The Greatest Psychological 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
1651 The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1892 American English
1665 The House of Ulloa Emilia Pardo Bazán 1886 Spanish Spanish
1679 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1688 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
1718 The Fixer Bernard Malamud 1966 American English
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1725 A Harlot High And Low Honoré de Balzac 1839 French French
1729 Requiem for a Dream Hubert Selby 1978 American English
1739 A Fatal Inversion Barbara Vine 1987 British English
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1747 Twenty Four Hours In The Life Of A Woman Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
1749 First Circle Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1968 Russian Russian
1760 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
1773 Doctor Glas Hjalmar Soderberg 1905 Swedish Swedish
1774 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore 1955 Irish English
1785 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1790 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
1800 The Deptford Trilogy Robertson Davies 1970 Canadian English
1807 Beware Of Pity Stefan Zweig 1939 Austrian German
1826 The Other Thomas Tryon 1971 American English
1882 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
1887 The Uses of Enchantment Bruno Bettelheim 1976 Austrian English
1888 A Dark Adapted Eye Barbara Vine 1986 British English
1922 Tropisms Nathalie Sarraute 1939 French French
1942 The Land At The End Of The World António Lobo Antunes 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
1946 A Burnt Child Stig Dagerman 1948 Swedish Swedish
1948 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1975 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 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
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
2002 Freedom Jonathan Franzen 2010 American English
2004 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
2011 Pincher Martin William Golding 1956 British English
2031 The Crowd Gustave Le Bon 1895 French French
2047 The Ice Palace Tarjei Vesaas 1963 Norwegian Norwegian
2060 Ghost Story Peter Straub 1979 American English
2072 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
2076 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
2084 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2095 Elias, Or The Fight With The Nightingales Maurice Gilliams 1936 Belgian Dutch
2101 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 American English
2112 House On The Embankment Yuri Trifonov 1976 Russian Russian
2152 Fool's Gold Máro Doýka 1979 Hungarian Unknown
2153 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
2164 A Personal Matter Kenzaburō Ōe 1964 Japanese Japanese
2167 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2170 My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier 1951 British English
2174 Surfacing Margaret Atwood 1972 Canadian English
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2181 The Little Demon Fedor Sologub 1907 Russian Russian
2189 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2197 Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho 1998 Brazilian Portuguese
2201 Arch Of Triumph Erich Maria Remarque 1945 German German
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2224 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
2226 Operation Shylock Philip Roth 1993 American English
2238 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2256 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
2264 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality Sigmund Freud 1905 Austrian German
2274 Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
2293 The Divided Self R. D. Laing 1960 British English
2297 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2334 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2357 The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe 1992 Irish English
2386 Viper’s Tangle François Mauriac 1932 French French
2407 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2411 The Fear Of Freedom Erich Fromm 1941 German English
2469 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2494 Miramar Naguib Mahfouz 1967 Egyptian Arabic
2495 Rogue Moon Algis Budrys 1960 American English
2498 Room Emma Donoghue 2010 Irish English
2499 Psychopathia Sexualis Richard von Krafft-Ebing 1886 German German
2530 The Mystery Of The Yellow Room Gaston Leroux 1907 French French
2538 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2545 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
2555 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2559 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2565 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2580 A Cup Of Rage Raduan Nassar 1978 Brazilian Portuguese
2581 Trial And Error Anthony Berkeley 1937 British English
2591 The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway 1989 British English
2597 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2602 Darkness Visible William Styron 1990 American English
2608 Heavy Kiese Laymon 2018 American English
2647 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2657 Ariel Sylvia Plath 1965 American English
2676 Deep Water Patricia Highsmith 1957 American English
2690 Dependency Tove Ditlevsen 1971 Danish Danish
2693 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
2695 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2706 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2716 Something Happened Joseph Heller 1974 American English
2792 Dog Years Günter Grass 1963 German German
2805 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2822 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2831 Alraune Hanns Heinz Ewers 1911 German German
2834 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2838 Kassandra And The Wolf Margarita Karapanou 1974 Greek Greek
2850 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2869 Dead Zone Stephen King 1979 American English
2902 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2904 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2905 The Return Walter de la Mare 1910 British English
2908 Love Life Zeruya Shalev 2000 Israeli Hebrew
2919 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 British English
2923 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
2930 The Waiting Years Fumiko Enchi 1957 Japanese Japanese
2951 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2967 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2973 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
2978 My Friends Emmanuel Bove 1924 French French
2982 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English