100 most influential books of all time

1998 | Martin Semoyr Smith

[Borges]

The I Ching. c. 1500 B.C.. The Old Testament. c. 1500 B.C.. Homer The Iliad. The Odyssey. 9th century B.C.. The Upanishads. c. 700-400 B.CE. Lao-Tzu The Way and Its Power. 3rd century B.C.. The Avesta. c. 500 B.C.. Confucius Analects. c. 5th-4th century B.C.. Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War. 5th century B.CE. Hippocrates Works. c. 400 B.C.. Aristotle Works. 4th century B.C. Herodotus History. 4th century B.C.. Plato The Republic. c. 380 B.C.. Euclid Elements. c. 280 B.C.. The Dhammapada. c. 252 B.C.. Virgil The Aeneid. 70-19 B.C.. Lucretius On the Nature of Reality. c. 55 B.C.. Philo of Alexandria Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws. 1st century The New Testament. c. 64-110 . Plutarch Lives. c. 50-120 . Cornelius Tacitus Annals, From the Death of the Divine Augustus. c.120 The Gospel of Truth (The Valentinian Speculation). c.1st century Marcus Aurelius Meditations. 167 C.E. Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism. c. 150-210 Plotinus Enneads. 3d century Augustine of Hippo Confessions. c. 400. The Koran. 7th century . Moses Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed. 1190 The Kabbalah (Quabala). 12th century . Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae. 1266-1273 Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy. 1321 Desiderius Erasmus In Praise of Folly. 1509 Niccolo Machiavelli he Prince. 1532 Martin Luther On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. 1520 Francois Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel. 1534, 1532. John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion. 1536 Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs. 1543 Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Essays. 1580 Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote. Part I, 1605; Part II, 1615 Johannes Kepler The Harmony of the World. 1619 Francis Bacon Novum Organum. 1620 William Shakespeare The First Folio. 1623 Galileo Galilei Dialogue Concerning Two New Chief World Systems. 1632 Rene Desartes Discourse on Method. 1637 Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. 1651 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz Works. 1663-1716 Blaise Pascal Pensees. 1670 Baruch de Spinoza. Ethics. 1677 John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress. 1678-1684 Isaac Newton Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. 1687 John Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 1689 George Berkeley The Principles of Human Knowledge. 1740, rev 1734 Giambattista Vico The New Science. 1725, rev 1730, 1744 David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature. 1739-1740 Denis Diderot, ed. The Encyclopedia. 1751-1772 Samuel Johnson A Dictionary of the English Language. 1755 Francois-Marie de Voltaire Candide. 1759 Thomas Paine Common Sense. 1776 Adam Smith An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 1776 Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 1776-87 Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason. 1781 rev 1787 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Confessions. 1781 Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France. 1790 Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication of the Rights of Woman. 1792 William Godwin An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. 1793 Thomas Robert Malthus An Essay on the Principle of Population. 1798 rev 1803 George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit. 1807 Arnold Schopenhauer The World as Will and Idea. 1819 Auguste Comte Course in the Positivist Philosophy. 1830-1842 Carl Marie von Clausewitz On War. 1832 Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or. 1843 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1848 Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience. 1849 Charles Darwin The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. 1859 John Stuart Mill On Liberty. 1859 Herbert Spencer First Principles. 1862 Gregor Mendel "Experiments With Plant Hybrids." 1866 Leo Tolstoy War and Peace. 1868-1869 James Clerk Maxwell Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. 1873 Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spake Zarathustra. 1883-1885 Sigmund Freud The Interpretation of Dreams. 1900 William James Pragmatism. 1908 Albert Einstein Relativity. 1916 Vilfredo Pareto The Mind and Society. 1916 Carl Gustav Jung Psychological Types. 1921 Martin Buber I and Thou. 1923 Franz Kafka The Trial. 1925 Karl Popper The Logic of Scientific Discovery. 1934 John Maynard Keynes The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. 1936 Jean-Paul Sartre Being and Nothingness. 1943 Friedrich von Hayek The Road to Serfdom. 1944 Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex. 1948 Norbert Wiener Cybernetics. 1948, rev 1961 George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949 George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. 1950 Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations. 1953 Noam Chomsky Syntactic Structures. 1957 Thomas Samuel Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 1962 rev 1970 Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique. 1963 Mao Zedong Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. 1966 B. F. Skinner Beyond Freedom and Dignity. 1971

