This topic is a very subjective one, and I realise that there will be many disagreements with my selected 10 books. Feel free to add any additional books with a reason, to the comments field. You may even want to contribute a much larger list for future inclusion on the site.
In order of creation, here is the list of top 10 books that changed the world.
1. The Bible – Various Authors (circa 30AD – 90AD) [Wikipedia]
There can be no doubt that the Bible has done more to change the face of the world than any other book. A mere two hundred years after it was created, it brought about the conversion of the entire Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity. Since then, Christianity has become the largest single religion in the world (with 2.1 billion adherents). The oldest and largest of the Christian groups is the Roman Catholic Church whose membership (1.05 billion) is equal to the size of all other Christian groups combined.
The Bible comprises two books – the Old Testament (taken from the Greek edition used by Christ and the apostles) and the New Testament (written by some of the Apostles of Jesus after his death – including St Paul who did not meet Christ during His lifetime).
The Gutenberg bible (a copy of the Latin Vulgate) was the first book ever published on the printing press. The Bible is the most purchased book in the world.
2. The Qur’an – Various Authors (650AD to 656AD) [Wikipedia]
The Qur’an is the holy book of the Islamic religion. The founder of Islam, Mohammed told his followers that he was given revelations by the Angel Gabriel. These revelations (spanning 23 years) form the basis of the Qur’an. After Mohammed’s death in 632 the Qur’an was recorded by word of mouth only; it was not for another 20 years that the various memories of his words were collected and combined.
The Qur’an is considered by Muslims to be the last revealed word of God (after the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Christian Bible). In recent years much debate has occurred over the content of the Qur’an – with its opponents claiming that it advocates war and murder of non-believers. Muslims generally claim that this is not the case and state that opponents of Islam are taking the text out of context.
3. The Summa Theologica – St. Thomas Aquinas (1265 – 1274) [Wikipedia]
The Summa Theologica is a multi-volume set of books which outlines in the most precise manner, the doctrines and beliefs of Christianity. It was held in such high regard, that second to the Bible, it was the book most used for reference at the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563). Its influence was felt all across the Christian World as the reforms of the Council of Trent were implemented.
To this day, the Summa Theologica is the primary teaching tool used in Roman Catholic seminaries and its author is regarded as a Doctor of the Church (a title reserved for only 33 great thinkers in the history of Christianity). It is also worth noting that St Isidore (popularly considered Patron Saint of the Internet) is also seen as a Doctor of the Church.
Buy the Summa Theologica at Amazon.com
4. The Rights of Man – Thomas Paine (1791) [Wikipedia]
Paine, an English writer, influenced American Democracy and Democracy in general with his writings. According to Paine, the sole purpose of the government is to protect the irrefutable rights inherent to every human being. Thus all institutions which do not benefit a nation are illegitimate, including the monarchy (and the nobility) and the military establishment.
When the French Revolution broke out, Paine went to France where, despite his ignorance of the French language, he was promptly elected to the National Convention. His absence from England at this time was fortuitous because the publication of The Rights of Man caused such a furor in the country that Paine was put on trial in absentia and convicted for seditious libel against the crown.
Buy The Rights of Man at Amazon.com
5. Either/Or – Søren Kierkegaard (1843) [Wikipedia]
Either/Or portays the two lifeviews, one being consciously hedonistic and one based on ethical duty and responsibility, in two volumes. Each lifeview is written and represented by a fictional pseudonymous author and the prose of the work depends on which lifeview is being discussed. For example, the aesthetic lifeview is written in short essay form, with poetic imagery and allusions, discussing aesthetic topics such as music, seduction, drama, and beauty. The ethical lifeview is written as two long letters, with a more argumentative and restraint prose, discussing moral responsibility, critical reflection, and marriage.
This book, by the father of existentialism has been highly influential with other existentialists. Despite its great popularity, it was not published in English until 1944. Existentialism is a philosophical movement that claims that individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. It is a reaction against more traditional philosophies, such as rationalism and empiricism.
6. Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) [Wikipedia]
This tract, written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels at the behest of the Communist League, has become one of the most influential political tracts in history. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian (working class) revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and to eventually bring about a classless and stateless society.
Perhaps the most famous quote from the work reads: “The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!”
