The Greatest Books of All Time on Reality

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

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
1715 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
2028 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
2066 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
2266 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2351 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2468 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2495 The Garden Of Forking Paths Jorge Luis Borges 1941 Argentinian Spanish
2508 Metaphysics Aristotle -347 Greek Ancient greek
2581 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2640 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2687 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2780 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2834 The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag Robert A. Heinlein 1942 American English
2931 Martian Time Slip Philip K. Dick 1964 American English
2951 Nevsky Prospekt Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
2955 Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass Bruno Schulz 1937 Polish Polish
2968 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2994 The Doors Of Perception Aldous Huxley 1954 British English
3007 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3054 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
3453 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3458 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
3460 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3487 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
3637 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
4161 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4298 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4398 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
4590 Vurt Jeff Noon 1993 British English
4709 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
4955 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
5168 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5326 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5576 VALIS Philip K. Dick 1981 American English
5606 Die Fälschung Nicolas Born 1979 German German
5639 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
5781 La Pietra Lunare Tommaso Landolfi 1939 Italian Italian
5781 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5914 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5910 Poems Of Fernando Pessoa Fernando Pessoa 1942 Portuguese Portuguese
5965 Incarnate Ramsey Campbell 1983 British English
5999 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6003 The Return Of Münchausen Sigismund Krzyzanowski 1927 Russian Russian
6143 Oreille Rouge Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
6234 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6636 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6636 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
7215 Sylvie Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
7215 Aurelia Gerard de Nerval 1855 French French
7215 Naked Masks Luigi Pirandello 1922 Italian Italian
7215 The Keeper Of Sheep Fernando Pessoa 1925 Portuguese Portuguese
7215 The Blue Octavo Notebook Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
7215 The Geographical History Of America Gertrude Stein 1936 American English
7568 All Fires The Fire Julio Cortazar 1966 Argentinian Spanish
7627 The Mysterious William Shakespeare Charlton Ogburn 1984 American English
7698 La Orilla Oscura José María Merino 1985 Spanish Spanish
7725 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7771 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7860 Language, Thought, And Reality Benjamin Lee Whorf 1956 American English
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7963 Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible Peter Pomerantsev 2014 British English
8073 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8088 Process And Reality Alfred North Whitehead 1929 British English
8188 Experience And Nature John Dewey 1925 American English
8191 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8193 Ghosts César Aira 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8278 Opus Posthumous Wallace Stevens 1957 American English
8334 Fable Robert Pinget 1958 French French
8551 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8721 The Social Construction Of Reality Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann 1966 German English
8973 Mantra Rodrigo Fresán 2001 Argentinian Spanish
9007 T Zero Italo Calvino 1967 Italian Italian
9020 Dark Back Of Time Javier Marias 1998 Spanish Spanish
9137 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9191 But What If We're Wrong? Chuck Klosterman 2016 American English
9226 Poems Jorge Luis Borges 2010 Argentinian Spanish