The Greatest Nonfiction Books of All Time on Solitude

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
120 Walden Henry David Thoreau 1854 American English
663 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard 1974 American English
693 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
969 Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke 1929 Austrian German
1403 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
1698 Reveries of a Solitary Walker Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
1898 Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey 1968 American English
2447 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2484 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
2948 The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain Han Shan 600 Chinese Classical chinese
3468 Travels with a Donkey in the CĂ©vennes Robert Louis Stevenson 1879 British English
3934 North Pole Landscape Painting Wumingshi 1943 Chinese Unknown
4734 Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson 1836 American English
5482 Ring Of Bright Water Gavin Maxwell 1960 British English
5482 The Outermost House Henry Beston 1928 American English
5912 The Long Way Bernard Moitessier 1971 French French
6935 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
7385 A Country Year Sue Hubbell 1986 American English
12138 The Sound Of A Wild Snail Eating Renee Raudman, Elisabeth Tova Bailey 2010 American English
12340 Grizzly Years Doug Peacock 1990 American English
12783 Fox & I Catherine Raven 2021 Unknown English
12981 Sailing Alone Around the World Joshua Slocum 1900 Canadian English
13219 Gift From The Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh 1955 American English
13255 Journal Of A Solitude May Sarton 1973 American English
14163 Alone Richard Byrd 1938 American English
14371 Alaska Wilderness Robert Marshall 1956 American English
14371 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
14371 Poems Of Sophia De Mello Breyner Sophia de Mello Breyner 1964 Portuguese Portuguese