Buy the Communist Manifesto at Amazon.com
7. Experimental Research in Electricity – Michael Faraday (1855) [Wikipedia]
Faraday was an English chemist and physicist whose many experiments with electricity ultimately lead to his invention of electromagnetic rotary devices which formed the foundation of electric motor technology. Although he received little formal education and thus higher mathematics like calculus were always out of his reach, he went on to become one of the most influential scientists in history. It was largely his experiments that lead to electricity becoming viable for use in technology.
During his lifetime, Faraday rejected a knighthood and twice refused to become President of the Royal Society. He died at his house at Hampton Court on August 25, 1867. He has a memorial plaque in Westminster Abbey, near Isaac Newton’s tomb, but he turned down burial there and is interred in the Sandemanian plot in Highgate Cemetery.
Buy Experimental Researches in Electricity at Amazon.com
8. On the Origin of Species – Charles Darwin (1859) [Wikipedia]
This book by Darwin is considered a seminal work in the field of evolutionary biology. It proposes that over time, through natural selection, species evolve. It was a highly controversial book as it contradicted many religious views on biology at the time. Darwin’s book was the culmination of evidence he had accumulated on the voyage of the Beagle in the 1830s and expanded through continuing investigations and experiments since his return to England.
The book is readable even for the non-specialist and attracted widespread interest on publication. The book was controversial, and generated much discussion on scientific, philosophical, and religious grounds. The scientific theory of evolution has itself evolved since Darwin first presented it, but natural selection remains the most widely accepted scientific model of how species evolve. The at-times bitter creation-evolution controversy continues to this day.
Buy On the Origin of Species at Amazon.com
9. The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir (1949) [Wikipedia]
The Second Sex is the best known work of Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir wrote the book after attempting to write about herself. The first thing she wrote was that she was a woman, but she realized that she needed to define what a woman was, which became the intent of the book. It is a work on the treatment of women throughout history and often regarded as a major feminist work. In it she argues that women throughout history have been defined as the “other” sex, an aberration from the “normal” male sex.
Simone de Beauvoir (a pioneer of the feminist movement) argues that women have historically been considered deviant, and abnormal. She submits that even Mary Wollstonecraft considered men to be the ideal toward which women should aspire. Beauvoir says that this attitude has limited women’s success by maintaining the perception that they are a deviation from the normal, and are outsiders attempting to emulate “normality”. For feminism to move forward, this assumption must be set aside.
Buy The Second Sex at Amazon.com
10. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand (1957) [Wikipedia]
Atlas Shrugged was Rand’s last work before she devoted her time exclusively to philosophical writing. This book contains a variety of themes that would later become the core of her philosophy Objectivism. She considered it to be her magnum opus and is it the most popular of her non-fiction work.
While the book was largely a critical failure, it had an enormous poplar success. As far as influence in the world, the Objectivist philosophy gave much to the Libertarian movement which has enjoyed great popularity around the world.
In a three-month online poll of reader selections of the hundred best novels of the twentieth century, administered by publisher Modern Library, Atlas Shrugged was voted number one. She has a large following in the celebrity world, including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who have been selected to play the two main characters in a trilogy of films that aims to bring Atlas Shrugged to the silver screen in the near future.
Buy Atlas Shrugged at Amazon.com
Technorati Tags: Books, literature
Atlas Shrugged! Ayn Rand has changed my life, I started with Anthem, worked up to The Fountainhead and culminated in Atlas Shrugged, the purity of her writing is like droplets of pure water from a hidden mountain spring in Paradise.
Orion: it definitely changed my life too – I loved the book and I am very keen to see how the film pans out.
rand’s objectivism became a cult due to its belief in her absolute morality
Err, the Old Testament was written WELL before 30 AD. If you’re just talking about the New Testament (which from your write-up it appears you are), then make that clear.
I’d also mark Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” as a pretty influential book, seeing as it introduced such concepts as the invisable hand of the market and more or less defined capitalism as we know it. Ms. Rand is a somewhat dubious choice.
Ayn Rand: completely unknown outside the U.S.
You are kidding right?
Max: um – I was not born in the USA and I knew of Rand before I left my original country of origina. In addition, I have met many people in the United Kingdom who know of her.
Ala: yes – I realise that but I didn’t want to label it as 6000BC – 90AD. I chose the date I chose because it marks the time that the whole was complete.
No doubt there are people outside of the United Sates who are familiar with Rand, but from personal experience and knowledge I must agree with Max-Rand is obscure outside U.S.