[Borges]

In 1998 British literary scholar Martin Seymour Smith complied what he felt were the 100 most influential books of all time on human thought and action. He listed them in chronological order:

[Borges]

I really need to learn to use HTML. Sorry about the spacing or lack thereof.

[kjam22]

maybe you should add "html for dummies" to the book list?? :)

[laotzu]

"Lao-Tzu The Way and Its Power(Tao Te Ching) 3rd century B.C."

thank you very much

[SedVictaCatoni]

I'd replace Tacitus' Annals with Polybius' Histories, because Polybius was such a great influence on the architects of the U. S. Constitution. Insofar as this "100 Most Important Books" has any meaning, anyway. At least he didn't rank them in order of importance.

Incidentally, what a magnificent year 1776 was, to see all three of The Wealth of Nations, the Declaration of Independence, and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, especially all published in English!

[blanknoone]

How exactly do you think one person's fairly old list of books he considers influential qualify as breaking news?

It also doesn't take more than a glance to see that he is a leftist, despite Hayek.

[Mr.Atos]

Noticeably absent is Atlas Shrugged? Like it or not, it was and still is a tremendously influential contribution of intellectual literature and one of the few distictly American works on the list.

Would not the Federalists Papers, be another notable contribution?

[Neanderthal]

That sure is a lot of dead white males.

[StoneColdGOP]

Not reading until formatted...

[BufordP]

1. The I Ching. c. 1500 B.C..
2. The Old Testament. c. 1500 B.C..
3. Homer The Iliad.
4. The Odyssey. 9th century B.C..
5. The Upanishads. c. 700-400 B.CE.
6. Lao-Tzu The Way and Its Power. 3rd century B.C..
7. The Avesta. c. 500 B.C..
8. Confucius Analects. c. 5th-4th century B.C..
9. Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War. 5th century B.CE.
10. Hippocrates Works. c. 400 B.C..
11. Aristotle Works. 4th century B.C.
12. Herodotus History. 4th century B.C..
13. Plato The Republic. c. 380 B.C..
14. Euclid Elements. c. 280 B.C..
15. The Dhammapada. c. 252 B.C..
16. Virgil The Aeneid. 70-19 B.C..
17. Lucretius On the Nature of Reality. c. 55 B.C..
18. Philo of Alexandria Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws. 1st century
19. The New Testament. c. 64-110 .
20. Plutarch Lives. c. 50-120 .
21. Cornelius Tacitus Annals, From the Death of the Divine Augustus. c.120
22. The Gospel of Truth (The Valentinian Speculation). c.1st century
23. Marcus Aurelius Meditations. 167 C.E.
24. Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism. c. 150-210
25. Plotinus Enneads. 3d century
26. Augustine of Hippo Confessions. c. 400.
27. The Koran. 7th century .
28. Moses Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed. 1190
29. The Kabbalah (Quabala). 12th century .
30. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae. 1266-1273
31. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy. 1321
32. Desiderius Erasmus In Praise of Folly. 1509
33. Niccolo Machiavelli he Prince. 1532
34. Martin Luther On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. 1520
35. Francois Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel. 1534, 1532.
36. John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion. 1536
37. Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs. 1543
38. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Essays. 1580
39. Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote. Part I, 1605; Part II, 1615
40. Johannes Kepler The Harmony of the World. 1619
41. Francis Bacon Novum Organum. 1620
42. William Shakespeare The First Folio. 1623
43. Galileo Galilei Dialogue Concerning Two New Chief World Systems. 1632
44. Rene Desartes Discourse on Method. 1637
45. Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. 1651
46. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz Works. 1663-1716
47. Blaise Pascal Pensees. 1670
48. Baruch de Spinoza. Ethics. 1677
49. John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress. 1678-1684
50. Isaac Newton Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. 1687
51. John Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 1689
52. George Berkeley The Principles of Human Knowledge. 1740, rev 1734
53. Giambattista Vico The New Science. 1725, rev 1730, 1744
54. David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature. 1739-1740
55. Denis Diderot, ed. The Encyclopedia. 1751-1772
56. Samuel Johnson A Dictionary of the English Language. 1755
57. Francois-Marie de Voltaire Candide. 1759 Thomas Paine Common Sense. 1776
58. Adam Smith An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 1776
59. Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 1776-87
60. Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason. 1781 rev 1787
61. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Confessions. 1781
62. Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France. 1790
63. Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication of the Rights of Woman. 1792
64. William Godwin An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. 1793
65. Thomas Robert Malthus An Essay on the Principle of Population. 1798 rev 1803
66. George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit. 1807
67. Arnold Schopenhauer The World as Will and Idea. 1819
68. Auguste Comte Course in the Positivist Philosophy. 1830-1842
69. Carl Marie von Clausewitz On War. 1832
70. Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or. 1843
71. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1848
72. Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience. 1849
73. Charles Darwin The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. 1859
74. John Stuart Mill On Liberty. 1859
75. Herbert Spencer First Principles. 1862
76. Gregor Mendel "Experiments With Plant Hybrids." 1866
77. Leo Tolstoy War and Peace. 1868-1869
78. James Clerk Maxwell Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. 1873
79. Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spake Zarathustra. 1883-1885
80. Sigmund Freud The Interpretation of Dreams. 1900
81. William James Pragmatism. 1908
82. Albert Einstein Relativity. 1916
83. Vilfredo Pareto The Mind and Society. 1916
84. Carl Gustav Jung Psychological Types. 1921
85. Martin Buber I and Thou. 1923
86. Franz Kafka The Trial. 1925
87. Karl Popper The Logic of Scientific Discovery. 1934
88. John Maynard Keynes The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. 1936
89. Jean-Paul Sartre Being and Nothingness. 1943
90. Friedrich von Hayek The Road to Serfdom. 1944
91. Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex. 1948
92. Norbert Wiener Cybernetics. 1948, rev 1961
93. George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949
94. George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. 1950
95. Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations. 1953
96. Noam Chomsky Syntactic Structures. 1957
97. Thomas Samuel Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 1962 rev 1970
98. Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique. 1963
99. Mao Zedong Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. 1966
100. B. F. Skinner Beyond Freedom and Dignity. 1971

Atlas Shrugged is missing

[Borges]

I thought I posted it in the philosphy section. I'm new cut me some slack. :-)

[Tanniker Smith]

Dude! I just checked the "View Source" option on my toolbar. You didn't even try to list them.

Here's a shortcut: use < PRE> to start, then put the list, neatly formatted so its readable, and then do </PRE> Okay?

TS

[BufordP]

Oops! I screwed up at #57.

[StoneColdGOP]

Thanks.

I can do without Chomsky, otherwise a good list.

Time to add to the home library...

[Borges]

In the introduction to the book he calls Ayn Rand's work 'tawdry and third rate'.

[bigjoesaddle]

Thanks for looking for me. Atlas Shrugged was Ranked number 2 next to the Bible in another survey.

[WhiteGuy]

Atlas Shrugged is missing.


My first thought.


Tragic

[Mr.Atos]

Bravo, BufordP!... on both counts. And welcome aboard Borges. We're a salty bunch at times, like old codgers fishing from a dock. But, you'll fit right in.

Look at the bright side. At least you weren't zotted !

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Bookshelf's full.

[wtc911]

Where was the Baltimore Cathechism?