji Tetsuro's Rinrigaku Watsuji Tetsuro 1937 Japanese Japanese
15916 The Works Of Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne 1686 British English
15916 Navigator Of The Flood Mario Brelich 1967 Italian Italian
15916 Three Days To See Helen Keller 1933 American English
15916 Stray Birds Rabindranath Tagore 1916 Indian Bengali
15916 Evening Descends Upon The Hills Anna Maria Ortese 1961 Italian Italian
15901 God Emperor Of Dune Frank Herbert 1981 American English
15916 10,000 Light Years From Home James Tiptree Jr. 1973 American English
15903 At The Mind's Limits Jean Améry 1966 German German
16516 O Sonho De Um Homem Ridículo Fyodor Dostoevsky 1877 Russian Russian
15916 Long Remember MacKinlay Kantor 1934 American English
15916 Brain Wave Poul Anderson 1954 American English
16614 Profiles Of The Future Arthur C. Clarke 1962 British English
16650 Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff 1950 Armenian Russian
16779 The Ship Who Sang Anne McCaffrey 1969 American English
16680 The Seven Who Were Hanged Leonid Andreyev 1908 Russian Russian
16739 The Skin Of Our Teeth Thornton Wilder 1942 American English
16688 The Sea And Poison Shūsaku Endō 1958 Japanese Japanese
16702 Le Dernier Jour D'un Condamné Victor Hugo 1829 French French
17163 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17163 Staying Alive Neil Astley 2002 British English
17163 Easy Travel to Other Planets Ted Mooney 1981 American English
17163 The Edward Hoagland Reader Edward Hoagland 1979 American English
17163 Titan John Varley 1979 American English
17163 The Rise of Endymion Dan Simmons 1997 American English
17163 Vn Madeline Ashby 2012 Canadian English
17163 The Reality Dysfunction Peter F. Hamilton 1996 British English
17163 Burning Chrome William Gibson 1986 Canadian English
16866 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17163 The Engines Of God Jack McDevitt 1994 American English
17091 Little Fuzzy H. Beam Piper 1962 American English
17163 Earth David Brin 1990 American English
17163 Doctor Copernicus John Banville 1976 Irish English
17163 Only Begotten Daughter James K. Morrow 1990 American English
17163 Towing Jehovah James K. Morrow 1994 American English
17163 A Mirror For Observers Edgar Pangborn 1954 American English
17163 Journey Beyond Tomorrow Robert Sheckley 1962 American English
17163 Dr. Bloodmoney Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
17163 The Palace Of Eternity Bob Shaw 1969 British English
17163 The Walking Shadow Brian Stableford 1979 British English
17163 The Complete Roderick John Sladek 1982 American English
17163 The Great World David Malouf 1990 Australian English
17163 Mudlarking Lara Maiklem 2019 British English
16895 The Time Of Your Life William Saroyan 1939 American English
17163 The Mysteries Tony Harrison 1985 British English
17163 Bingo Edward Bond 1973 British English
17163 Andymon Angela Steinmüller, Karlheinz Steinmüller 1982 German German
17163 Evolution Stephen Baxter 2003 British English
17163 We Were Out Of Our Minds With Joy David Marusek 1995 American English
17163 Helliconia Winter Brian Aldiss 1985 British English
17163 Brontomek! Michael G. Coney 1976 British English
17163 The Moment Of Eclipse Brian Aldiss 1970 British English
17163 The Night Of The Triffids Simon Clark 2001 British English
17163 One Conrad Williams 2009 British English
17163 Humanity's End Nicholas Agar 2010 New Zealand English
17163 Evil In Modern Thought Susan Neiman 2002 American English
17163 The Inescapable Self Timothy Chappell 2006 British English
17163 All Rivers Run To The Sea Elie Wiesel 1995 American French
17163 The Hostage Brendan Behan 1958 Irish English
17163 The Object Of Morality G. J. Warnock 1971 British English
17163 Great Books David Denby 1996 American English
17163 Vacuum Diagrams Stephen Baxter 1997 British English
17163 Critical Path R. Buckminster Fuller 1981 American English
17163 Forests Robert Pogue Harrison 1992 American English
17163 I Was A Stranger Sir John Winthrop Hackett 1977 Irish Unknown
17163 A Dresser Of Sycamore Trees Garret Keizer 1991 American English
17163 A Palpable God Reynolds Price 1978 American English
17163 Map Wislawa Szymborska 2016 Polish Polish