Books that changed the world.. hmmmmm
Complex list to compile as most books that “changed the World” would surely have been written either pre or post the dark ages. I’ve discussed this question with friends and most have agreed that a better idea for a list would be – books that changed the World (post WWIII).
We came up with:
Practical electronics
physics for dummies
dummies guide to chemistry
et al
you get the idea
Michael: I was conscious of the timing of the books I chose, but taken on their own I think each one of those books has been the driving force behind a lot of change for its time.
All the books certainly belong here, although I would definitely trade the Communist Manifesto for Plato’s Republic. If one was to take a purely scientific outlook, you forgot Newton’s Mathematica Principa and Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity (although both of those could be considered mere essays). Personally, I would just group the pre-socratic Greek writings as one book. Certainly Protagoras, Thales, and Xenophanes have had a far larger influence on Western culture than Mr. Darwin. Hell, Aristotle isn’t on this list! but hey, no one’s perfect. It would be best to have at least twenty of the most influential books, or possibly divide between the ancient versus the modern. God knows how much knowledge was lost and who actually first came up with an idea.
I think “Wealth of Nations” would also be a wiser choice than Thomas Paine.
As for fiction, I would choose Ulysses over Atlas Shrugged, although both books certainly belong on a list like this. Personally, I think Dostoevsky to be more brilliant than both, but that’s just me. Rand is certainly worthy of recognition.
Alf: thank you for your comment – I hope it inspires people to go and read some of the books you have listed – all of which are definitely worthy of being on the list.
Perhaps better would have been to have called it “10 Books that Changed the world” rather than trying to pick the TOP 10.
Alf: I agree that Plato’s Republic should be on the list, but not at the expense of The Communist Manifesto. The Communist Manifesto has been hugely influential since it was written, arguably more influential than most books on this list.
I absolutely abhor Ayn Rand, but I agree that Atlas Shrugged has been very significant, if only for justifying “rational self-interest” in the minds of many Americans. And yes, it may seem a bit ethnocentric to include something that has really only been influential in the United States, but lets be honest here — the US is a major player in the world, and Atlas Shrugged helped define and drive the American mentality. Although I feel I should point out that Atlas Shrugged is a truly awful book from both a literary and political standpoint
asteadyrain: haha you are right about Atlas Shrugged – but this is not a list about literary quality so she made it in
At least she can claim the defence that English was not her native tongue.
Good list, but missing off Mathematica Principa is a mistake, imho.
Ayn Rand’s writings involve philosophy about as much as Ann Coulter’s.
What about Vedas ?
“Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu),[1] putting it among the world’s oldest religious texts in continued use, as well as among the oldest texts of any Indo-European language.”
Influenced, Hinduism Jainism Buddhism and Zoroastrianism
The followers of ^^ those account for a big chunk of world population.
Anmol – thanks for mentioning the Vedas – they are definitely a worthy addition to the list.
atlas shrugged changed the world? hardly.
how about
the art of war
the divine comedy
the kama sutra
just to name a few that I believe more worthy than a novel that promotes selfishness.
Phil: I guess that in part I added that book because of it fitting so well into the modern idea of the Liberty of Man – something Atlas Shrugs illustrates in a perfect way. Have you read the book? If not I strongly suggest you do – you will totally change your way of thinking. The book is not promoting selfishness, it is condemning it; the rulers and average people of the world selfishly take more and more from the “minds” and the producers of the world. Those great people simply withdraw their ability – which I am not sure could be considered selfish as it is their ability to do with as they please. That is the crux of the story.
The Divine Comedy I wouldn’t add as it describes something which was already believed by the majority of its readers at the time – so it wasn’t bringing something new to the world. The Kama Sutra – I am not sure how world changing that is – maybe by producing a few more children
The Art of War is definitely a suitable addition to the list. Thanks for mentioning it here.
jfrater , sorry for being political (i’m a controlled market person, but not communist), I just thought that there were better choices than atlus shrugged. yes, like you said the art of war would be a perfect choice.
Phil: no need to apologise – just read Atlas Shrugged! I guarantee you won’t be so opposed to the book once you do
Anyway, all of that aside, have a great weekend
Old Testament has fragments that date well before the end of the babylonian captivity (200 BCE). Perhaps the source of this 30 – 90 AD business refers to the canonization of the Tanach?
