The Greatest Books of All Time on Surveillance

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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
6 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell 1949 British English
321 We Yevgeny Zamyatin 1924 Russian Russian
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
1260 The President Miguel Angel Asturias 1946 Guatemalan Spanish
1311 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1597 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 American English
1690 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
1748 The Fox Was Ever The Hunter Herta Müller 1992 German German
1749 First Circle Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1968 Russian Russian
1802 Kallocain Karin Boye 1940 Swedish Swedish
1959 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
2353 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2485 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2682 The Czar's Madman Jaan Kross 1978 Estonian Estonian
2897 Speculations About Jakob Uwe Johnson 1959 German German
3839 Gog Andrew Sinclair 1967 British English
3915 Zayni Barakat Jamal al- Ghitani 1974 Egyptian Arabic
4095 The Flaw Antonis Samarakis 1965 Greek Greek
4511 The Palace Of Dreams Ismail Kadare 1981 Albanian Albanian
4724 Mission Box Aris Alexandrou 1974 Greek Greek
4758 The Faculty of Useless Knowledge Yuri Dombrovsky 1976 Russian Russian
4824 He, She and It Marge Piercy 1991 American English
5274 Uncanny Valley Anna Wiener 2020 American English
5353 Stasiland Anna Funder 2002 Australian English
5623 V for Vendetta Alan Moore 1982 British English
5739 Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith 1994 British English
5753 Flight Of Ashes Monika Maron 1981 German German
6154 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6314 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
6414 All Systems Red Martha Wells 2017 American English
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6713 The Land Of Green Plums Herta Müller 1994 German German
6833 The Doorbell Rang Rex Stout 1965 American English
7140 E. Luminata Diamela Eltit 1983 Chilean Spanish
7214 Prophet Song Paul Lynch 2023 Irish English
7752 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Shoshana Zuboff 2019 American English
7853 L'organisation Jean Rolin 1996 French French
8445 The Diary Of A Gulag Prison Guard 1935 6 Ivan Chistyakov 2016 Russian Russian
8445 Willenbrock Christoph Hein 2000 German German
8505 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson 2007 Swedish Swedish
8618 The Queue Basma Abdel Aziz 2013 Egyptian Arabic
9036 Yama Loka Terminus Léo Henry, Jacques Mucchielli 2008 French French
9047 Death as a Side Effect Ana María Shua 1997 Argentinian Spanish
9218 Game, Set & Match Len Deighton 1983 British English
9261 The Memory Police Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
9294 Project For A Revolution In New York Alain Robbe-Grillet 1970 French French
9334 Authority Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
9352 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9515 A Scanner Darkly Philip K. Dick 1977 American English
10017 The Zafarani Files Jamal al- Ghitani 1976 Egyptian Arabic
10109 Orwell And Politics George Orwell 2001 British English
10112 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10193 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10211 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10221 Her Majesty's Secret Service Christopher Andrew 1985 Unknown English
10496 A Dictator Calls Ismail Kadare 2023 Albanian Unknown
10502 The Second Oldest Profession Phillip Knightley 1986 British English
10574 The Censors Luisa Valenzuela 1976 Argentinian Spanish
10643 Bottoms Up And The Devil Laughs Kerry Howley 2023 Unknown English
10840 Bleeding Edge Thomas Pynchon 2013 American English
10997 The Twilight Zone Nona Fernández 2016 Chilean Spanish
11062 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11077 London Rules Mick Herron 2018 British English
11113 Stations of the Tide Michael Swanwick 1991 American English
11113 A Song for a New Day Sarah Pinsker 2019 American English
11941 G Man Beverly Gage 2022 American English
12077 Rosewater Tade Thompson 2016 Nigerian English
12123 The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein 2023 Australian English
12226 Shades Of Grey Jasper Fforde 2009 British English
13086 Shadow Cell Andrew Bustamante, Jihi Bustamante 2025 American English
13107 The Right Of The People Osita Nwanevu 2025 American English
13592 The School For Good Mothers Jessamine Chan 2022 American English
13803 Les Racines Du Mal Maurice G. Dantec 1995 French French
13886 Underground Airlines Ben H. Winters 2016 American English
14063 Silent Close No. 6 Monika Maron 1991 German German
14212 Jim Grant Peter Adamson 2001 British Unknown
14343 The Circle Dave Eggers 2013 American English
14936 Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said Philip K. Dick 1974 American English
14985 Nova Express William S. Burroughs 1964 American English
14985 Vida Marge Piercy 1979 American English
14985 Synners Pat Cadigan 1991 American English
14985 Virtual Light William Gibson 1993 American English
14985 Alif The Unseen G. Willow Wilson 2012 American English
14985 The Sudden Appearance Of Hope Claire North 2016 British English
14985 The Unit Ninni Holmqvist 2006 Swedish Swedish
14985 Critical Mass Daniel Suarez 2023 American English
15667 Oculus Sally Wen Mao 2019 American English
15916 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing 1946 American English
17163 Newjack Ted Conover 2000 American English
17163 The Ticket That Exploded William S. Burroughs 1962 American English
17163 Lookout cartridge Joseph McElroy 1974 American English
17163 Distraction Bruce Sterling 1998 American English
17163 The Quantum Thief Hannu Rajaniemi 2010 Finnish English
17163 Burning Chrome William Gibson 1986 Canadian English
17163 Dark Matters Simone Browne 2015 Canadian English
17163 Race After Technology Ruha Benjamin 2019 American English
17163 Oath Of Fealty Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1981 American English
17163 I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes 2013 American English
17068 Dulce Ca Mierea E Glonțul Patriei Petru Popescu 1974 Romanian Romanian
17163 Little Brother Cory Doctorow 2008 Canadian English
17163 Europe In Winter Dave Hutchinson 2016 British English
17163 The Jagged Orbit John Brunner 1969 British English
17163 The Broker John Grisham 2005 American English
17163 The Associate John Grisham 2009 American English
17163 Iron Curtain Anne Applebaum 2012 American English
17163 Inside The Company Philip Agee 1975 American English
17163 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17163 The Fat Years Chan Koonchung 2009 Chinese Chinese
17163 Vilnius Poker Ričardas Gavelis 1989 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17163 The Wall Jumper Peter Schneider 1982 German German
17163 Radicalized Cory Doctorow 2019 Canadian English
17163 Moxyland Lauren Beukes 2008 South African English
17163 Psychopolitics Byung-Chul Han 2017 German German
17163 The Twenty Days Of Turin Giorgio De Maria 1977 Italian Italian
17163 Nexus Ramez Naam 2012 American English
17163 Europe In Autumn Dave Hutchinson 2014 British English
17163 The Future Naomi Alderman British Unknown
17163 Inside The Cia Ronald Kessler 1992 American English