The Greatest Books of All Time on Knowledge

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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
45 Fictions Jorge Luis Borges 1944 Argentinian Spanish
96 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
114 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
150 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 1953 American English
312 Labyrinths Jorge Luis Borges 1962 Argentinian Spanish
388 The Complete Works of Plato Plato -387 Greek Ancient greek
436 El Aleph Jorge Luis Borges 1949 Argentinian Spanish
491 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
627 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe 1604 British English
714 Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 British English
835 The Art of War Sun Tzu -500 Chinese Classical chinese
1030 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes 1641 French Latin
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
1079 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
1162 Essays Francis Bacon 1597 British English
1217 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1323 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1960 American English
1327 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke 1689 British English
1429 Aphorisms Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1902 German German
1529 Orientalism Edward W. Said 1978 Palestinian English
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1713 Encyclopédie Denis Diderot 1751 French French
1721 Pragmatism William James 1907 American English
1803 The Problems of Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1912 British English
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1855 The Order of Things Michel Foucault 1966 French French
1919 The Dying Earth Jack Vance 1950 American English
1997 An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume 1748 Scottish English
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2031 Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1919 British English
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2304 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
2422 Galileo Bertolt Brecht 1938 German German
2486 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
2563 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2568 The Idea Of A University John Henry Newman 1852 British English
2574 The Hedgehog and the Fox Isaiah Berlin 1953 British English
2736 Philosophical Writings Novalis 1798 German German
2806 The Art of Memory Frances A. Yates 1966 British English
2968 The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman 2000 British English
3001 The Savage Mind Claude Lévi-Strauss 1962 French French
3551 The Improvement of Human Reason Ibn Tufayl 1170 Arabic Arabic
3561 Insight Bernard Lonergan 1957 Canadian English
3638 Areopagitica John Milton 1644 British English
3638 Brockhaus Enzyklopädie Unknown 1796 German German
3849 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
4221 The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
4401 The Revolt Of The Angels Anatole France 1914 French French
4595 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
4720 The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 1982 American English
4757 The Faculty of Useless Knowledge Yuri Dombrovsky 1976 Russian Russian
5039 The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out Richard P. Feynman 1999 American English
5391 New Atlantis Francis Bacon 1627 British English
5391 Poems Of Juana Inés De La Cruz Juana Inés de la Cruz 1689 Mexican Spanish
5688 Sur La Philosophie Africaine Paulin Hountondji 1976 French French
6002 Notebooks Joseph Joubert 1883 French French
6419 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6482 Coming of Age in the Milky Way Timothy Ferris 1988 American English
6951 The Invention Of Africa V. Y. Mudimbe 1988 Congolese English
7215 Poems Of Tommaso Campanella Tommaso Campanella 1601 Italian Italian
7215 The Mighty Magician Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1637 Spanish Spanish
7215 Aphorisms Novalis 1798 German German
7602 The Beginning Of Infinity David Deutsch 2011 British English
8188 Experience And Nature John Dewey 1925 American English
8509 From A Logical Point Of View Willard Van Orman Quine 1953 American English
8550 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8591 The Wise Man's Fear Patrick Rothfuss 2011 American English
8720 The Social Construction Of Reality Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann 1966 German English
9144 Knowledge And Human Interests Jürgen Habermas 1968 German German
9189 But What If We're Wrong? Chuck Klosterman 2016 American English
9856 The Meaning of Truth William James 1909 American English
9856 An Essay on Man Alexander Pope 1734 British English
9980 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
10086 We Have No Idea Daniel Whiteson, Jorge Cham 2017 Unknown English
10282 The Ascent Of Man Jacob Bronowski 1973 British English
10304 What Is Called Thinking? Martin Heidegger 1954 German German
10628 A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge George Berkeley 1710 Irish English
10735 Truth And Truthfulness Bernard Williams 2002 British English
10995 The History Of Sexuality Michel Foucault 1976 French French
11173 Foundation's Edge Isaac Asimov 1982 American English
11362 Complete Works Jorge Luis Borges Argentinian Spanish
11544 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11570 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11579 Women's Ways Of Knowing Mary Field Belenky 1986 American English
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
12062 Prelude To Foundation Isaac Asimov 1988 American English
12067 How We Think John Dewey 1910 American English
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
13359 A System Of Logic John Stuart Mill 1843 American English
13359 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
13590 Papyrus Irene Vallejo 2019 Spanish Spanish
13764 Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008 American English
13765 Second Foundation Isaac Asimov 1953 American English
13939 A History Of Reading Alberto Manguel 1996 Canadian English
14212 The Opinions Of Jerome Coignard Anatole France 1893 French French
14409 The Life Of Reason George Santayana 1905 American English
14498 Why Don't Students Like School? Daniel T. Willingham 2009 American English
14553 Unlocking The Gates Taylor Walsh 2011 American English
14553 The Magic Of Reality Richard Dawkins 2011 British English
14753 Outlines of Pyrrhonism Sextus Empiricus -180 Greek Greek
14819 Logic And Knowledge Bertrand Russell 1956 British English
15557 The Mind In The Making James Harvey Robinson 1921 American English
15584 Story Of Mankind Hendrik Willem van Loon 1921 American English
15744 Fahrenheit 451 Tim Hamilton 1953 American English
15897 Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature Niels Bohr 1932 Danish English
15897 An Introduction to Metaphysics Henri Bergson 1903 French French
15897 Gospel of Truth Valentinus 150 Unknown Coptic
15897 Milinda Panha Unknown -100 Mulitple Pali
15897 An Inquiry Into The Good Nishida Kitarō 1911 Japanese Japanese
15897 Advancement Of Learning Francis Bacon 1605 British English
15897 Zibaldone Giacomo Leopardi 1898 Zibaldone Italian
15897 On The Shoulders Of Giants Robert K. Merton 1965 American English
15897 The Social Function Of Science J. D. Bernal 1939 British English
15895 The Retreat To Commitment William Warren Bartley 1962 American English
15897 Doctor Faustus And Other Plays Christopher Marlowe 1604 English English
16505 On Truth And Lies In A Nonmoral Sense Friedrich Nietzsche 1873 German German
16645 Values, Objectivity, And The Social Sciences Gresham Riley 1974 American English
17119 Schott's Original Miscellany Ben Schott 2002 British English
17119 Discussion with Einstein on Epistemology Niels Bohr 1949 Danish Unknown