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
11210 The Pilgrimage Of Western Man Stringfellow Barr 1949 American English
11243 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11294 You Are Not A Gadget Jaron Lanier 2010 American English
11299 A Year Brian Eno 2022 British Unknown
11309 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11339 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
11366 Against Poets Witold Gombrowicz Polish Polish
11366 The Inherent Perfection Of Life Agnès Martin Unknown Unknown
11366 Tout Péguy Charles Péguy French French
11393 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11412 The Gardens Of Japan Teiji Itoh 1984 Japanese English
11483 The Darkening Age Catherine Nixey 2017 British English
11526 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11534 Modernity On Endless Trial Leszek Kolakowski 1990 Polish English
11547 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
11546 Hildegard Of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen 1152 German Latin
11571 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11631 Political And Social Writings Cornelius Castoriadis 1988 French French
11663 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11663 Roger's Version John Updike 1986 American English
11663 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11663 Fatal Discord Michael Massing 2018 Unknown English
11807 Passages Gail Sheehy 1976 American English
11813 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11840 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
11858 Dominion Tom Holland 2019 British English
11864 Evening In The Palace Of Reason James R. Gaines 2005 Unknown English
11900 The Drama Of Doctrine Kevin Vanhoozer 2004 American English
11941 Eden's Outcasts Jon Matteson 2007 American Unknown
11941 Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed William Cabell Bruce 1917 American English
11941 Charles W. Eliot Henry James 1909 American Unknown
11941 The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry 1935 American English
11941 Johnathan Edwards Ola Elizabeth Winslow 1940 American English
11941 Machiavelli in Hell Sebastian de Grazia 1989 American English
11941 Margaret Fuller Megan Marshall 2013 American English
11941 Sontag Benjamin Moser 2019 American English
12013 What Art Is Arthur C. Danto 2013 American English
12016 Hygiene And The Assassin Amélie Nothomb 1992 Belgian French
12029 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12050 Omega Minor Paul Verhaeghen 2004 Belgian Dutch
12082 Shop Class As Soulcraft Matthew B. Crawford 2009 American English
12084 Dancing At The Edge Of The World Ursula K. Le Guin 1989 American English
12084 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12155 Is A River Alive? Robert Macfarlane 2025 British English
12158 Capitalism And Its Critics John Cassidy 2025 British English
12161 Searches Vauhini Vara 2025 Unknown English
12191 The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age Of Distraction Alan Jacobs 2011 American English
12225 The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra 1975 Austrian English
12287 To Change The World James Davison Hunter 2010 American English
12313 The Obstacle Is The Way Ryan Holiday 2014 American English
12326 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12326 The Ant And The Peacock Helena Cronin 1991 British English
12326 Huxley Adrian Desmond 1997 British English
12326 Victor Hugo Graham Robb 1997 British English
12326 Headlong Michael Frayn 1999 British English
12382 For An Ecology Of Images Peter Szendy 2025 French English
12436 The Technological Republic Alexander C. Karp Unknown English
12470 Figuring Maria Popova 2019 American English
12496 The Mind's I Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett 1981 American English
12504 Signature In The Cell Stephen C. Meyer 2009 American English
12604 The Travels Of Lao Ts'an Liu T'ieh-yün 1907 Chinese Chinese
12644 The Restless Clock Jessica Riskin 2016 American English
12802 Bright Circle Randall Fuller 2025 Unknown English
12866 The Extreme Self Douglas Coupland, Shumon Basar, Hans Ulrich Obrist 2021 Multiple English
12871 The Age Of Choice Sophia Rosenfeld 2025 American English
12873 The Arrogant Ape Christine E. Webb 2025 Unknown English
12885 Miracles And Wonder Elaine Pagels 2025 American English
12894 Blank Space W. David Marx 2025 American English
13031 Tomatoes + Why Doesn't The Far Left Read Literature? Nathalie Quintane French French
13020 Fatherhood Augustine Sedgewick 2025 Unknown English
13021 The Genius Myth Helen Lewis 2025 British English
13040 The Party's Interests Come First Joseph Torigian 2025 Unknown English
13043 When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows... Steven Pinker 2025 American English
13082 More Everything Forever Adam Becker 2025 American English
13095 Aflame Pico Iyer 2025 British English
13098 Goliath's Curse Luke Kemp 2025 Unknown English
13100 How To Be Well Amy Larocca 2025 American English
13194 Authority Andrea Long Chu 2025 American English
13145 What Is Free Speech? Fara Dabhoiwala 2025 British English
13180 Our Brains, Our Selves Masud Husain 2025 British English
13247 God, Sexuality, And The Self Sarah Coakley 2013 British English
13308 Moment In Peking Lin Yutang 1939 Chinese English
13362 The Works of Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor 1846 British English
13362 The Nude Kenneth Clark 1956 British English
13362 Andromeda Ivan Yefremov 1957 Russian Russian
13362 The Prose Writings Of Heinrich Heine Heinrich Heine 1834 German German
13362 History Of Greece George Grote 1846 British English
13362 A Biographical History Of Philosophy George Henry Lewes 1845 American English
13362 A System Of Logic John Stuart Mill 1843 American English
13362 Essays, Moral, Political, And Literary David Hume 1741 Scottish English
13362 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
13362 On Heroes, Hero Worship, & The Heroic In History Thomas Carlyle 1841 British English
13362 The Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. 1858 American English
13362 The Epicurean Thomas Moore 1827 American English
13362 Voyage Around My Room Xavier de Maistre 1794 French French
13533 The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson 1903 American English
13533 A Life In Letters Anton Chekhov 1973 Russian Russian
13600 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13703 Poor Charlie's Almanack Charlie Munger 2005 American English
13716 The Just City Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13716 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13712 Creative Evolution Henri Bergson 1907 French French
13712 The Greek Way Edith Hamilton 1930 American English
13749 The Enchantments Of Mammon Eugene McCarraher 2019 American English
13759 The Art Of Loving Erich Fromm 1956 Unknown German
13765 Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008 American English
13772 Necessity Jo Walton 2016 Canadian English
13794 The Ghost In The Shell Shirow Masamune 1989 Japanese Japanese
13800 Dancing On Our Turtle's Back Leanne Betasamosake Simpson 2011 Canadian English
13817 Morality Jonathan Sacks 2019 British English
13818 Quasi Una Vita Corrado Alvaro 1950 Italian Italian
13818 Tolstoy Pietro Citati 1986 Italian Italian
13818 Microcosms Claudio Magris 1997 Italian Italian
13879 Thrown Kerry Howley 2014 American English
13920 The Cyberiad Stanislaw Lem 1965 Polish Polish
13924 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