The Greatest Books of All Time on Philosophy

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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
11205 The Pilgrimage Of Western Man Stringfellow Barr 1949 American English
11238 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11289 You Are Not A Gadget Jaron Lanier 2010 American English
11294 A Year Brian Eno 2022 British Unknown
11304 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11334 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
11362 Against Poets Witold Gombrowicz Polish Polish
11362 The Inherent Perfection Of Life Agnès Martin Unknown Unknown
11362 Tout Péguy Charles Péguy French French
11389 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11408 The Gardens Of Japan Teiji Itoh 1984 Japanese English
11480 The Darkening Age Catherine Nixey 2017 British English
11523 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11531 Modernity On Endless Trial Leszek Kolakowski 1990 Polish English
11544 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11543 Hildegard Of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen 1152 German Latin
11569 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11628 Political And Social Writings Cornelius Castoriadis 1988 French French
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11660 Roger's Version John Updike 1986 American English
11660 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11660 Fatal Discord Michael Massing 2018 Unknown English
11805 Passages Gail Sheehy 1976 American English
11811 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11838 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
11856 Dominion Tom Holland 2019 British English
11862 Evening In The Palace Of Reason James R. Gaines 2005 Unknown English
11898 The Drama Of Doctrine Kevin Vanhoozer 2004 American English
11939 Eden's Outcasts Jon Matteson 2007 American Unknown
11939 Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed William Cabell Bruce 1917 American English
11939 Charles W. Eliot Henry James 1909 American Unknown
11939 The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry 1935 American English
11939 Johnathan Edwards Ola Elizabeth Winslow 1940 American English
11939 Machiavelli in Hell Sebastian de Grazia 1989 American English
11939 Margaret Fuller Megan Marshall 2013 American English
11939 Sontag Benjamin Moser 2019 American English
12011 What Art Is Arthur C. Danto 2013 American English
12014 Hygiene And The Assassin Amélie Nothomb 1992 Belgian French
12027 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12048 Omega Minor Paul Verhaeghen 2004 Belgian Dutch
12081 Shop Class As Soulcraft Matthew B. Crawford 2009 American English
12083 Dancing At The Edge Of The World Ursula K. Le Guin 1989 American English
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12154 Is A River Alive? Robert Macfarlane 2025 British English
12157 Capitalism And Its Critics John Cassidy 2025 British English
12160 Searches Vauhini Vara 2025 Unknown English
12190 The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age Of Distraction Alan Jacobs 2011 American English
12224 The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra 1975 Austrian English
12286 To Change The World James Davison Hunter 2010 American English
12311 The Obstacle Is The Way Ryan Holiday 2014 American English
12324 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12324 The Ant And The Peacock Helena Cronin 1991 British English
12324 Huxley Adrian Desmond 1997 British English
12324 Victor Hugo Graham Robb 1997 British English
12324 Headlong Michael Frayn 1999 British English
12380 For An Ecology Of Images Peter Szendy 2025 French English
12434 The Technological Republic Alexander C. Karp Unknown English
12468 Figuring Maria Popova 2019 American English
12494 The Mind's I Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett 1981 American English
12502 Signature In The Cell Stephen C. Meyer 2009 American English
12602 The Travels Of Lao Ts'an Liu T'ieh-yün 1907 Chinese Chinese
12642 The Restless Clock Jessica Riskin 2016 American English
12800 Bright Circle Randall Fuller 2025 Unknown English
12864 The Extreme Self Douglas Coupland, Shumon Basar, Hans Ulrich Obrist 2021 Multiple English
12869 The Age Of Choice Sophia Rosenfeld 2025 American English
12871 The Arrogant Ape Christine E. Webb 2025 Unknown English
12883 Miracles And Wonder Elaine Pagels 2025 American English
12892 Blank Space W. David Marx 2025 American English
13028 Tomatoes + Why Doesn't The Far Left Read Literature? Nathalie Quintane French French
13017 Fatherhood Augustine Sedgewick 2025 Unknown English
13018 The Genius Myth Helen Lewis 2025 British English
13037 The Party's Interests Come First Joseph Torigian 2025 Unknown English
13040 When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows... Steven Pinker 2025 American English
13079 More Everything Forever Adam Becker 2025 American English
13092 Aflame Pico Iyer 2025 British English
13095 Goliath's Curse Luke Kemp 2025 Unknown English
13097 How To Be Well Amy Larocca 2025 American English
13191 Authority Andrea Long Chu 2025 American English
13142 What Is Free Speech? Fara Dabhoiwala 2025 British English
13177 Our Brains, Our Selves Masud Husain 2025 British English
13244 God, Sexuality, And The Self Sarah Coakley 2013 British English
13305 Moment In Peking Lin Yutang 1939 Chinese English
13359 The Works of Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor 1846 British English
13359 The Nude Kenneth Clark 1956 British English
13359 Andromeda Ivan Yefremov 1957 Russian Russian
13359 The Prose Writings Of Heinrich Heine Heinrich Heine 1834 German German
13359 History Of Greece George Grote 1846 British English
13359 A Biographical History Of Philosophy George Henry Lewes 1845 American English
13359 A System Of Logic John Stuart Mill 1843 American English
13359 Essays, Moral, Political, And Literary David Hume 1741 Scottish English
13359 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
13359 On Heroes, Hero Worship, & The Heroic In History Thomas Carlyle 1841 British English
13359 The Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. 1858 American English
13359 The Epicurean Thomas Moore 1827 American English
13359 Voyage Around My Room Xavier de Maistre 1794 French French
13532 The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson 1903 American English
13532 A Life In Letters Anton Chekhov 1973 Russian Russian
13599 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13702 Poor Charlie's Almanack Charlie Munger 2005 American English
13715 The Just City Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13715 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13711 Creative Evolution Henri Bergson 1907 French French
13711 The Greek Way Edith Hamilton 1930 American English
13748 The Enchantments Of Mammon Eugene McCarraher 2019 American English
13758 The Art Of Loving Erich Fromm 1956 Unknown German
13764 Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008 American English
13771 Necessity Jo Walton 2016 Canadian English
13793 The Ghost In The Shell Shirow Masamune 1989 Japanese Japanese
13799 Dancing On Our Turtle's Back Leanne Betasamosake Simpson 2011 Canadian English
13816 Morality Jonathan Sacks 2019 British English
13817 Quasi Una Vita Corrado Alvaro 1950 Italian Italian
13817 Tolstoy Pietro Citati 1986 Italian Italian
13817 Microcosms Claudio Magris 1997 Italian Italian
13878 Thrown Kerry Howley 2014 American English
13919 The Cyberiad Stanislaw Lem 1965 Polish Polish
13923 The Buddha And His Religion J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire 1860 French French
13938 Marat Sade Peter Weiss 1963 German German
13937 What It Means To Be Human O. Carter Snead 2020 Unknown English
14001 The Golden Apple Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson 1975 American English
14007 We The Fallen People Robert Tracy McKenzie 2021 Unknown English