Also, the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) between the years of 610 and 632 CE. This “650/various authors” nonsense sounds a lot like the Patty Crone camp to me. Which is, of course, absurd. She’s got about as much academic legitimacy as Daniel Pipes in the midst of a 3 week long meth and hooch bender; and that prodigous schnoz of Mr. Pipes’ can such up a lot of powder; but I digress.
Some other influential books:
Naked Lunch – Has been referenced more than almost any other “obscure” book I can think of in the few decades since its release.
Pihkal/Tihkal – Sasha still owes me a preprint of qikal.. He promised in an email 10 years ago and I am still waiting… Sasha’s hand is felt from the earliest days of the hippie movment straight through to today’s “alphabet soup” of recreational pharmacudicals popping occaisionally on the news.
The mathnawi – Jalaluddin Rumi’s epic poem has inspired countless people worldwide since he penned it centuries ago. Even Queen Victoria kept a copy handy. Skip the hippy translations and to right for the one translated by Reynold Nicholeson. Pip pip, cherio, brit orientalist does good… Arberry’s translation is good albeit incomplete.
The Tao te Ching – DC Lau’s translation, available from penguin classics, is pretty good.
The Art of Computer Programming Vol 1-3: Donald Knuth’s magnum opus. You are not a nerd unless you have spent time navigating these formidible texts. These are the most influential books in computing. If you think you are a nerd and have not bought and read at least some of TAOCP, you are a pretender. I heard a while ago that he was working on a 4th volume…
I have to add the Arabic Lexicon by Edward Lane as an honorable mention. This massive 8 volume/40 lb arabic to english dictionary has been a source of great releief to scholars for years and years. you can download all 3000+ pages in PDF format here:
http://www.studyquran.co.uk/LLhome.htm
I hope you have lots of free space.
Also, I don’t know how legal that “free” download is.
John: wow – that is quite a long list. I agree about Naked Lunch – it is a great book though I am not sure it was world changing. I will need to research the others
Also, the Vedas bore NO influence on Zoroastrianism. Any similarities between the zoroastrians and hindus are more than likely shared influence from proto-indo-iranian culture.
For instance. Zorastrains see “devi” as an evil spirit or spiritual entity. hindus see “devi/deva” as a generic term relating to a goddes/god figure (a’udhubillah). The words are similar, and probably share a common ancestor in PII culture and language. It is not, however, indicative of hinduism influencing zorastrianism.
To say that is simply being indo-centric, which I suppose is pretty easy to be given what tomorrow’s holiday is….
Not saying Atlas Shrugged should not be on the list but using a poll that rates ‘Battlefield Earth’ as the third best novel and that fact that celebrities like it are not really the best way to make your point.
Your point is much better made in the comments when you defend the book from other people’s opinions.
Did the book change the USA? When I look I see a lot of what Anne Rand was arguing against (people fighting to take more than they contribute and the ‘able’ people withdrawing)
Great list!
blizzard: I accept your point, though the celebrity mention was more to give me a chance to plug the up and coming film
Dr Seuss changed MY world.
Gravy: May I ask how?
Ten more that may not have changed the world but were very influential:
The Iliad (Homer) 8th Century BC
The Necronomicon (H.P. Lovecraft) 1924
I Robot (Isaac Asimov) 1950
The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) 1895
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson) 1971
A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking) 1988
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway) 1952
Lolita – (Vladimir Nabokov) 1955
The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) 1954
1984 (George Orwell) 1948
Jerry – good list. I love Asimov (he wrote a great book of short stories too) but I would add Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land for Sci Fi, and probably E.E Doc Smith’s series – you could consider that he is the father of modern Sci Fi. Hmm – top 10 Sci Fi books
Ayn Rand should NOT be on this list. She was a fraud, whose “morals” were proven to be only on the page. She was a serial adulteress, who ruined not only her own life, but the lives of all those around her. She was a liar and a hypocrite, and all serious philosophical criticism of her work shows it to be shallow, illogical and self-contradictory. No respected philosopher or academic takes her work at all seriously.
Her books are for the stupid and the ignorant… fortunately for her, there are plenty of that sort here in the good old USA.
Add me to the list of people who think Ayn Rand is the big B.S. selection here. I mean come on, Dostoyevsky is far more influential, as is Chaucer, Milton, Cervantes, Dante, Bronte….etc. Sounds like somebody has a little Randian fetish that’s clouding somebody’s judgment…
ReklawLah and Vermina: hey! Don’t be so harsh! I love Rand – not for the philosophy but because the stories are excellent and I find it easy to become absorbed in her books.
um…whats The Necromonicon? from comment 29?
