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
4309 Peace In War Miguel de Unamuno 1897 Spanish Spanish
4369 More Die Of Heartbreak Saul Bellow 1987 American English
4371 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4377 The Diversity of Life E. O. Wilson 1992 American English
4378 Eyes Shut Federigo Tozzi 1919 Italian Italian
4401 The Revolt Of The Angels Anatole France 1914 French French
4408 The Essential Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1995 Persian Persian
4415 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4419 The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt 2011 American English
4420 Selections From The Tatler And The Spectator Joseph Addison, Richard Steele 1804 British English
4420 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4420 Guide To Kulchur Ezra Pound 1938 American English
4444 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4449 Shibumi Trevanian 1979 American English
4452 Zurita Raul Zurita 1979 Chilean Spanish
4454 The City in History Lewis Mumford 1961 American English
4461 Collected Works of Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay 1956 American English
4470 The Unheavenly City Edward C. Banfield 1970 American English
4478 The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs 1969 American English
4481 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4497 The Unsettling of America Wendell Berry 1977 American English
4498 The Rise And Fall Of The Great Powers Paul Kennedy 1987 British English
4504 Osadeni Dushi Dimitar Dimov 1945 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4508 The Book about Blanche and Marie Per Olov Enquist 2004 Swedish Swedish
4520 Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki 1970 Japanese English
4523 The Situation Is Hopeless, But Not Serious Paul Watzlawick 1983 American English
4526 Living In Truth Vaclav Havel 1986 Czech Czech
4527 The Medium Is The Massage Marshall McLuhan 1967 Canadian English
4543 Ingenious Pain Andrew Miller 1997 British English
4544 Galeria Cu Viță Sălbatică Constantin Țoiu 1976 Romanian Romanian
4556 Os Nacionalismos Africanos Mario de Andrade 1961 Brazilian Portuguese
4566 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4581 A Theory Of The Consumption Function Milton Friedman 1957 American English
4595 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
4597 The Fourth Dimension Yannis Ritsos 1972 Greek Greek
4597 Bunavestire Nicolae Breban 1977 Romanian Romanian
4597 Vestibul Alexandru Ivasiuc 1977 Romanian Romanian
4597 Istorii Mircea Ciobanu 1977 Romanian Unknown
4607 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4612 Civilisation Kenneth Clark 1969 British English
4617 Sociobiology E. O. Wilson 1975 American English
4624 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4630 De Profundis Oscar Wilde 1905 British English
4634 The Inability To Mourn Alexander Mitscherlich, Margarete Mitscherlich 1967 German German
4635 Success Napoleon Hill 1928 American Unknown
4641 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4642 Memoirs Of A Midget Walter de la Mare 1921 British English
4645 The Face Of Another Kobo Abé 1964 Japanese Japanese
4657 Man And Superman George Bernard Shaw 1903 British English
4658 Lanterns on the Levee William Alexander Percy 1941 American English
4663 Dusklands J. M. Coetzee 1974 South African English
4669 The Painter Of Modern Life Charles Baudelaire 1863 French French
4672 The Spiritual Teaching Of Ramana Maharshi Ramana Maharshi 1972 Indian Tamil
4675 The Time of Our Singing Richard Powers 2003 American English
4687 The Sabbath Abraham Joshua Heschel 1951 American English
4687 Essays In Zen Buddhism D. T. Suzuki 1925 Japanese English
4687 The Cost Of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1937 German German
4687 Letters And Papers From Prison Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1951 German German
4687 Letters And Religion John Jay Chapman 1892 American English
4687 The Myth Of The Eternal Return Mircea Eliade 1949 Romanian French
4687 Christianity And Culture T. S. Eliot 1939 British English
4687 The Lord Romano Guardini 1934 German German
4687 The Reign Of Quantity & The Signs Of The Times René Guénon 1945 French French
4687 Testament Of Devotion Thomas R. Kelly 1941 American English
4687 Enthusiasm Ronald Knox 1950 British English
4687 Christ And Culture H. Richard Niebuhr 1951 American English
4687 The Idea Of The Holy Rudolf Otto 1917 German English
4687 In Search Of The Miraculous P.D. Ouspensky 1947 Russian English
4687 The Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna Mahendranath Gupta 1902 Indian Bengali
4687 Major Trends In Jewish Mysticism Gershom Scholem 1929 German German
4687 Centuries Of Meditations Thomas Traherne 1665 British English
4687 Practical Mysticism Evelyn Underhill 1914 British English
4711 Umgang Mit Der Angst Horst-Eberhard Richter 1968 German German
4718 I'll Take My Stand Twelve Southerners 1930 American English
4723 Mission Box Aris Alexandrou 1974 Greek Greek
4723 Days Of Sand Bujor Nedelcovici 1979 Romanian Romanian
4732 The Making of Homeric Verse Milman Parry 1971 American English
4739 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 American English
4744 The Christian Tradition Jaroslav Pelikan 1971 American English
4745 Oeuvre Poétique Léopold Sédar Senghor 1964 Senegalese French
4751 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4753 Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Chogyam Trungpa 1973 Multiple English
4757 The Faculty of Useless Knowledge Yuri Dombrovsky 1976 Russian Russian
4758 Claros Del Bosque María Zambrano 1977 Spanish Spanish
4778 Helping Verbs Of The Heart Peter Esterhazy 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
4792 Corporale Paolo Volponi 1974 Italian Italian
4799 Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson 1836 American English
4802 Brand Henrik Ibsen 1866 Norwegian Norwegian
4808 Cel Mai Iubit Dintre Pământeni Marin Preda 1980 Romanian Romanian
4811 Gaia James Lovelock 1979 British English
4813 Happy Moscow Andrey Platonov 1991 Russian Russian
4821 The Poet And The Lunatics G. K. Chesterton 1929 British English
4829 Cataract Mykhaylo Osadchy 1976 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4852 The American Political Tradition Richard Hofstadter 1948 American English
4864 The Foundations Of Arithmetic Gottlob Frege 1884 German German
4863 What Is Cinema? André Bazin 1967 French French
4864 Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers Max Planck 1922 German German
4869 Human Action Ludwig von Mises 1949 Austrian English
4868 The Ego And Its Own Max Stirner 1844 German German
4873 Animale Bolnave Nicolae Breban 1981 Romanian Romanian
4877 The Golden String Bede Griffiths 1954 British English
4878 Heroes And Tombs Ernesto Sábato 1961 Argentinian Spanish
4878 Massâlik Al Jinân Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba 1895 Senegalese Arabic
4899 The Theory Of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith 1759 Scottish English
4899 On Occult Philosophy Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 1531 German Latin
4899 The Teachings Of Ptahhotep Ptahhotep -2400 Unknown Ancient egyptian
4899 Lord Of The World Robert Hugh Benson 1907 British English
4899 Epigrammata Thomas More 1518 English Latin
4934 Exile And Pride Eli Clare 1999 American English
4944 A Short History Of Decay Emil Cioran 1949 French French
4949 Aggression Friedrich Hacker 1971 Unknown German
4955 The Fiery Angel Valeri Briussof 1908 Russian Russian
4955 The Centaur Algernon Blackwood 1911 British English
4955 The Supermale Alfred Jarry 1902 French French
4976 God In Search Of Man Abraham Joshua Heschel 1955 American English
4982 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
4991 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5004 In A Different Voice Carol Gilligan 1982 American English
5022 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5019 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian