The Greatest Philosophical Books of All Time

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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
1881 The Machiavellians James Burnham 1943 American English
1882 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
1883 Chariots Of The Gods Erich Von Däniken 1968 German German
1887 The Uses of Enchantment Bruno Bettelheim 1976 Austrian English
1891 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1892 A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold 1949 American English
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1907 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1913 Mencius Mencius -300 Chinese Classical chinese
1930 The Way Of The World Nicolas Bouvier 1963 French French
1932 On Self Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
1938 The Spectator Joseph Addison 1711 British English
1943 The Pursuit of the Millennium Norman Cohn 1957 British English
1952 The Idea of History R. G. Collingwood 1946 British English
1956 Lucifer Joost van den Vondel 1654 Dutch Dutch
1959 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
1960 The Provincial Letters Blaise Pascal 1656 French French
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
1966 Truth And Method Hans-Georg Gadamer 1960 German German
1974 The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010 American English
1976 Towards A New Architecture Le Corbusier 1923 French French
1986 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
1987 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Sacks 1985 British English
1989 Your Face Tomorrow Javier Marias 2002 Spanish Spanish
1992 Headlong Hall Thomas Love Peacock 1816 British English
1997 An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding David Hume 1748 Scottish English
2005 Baltasar and Blimunda José Saramago 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
2016 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
2020 Journals André Gide 1948 French French
2021 Little Poet Nescio 1918 Dutch Unknown
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2026 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2030 On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Nicolaus Copernicus 1543 Polish Latin
2031 The Crowd Gustave Le Bon 1895 French French
2031 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2031 Sex And Repression In Savage Society Bronislaw Malinowski 1927 British English
2031 Theodicy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1710 German French
2031 über Den Umgang Mit Menschen Adolph Freiherr von Knigge 1788 German German
2031 The Concept Of Anxiety Soren Kierkegaard 1844 Danish Danish
2031 The Riddle Of The Universe Ernst Haeckel 1899 German German
2031 Introduction To Mathematical Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1919 British English
2031 Man In The Modern Age Karl Jaspers 1931 German German
2048 Amusing Ourselves To Death Neil Postman 1985 American English
2059 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
2063 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
2066 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
2070 The Age of Reform Richard Hofstadter 1955 American English
2073 The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 1852 American English
2076 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
2079 Rationalism in Politics Michael Oakeshott 1962 British English
2081 Στροφή George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2095 Parken En Woestijnen M. Vasalis 1940 Dutch Dutch
2110 The Deeps of Deliverance Frederik van Eeden 1900 Dutch Dutch
2112 House On The Embankment Yuri Trifonov 1976 Russian Russian
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2116 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2116 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2128 Korenbloemen Constantijn Huygens 1658 Dutch Dutch
2140 The Interrogation J. M. G. Le Clezio 1963 French French
2148 Tractatus Theologico Politicus Baruch de Spinoza 1670 Dutch Latin
2154 Don Juan Molière 1665 French French
2159 Soul and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1999 Russian Russian
2160 The Immense Journey Loren Eiseley 1957 American English
2168 Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes 1975 Mexican Spanish
2172 Essays Charles Lamb 1823 British English
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2181 The Little Demon Fedor Sologub 1907 Russian Russian
2185 On Love Alain de Botton 1993 British English
2186 The American Language H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
2190 Les Tragiques Agrippa d'Aubigné 1616 French French
2193 Envy Yury Olesha 1927 Russian Russian
2196 That Hideous Strength C. S. Lewis 1945 British English
2197 Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho 1998 Brazilian Portuguese
2202 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2219 King Solomon's Ring Konrad Lorenz 1949 Austrian German
2225 Aspects of the Novel E. M. Forster 1927 British English
2230 The Cathedral Folk Nikolai Leskov 1872 Russian Russian
2233 Resurrection Leo Tolstoy 1899 Russian Russian
2234 Last And First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930 British English
2236 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2239 A Treatise of Human Nature David Hume 1739 British English
2256 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
2259 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2264 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality Sigmund Freud 1905 Austrian German
2269 The Virgin in the Garden A. S. Byatt 1978 British English
2270 The Nun Denis Diderot 1796 French French
2272 The Wretched of the Earth Frantz Fanon 1961 Algerian French
2279 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
2282 Crowds And Power Elias Canetti 1960 German German
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2292 Consciousness Explained Daniel Dennett 1991 American English
2293 The Divided Self R. D. Laing 1960 British English
2296 The Limits To Growth Donella H. Meadows 1972 American English
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2304 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
2307 The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins 1976 British English
2309 Chance And Necessity Jacques Monod 1970 French French
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2320 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2322 The End And The Beginning Wislawa Szymborska 1993 Polish Polish
2329 Romola George Eliot 1863 British English
2347 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2349 The Inheritors William Golding 1955 British English
2352 Contact Carl Sagan 1985 American English
2355 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
2359 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2360 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
2363 The Sorrow Of War Bao Ninh 1990 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2364 One Two Three . . . Infinity George Gamow 1947 American English
2367 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2368 On Growth and Form D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson 1917 British English
2372 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2372 The Vatican Cellars André Gide 1914 French French
2382 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
2391 Beyond Sleep W.F. Hermans 1966 Dutch Dutch