The Greatest Books of All Time on Survival

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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
3187 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3212 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3223 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3236 The Man Died Wole Soyinka 1972 Nigerian English
3238 Hms Ulysses Alistair MacLean 1955 Scottish English
3260 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
3261 Chronicle In Stone Ismail Kadare 1971 Albanian Albanian
3274 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3285 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3311 Into The Heart Of Borneo Redmond O'Hanlon 1984 British English
3317 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3321 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3323 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3323 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3323 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
3376 Ordinary People Judith Guest 1976 American English
3387 Bomber Len Deighton 1970 British English
3396 King Rat James Clavell 1962 British English
3397 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
3399 Great Plains Ian Frazier 1989 American English
3401 Shadow Over Mars Leigh Brackett 1944 American English
3409 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3420 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
3437 The Broken Earth Trilogy N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
3442 In Search Of The Castaways Jules Verne 1867 French French
3444 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3478 The Use Of Man Aleksandar Tišma 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3483 Consider Phlebas Iain Banks 1987 Scottish English
3496 The Thin Red Line James Jones 1962 American English
3503 The Big Blowdown George P. Pelecanos 1996 American English
3520 Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick 2009 American English
3536 The Death of Woman Wang MMP Jonathan Spence 1978 American English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3548 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
3552 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3570 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3609 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American English
3614 The Eyes Of The Overworld Jack Vance 1966 American English
3619 Day Of The Minotaur Thomas Burnett Swann 1966 American English
3623 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3637 The Return and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1946 Russian Russian
3637 And where Were You, Adam? Heinrich Böll 1951 German German
3637 The Life of the Bee Maurice Maeterlinck 1901 Belgian French
3637 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3637 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3637 The Endless Adventure F. S. Oliver 1930 British English
3637 The Invisible Flag Peter Bamm 1952 German German
3637 Bicycle Thieves Luigi Bartolini 1946 Italian Italian
3637 The Leatherstocking Tales James Fenimore Cooper 1823 American English
3637 Who Once Eats Out Of The Tin Bowl Hans Fallada 1934 German German
3637 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3637 The River Pirates Of The Mississippi Friedrich Gerstäcker 1848 German German
3637 On The Marble Cliffs Ernst Jünger 1939 German German
3637 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3637 Stalingrad Theodor Plievier 1948 German German
3637 Die Insel Felsenburg Johann Gottfried Schnabel 1731 German German
3637 How I Found Livingstone Henry M. Stanley 1871 British English
3637 The Man Outside Wolfgang Borchert 1947 German German
3817 The Beach Alex Garland 1996 British English
3819 Weaveworld Clive Barker 1987 British English
3827 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
3838 De Niro's Game Rawi Hage 2006 Canadian English
3833 The Doctor Of Stalingrad Heinz G. Konsalik 1956 German German
3844 The Stone Raft José Saramago 1986 Portuguese Portuguese
3853 The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum 1989 American English
3869 Sansibar Or The Last Reason Alfred Andersch 1957 German German
3883 The Cellar Richard Laymon 1980 American English
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3887 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein 1966 American English
3888 Illywhacker Peter Carey 1985 Australian English
3902 Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy 1998 American English
3910 Water For Elephants Sara Gruen 2006 American English
3923 The Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah 1999 American English
3925 Half of Man is Woman Zhang Xianliang 1985 Chinese Chinese
3946 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3954 Η κάθοδος των εννιά Thanassis Valtinos 1963 Greek Greek
3954 Συναξάρι Αντρέα Κορδοπάτη Thanassis Valtinos 1964 Greek Greek
3954 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3954 Η Αυλή των Θαυμάτων Iakovos Kambanellis 1962 Greek Greek
3954 Το Πλατύ Ποτάμι Yiannis Beratis 1946 Greek Greek
3954 Life In The Tomb Stratis Myrivilis 1924 Greek Greek
3954 Farewell Anatolia Dido Sotiriou 1962 Greek Greek
4062 The Ice Wall Yasushi Inoue 1959 Japanese Japanese
4068 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
4075 The Bronze Horseman Alexander Pushkin 1837 Russian Russian
4076 Travels With Lizbeth Lars Eighner 1993 American English
4102 Life And Death In Shanghai Nien Cheng 1986 Chinese English
4117 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4125 A Very Long Engagement Sebastien Japrisot 1991 French French
4154 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German
4159 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4164 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
4166 Confederates Thomas Keneally 1979 Australian English
4167 Vasili Tyorkin Alexander Tvardovsky 1943 Russian Russian
4171 Dissipatio H.G. Guido Morselli 1977 Italian Italian
4190 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
4196 The Oppermanns Lion Feuchtwanger 1933 German German
4204 Darwin's Radio Greg Bear 1999 American English
4208 Here's to You, Jesusa! Elena Poniatowska 1969 Mexican Spanish
4273 The Noise Of Time Osip Mandelstam 1925 Russian Russian
4282 The Place Of The Star Patrick Modiano 1968 French French
4306 A Court Of Thorns And Roses Sarah J. Maas 2015 American English
4310 The Polyglots William Gerhardie 1925 British English
4310 Journey Into Fear Eric Ambler 1940 British English
4310 The Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4310 After London; Or, Wild England Richard Jefferies 1885 British English
4310 Of Love & Hunger Julian Maclaren-Ross 1947 British English
4310 Darkness Falls From The Air Nigel Balchin 1942 British English
4310 Fair Stood The Wind For France H. E. Bates 1944 British English
4310 The Children Of The New Forest Frederick Marryat 1847 British English
4310 Williwaw Gore Vidal 1946 American English
4372 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4385 Flowers in the Attic V. C. Andrews 1979 American English
4404 Fortunes Of War Olivia Manning 1960 British English
4449 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4450 Shibumi Trevanian 1979 American English
4476 Al Mawt `Ala Al Asfalt `Abd al-Rahman Abnudi 1960 Egyptian Arabic
4492 Niourk Stefan Wul 1957 French French
4500 Mister Pip Lloyd Jones 2006 New Zealand English
4506 Different Seasons Stephen King 1982 American English