The Greatest Books of All Time on Psychology & Mental Health

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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
33 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
134 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
154 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey 1962 American English
168 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
177 The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud 1899 Austrian German
182 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
333 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
339 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
358 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
437 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
460 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
600 Nine Stories J. D. Salinger 1953 American English
634 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
844 Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930 Austrian German
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
1212 A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis Sigmund Freud 1920 Austrian German
1321 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1382 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
1600 The Ego and the Id Sigmund Freud 1923 Austrian German
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1727 Down There J. K. Huysmans 1891 French French
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1887 The Uses of Enchantment Bruno Bettelheim 1976 Austrian English
2185 On Love Alain de Botton 1993 British English
2264 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality Sigmund Freud 1905 Austrian German
2273 The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler 1985 American English
2372 The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald 1945 American English
2414 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2466 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
2512 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2524 Beyond the Pleasure Principle Sigmund Freud 1920 Austrian German
2563 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2601 Darkness Visible William Styron 1990 American English
2808 Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson 1980 American English
2841 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
2849 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2852 The Counterlife Philip Roth 1986 American English
3173 A Simple Story S.Y. Agnon 1935 Israeli Hebrew
3251 Lost in the Cosmos Walker Percy 1983 American English
3270 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3297 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3325 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3478 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3527 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews 2014 Canadian English
3638 The Sexual Revolution Wilhelm Reich 1936 German German
3810 A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro 1982 British English
3825 Outliers Malcolm Gladwell 2008 Canadian English
3876 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
3897 The Meaning of Hitler Sebastian Haffner 1978 German German
3915 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
3940 Three Case Histories Sigmund Freud 1963 Austrian German
4252 Dianetics L. Ron Hubbard 1950 American English
4385 Incubus Giuseppe Berto 1964 Italian Italian
4436 The Dream Songs John Berryman 1964 American English
4634 The Inability To Mourn Alexander Mitscherlich, Margarete Mitscherlich 1967 German German
4641 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4829 Blaming Elizabeth Taylor 1976 British English
4866 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
5330 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5391 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans 1995 British English
5568 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5620 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5861 Poems Of John Clare John Clare 1820 British English
5858 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
5949 Cigarettes Harry Mathews 1987 American English
5995 The Coddling Of The American Mind Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff 2018 American English
6003 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6003 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6146 A Giacometti Portrait James Lord 1965 American English
6234 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6420 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6581 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi 2018 Nigerian English
6716 How To Change Your Mind Michael Pollan 2018 American English
6811 Écrits Jacques Lacan 1966 French French
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
7048 Personality Andrew O'Hagan 2003 Scottish English
7176 The Asylum Seeker Arnon Grunberg 2003 Dutch Dutch
7215 Man Against Himself Karl A. Menninger 1938 American English
7700 Tirza Arnon Grunberg 2006 Dutch Dutch
7811 The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 American English
7831 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
7922 Uprooted Naomi Novik 2015 American English
8048 The 10pm Question Kate De Goldi 2008 New Zealand English
8104 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8160 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
8217 Rok Perel Zuzana Brabcová 2000 Czech Czech
8235 Strange Heaven Lynn Coady 1998 Canadian English
8441 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8471 The Patrick Melrose Novels Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
8539 Peace Is Every Step Thich Nhat Hanh 1992 Vietnamese English
8624 Things In Nature Merely Grow Yiyun Li 2025 Unknown English
8673 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8795 Heave Christy Ann Conlin 2002 Canadian English
9056 In The Darkroom Susan Faludi 2016 American English
9191 Carry Me Down M. J. Hyland 2006 Australian English
9191 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9191 Irritable Hearts Mac McClelland 2015 Unknown English
9261 Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Roz Chast 2014 American English
9368 A Line Made By Walking Sara Baume 2017 Irish English
9522 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
9564 Reviving Ophelia Mary Pipher 1994 American English
9807 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9809 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
9897 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9954 Big Girl, Small Town Michelle Gallen 2020 Irish English
10054 A Truce That Is Not Peace Miriam Toews 2025 Canadian English
10170 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10170 Night Watch Jayne Anne Phillips 2023 American English
10222 Grief Is For People Sloane Crosley 2024 Unknown English
10272 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10305 Eros And Civilization Herbert Marcuse 1955 German English
10381 Tiger Daughter Rebecca Lim 2021 Australian English
10394 Memorial Days Geraldine Brooks 2025 Unknown English
10399 The Triumph of the Therapeutic Philip Rieff 1966 American English
10406 The Anxious Generation Jonathan Haidt 2024 American English