The Greatest Books of All Time on Reality

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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
8 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
45 Fictions Jorge Luis Borges 1944 Argentinian Spanish
312 Labyrinths Jorge Luis Borges 1962 Argentinian Spanish
369 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein 1921 Austrian German
394 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
428 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
436 El Aleph Jorge Luis Borges 1949 Argentinian Spanish
465 Collected Poems Wallace Stevens 1954 American English
529 Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1635 Spanish Spanish
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
769 A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay 1920 Scottish English
1030 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes 1641 French Latin
1173 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
1191 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1286 The Invention Of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares 1940 Argentinian Spanish
1332 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
1421 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
1515 The World as Will and Idea Arthur Schopenhauer 1818 German German
1533 Dreamtigers Jorge Luis Borges 1960 Argentinian Spanish
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1625 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
1716 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1721 Pragmatism William James 1907 American English
1803 The Problems of Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1912 British English
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
2029 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
2067 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
2267 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2311 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2312 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2353 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2470 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2497 The Garden Of Forking Paths Jorge Luis Borges 1941 Argentinian Spanish
2510 Metaphysics Aristotle -347 Greek Ancient greek
2582 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2641 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2688 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2781 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2836 The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag Robert A. Heinlein 1942 American English
2932 Martian Time Slip Philip K. Dick 1964 American English
2952 Nevsky Prospekt Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
2956 Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass Bruno Schulz 1937 Polish Polish
2969 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2995 The Doors Of Perception Aldous Huxley 1954 British English
3008 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3055 The Sinful Ones Fritz Leiber 1953 American English
3175 Spring And All William Carlos Williams 1923 American English
3182 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3209 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
3241 Sweet Dreams Michael Frayn 1973 British English
3309 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3432 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
3454 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3459 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
3461 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3488 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
3638 The Golden Pot E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3849 The Unlimited Dream Company J. G. Ballard 1979 British English
3850 Fourth Mansions R. A. Lafferty 1969 American English
4163 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4300 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4400 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
4592 Vurt Jeff Noon 1993 British English
4711 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
4957 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
5170 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5327 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5577 VALIS Philip K. Dick 1981 American English
5608 Die Fälschung Nicolas Born 1979 German German
5641 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
5783 La Pietra Lunare Tommaso Landolfi 1939 Italian Italian
5783 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5917 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5913 Poems Of Fernando Pessoa Fernando Pessoa 1942 Portuguese Portuguese
5967 Incarnate Ramsey Campbell 1983 British English
6001 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6005 The Return Of Münchausen Sigismund Krzyzanowski 1927 Russian Russian
6145 Oreille Rouge Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
6237 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6637 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6637 The Stadium Of Wimbledon Daniele del Giudice 1983 Italian Italian
6799 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
6803 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
6840 Other Inquisitions Jorge Luis Borges 1952 Argentinian Spanish
6954 We All Love Glenda So Much And Other Tales Julio Cortazar 1980 Argentinian Spanish
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
7025 The Fabric Of The Cosmos Brian Greene 2004 American English
7216 Sylvie Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
7216 Aurelia Gerard de Nerval 1855 French French
7216 Naked Masks Luigi Pirandello 1922 Italian Italian
7216 The Keeper Of Sheep Fernando Pessoa 1925 Portuguese Portuguese
7216 The Blue Octavo Notebook Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
7216 The Geographical History Of America Gertrude Stein 1936 American English
7569 All Fires The Fire Julio Cortazar 1966 Argentinian Spanish
7628 The Mysterious William Shakespeare Charlton Ogburn 1984 American English
7699 La Orilla Oscura José María Merino 1985 Spanish Spanish
7726 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7772 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7861 Language, Thought, And Reality Benjamin Lee Whorf 1956 American English
7897 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7964 Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible Peter Pomerantsev 2014 British English
8074 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8089 Process And Reality Alfred North Whitehead 1929 British English
8190 Experience And Nature John Dewey 1925 American English
8193 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8195 Ghosts César Aira 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8280 Opus Posthumous Wallace Stevens 1957 American English
8336 Fable Robert Pinget 1958 French French
8553 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8723 The Social Construction Of Reality Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann 1966 German English
8975 Mantra Rodrigo Fresán 2001 Argentinian Spanish
9009 T Zero Italo Calvino 1967 Italian Italian
9022 Dark Back Of Time Javier Marias 1998 Spanish Spanish
9139 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9192 But What If We're Wrong? Chuck Klosterman 2016 American English
9227 Poems Jorge Luis Borges 2010 Argentinian Spanish