The Necronomican was a book that never existed that Lovecraft often quoted – or so I thought. Am I wrong?
Thanks for a very thought-provoking list. One important book I missing is Milton’s Paradise Lost where most of the modern thinking on the Devil come from.
The books that changed my thinking were “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” – I always forget the author! Arthur Koestler’s “Mind in the Machine”, Desmond Morris’s “The Naked Ape”, “The Romeo Error” – again forgotten the author, and Timothy Leary’s version of “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”.
Syrbal – thanks for the great additions! Well picked.
The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare.
The Mutt: definitely great writings but I am not sure that they changed the world.
Ah Shakespeare's stories may not have been orginal or life changing but his vocabulary certainly was.
Necronomican was/is a fictional work, there was a volume published in 1980 (I think) that was marketed as the actual writing. Doubtful.
Whether it exists is possible. Stranger things have happened. It was rumored that Adolf Hitler had agents search the entire world for it. In hopes of using it as a weapon. Some say he found it.
Midian: thanks for that – I was sure that were the case.
Delete the Bible and the Qur’an. Add Immanuel Kants ‘Kritik der reinen Vernunft’ (‘Critique of Pure Reason’)!
Leviathan: how ridiculous – are you seriously saying you believe that the Bible and the Qur’an did not change the world? 9/11? The Inquisition? The Crusades? Hello?
9/11 didn't happen because of the Quran jfrater,, also the Bible never needed Crusaders,,, we have a certain name for those events jfrater,, we call it "POLITICS"… That is why many Power, ***** and Control addicts wants not to mix religion with "Politics" for one simple reason,, Politicians can creat a guilt free strategies through the manipulation of religion and social belives. And yes I do agree with you, these books have indeed changed the world.
Leviathan: if you vote for me as a politician, I would make Immanuel becomes your reality. By creating a reason to attack another country ofcourse, did you catch my drift?
I hear ya jfrater. You don’t have to be religious to agree that probably the only two books that are guaranteed a spot on the list are the Bible and the Qur’an.
blizzard: thanks
Ayn Rand is an absolutist nincompoop. Her failed philosophy is lain bare through a examination of her seedy personal history. Look into your heroes.
wow – why do so many people hate Ayn Rand?
Well, speaking for myself, I don’t think Rand is much of a writer. Her prose strikes me as rather wooden, and her characters are totally one dimensional. As for why people hate her, of course one reason is that she’s the patron saint of the current conservative movement…
Mark D. Combs: I agree about the prose – but then English was not her native language. Despite that I do find the stories very entertaining.
Two influential books not mentioned thus far, and like Atlas Shrugged, you don’t have to like them to acknowledge their influence:
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Kwilli: You are correct about those two books – well worth the mention, thanks.
On the bible and christianity. You state that the catholic church has 1.05 billion which is nearly twice as much as all other churches. 2.1B – 1.05B = 1.05B. So it seems the catholic church represents about half of all christians. Is there a typo somewhere or are half of non-catholic christians without an official church?
Zervas: you are correct that I made a typo – thanks for pointing it out – I will rectify it immediately.
Thanks for the list. There’s a lot of merit here. I do suspect that numbers five and six weren’t terribly influential at the time, at least to the masses of people that went to work each day. I also think, much for the same reason, that the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” would occupy a place just before “The Second *****.” The AA book has certainly influenced folks around the world and there are currently several hundred active 12-step groups, all derived from this book.
My personal influences were “Zen and the Art of…,” “The Immense Journey,” and “The Flounder.” All wonderful, thoughtful reads.
JMartin: Thanks for mentioning those extras – they are all worthy of a place, I agree.
How about Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”?
re:er – it was definitely considered. Thanks for mentioning it in the comments.
this is a little off point – but 2 books that “explained” the world are Alan Guth’s Inflationary Universe and Spencer Well’s Journey of Man.
2overpar: interesting – thanks for mentioning them. Do they, by any chance, explain the question that has plagued man for millenia: “What is the origin of language?” – I was just reading about it before.
no – the inflationary universe explains what happened immediately after the “big bang”. (the theory of andre linde regarding some of the details is now thought to be correct.) the journey of man theorizes that all humans are descended from one individual – the mutated son of a less evolved hominid couple in africa 60,000 year ago.