The Greatest Philosophical Books Since 1980

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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
99 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera 1984 Czech Czech
114 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
198 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 1985 American English
200 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
214 Life and Fate Vasily Grossman 1980 Russian Russian
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
389 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1988 Brazilian Portuguese
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
534 Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie 1988 British English
657 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
1060 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
1079 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
1081 The War of the End of the World Mario Vargas Llosa 1981 Peruvian Spanish
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1122 A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking 1988 British English
1166 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1217 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1242 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis José Saramago 1984 Portuguese Portuguese
1246 Danube Claudio Magris 1986 Italian Italian
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1374 Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess 1980 British English
1384 Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond 1997 American English
1451 The Children of Men P. D. James 1992 British English
1474 Chaos James Gleick 1987 American English
1538 Snow Orhan Pamuk 2002 Turkish Turkish
1620 Sister Outsider Audre Lorde 1984 American English
1694 Cassandra Christa Wolf 1983 German German
1698 Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang 2002 American English
1703 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
1827 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1882 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
1907 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1974 The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010 American English
1987 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Sacks 1985 British English
1989 Your Face Tomorrow Javier Marias 2002 Spanish Spanish
2005 Baltasar and Blimunda José Saramago 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2048 Amusing Ourselves To Death Neil Postman 1985 American English
2076 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2159 Soul and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1999 Russian Russian
2185 On Love Alain de Botton 1993 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
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2292 Consciousness Explained Daniel Dennett 1991 American English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2320 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2321 The End And The Beginning Wislawa Szymborska 1993 Polish Polish
2352 Contact Carl Sagan 1985 American English
2359 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2363 The Sorrow Of War Bao Ninh 1990 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2367 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2392 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2396 The Drowned and the Saved Primo Levi 1986 Italian Italian
2424 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2425 Soul Mountain Xingjian Gao 1990 Chinese Chinese
2434 Modern Times Paul Johnson 1983 British English
2445 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2469 Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2496 Mortals Norman Rush 2003 American English
2571 Childhood Nathalie Sarraute 1983 French French
2598 The Witness Juan José Saer 1983 Argentinian Spanish
2596 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2602 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
2609 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French
2616 The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman Andrzej Szczypiorski 1986 Polish Polish
2626 Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty 2013 French French
2636 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2639 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
2665 The Mismeasure of Man Stephen Jay Gould 1981 American English
2666 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin 1987 British English
2687 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2710 Alan Turing Andrew Hodges 1983 British English
2711 Reasons And Persons Derek Parfit 1984 British English
2725 The Discovery Of Slowness Sten Nadolny 1983 German German
2796 The Theory Of Communicative Action Jürgen Habermas 1981 German German
2850 Dictionary of the Khazars Milorad Pavic 1984 Serbian Serbian
2852 The Counterlife Philip Roth 1986 American English
2882 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2903 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2935 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2956 Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels 1996 Canadian English
2979 Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 American English
3001 Monsignor Quixote Graham Greene 1982 British English
3007 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3010 Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson 1988 American English
3055 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
3063 The Language Instinct Steven Pinker 1994 American English
3086 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3087 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3165 Gender Trouble Judith Butler 1990 American English
3171 The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell 2000 American English
3184 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3183 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
3185 Moon Palace Paul Auster 1989 American English
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3211 Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari 2015 Israeli Hebrew
3223 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English