Comments on: Top 10 Books of All Time

By: Trisha

Trisha — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:08:04 +0000

I have to say I was ecstatic when Lolita was included! Shockingly, most people I encounter know very little about it and brush it off as merely an obscene book about pedophilia, when it is clearly so much more.

By: book_reader

book_reader — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:59:32 +0000

Since I don’t really like most of those old writers like Shakespeare (no matter how great he is, I find his works boring), The Great Gatsby (seriously, that book makes me want to sleep) and all that, my list is more modern.
Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe series, and the Discworld series. I find The Cat Who… books quite interesting too.

By: Gerry D

Gerry D — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:21:00 +0000

therush (323) – Yes! See Gerry D (315) and Gerry D (322).

By: therush

therush — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:29:09 +0000

Um…. Where the hell is “Don Quixote”?

By: Gerry D

Gerry D — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:48:39 +0000

Nostromo (321) – Thanks for your comments/interest. Yes, Dickens is also on my list. Great Expectations is #23, David Copperfield is #40, Bleak House is #46, Tale of Two Cities is #66, and Hard Times is #133.

After reading the comments above, I decided to buy “The Top Ten” book and analyzed the results. The book is actually much better and more thorough than the title (and the results for the Top 10) would imply.

I have a major quibble with how the author utilizes his data, however. Giving 10 points for #1, 9 points for #2, etc. is a simple technique but doesn’t give fair results. For example, I would rather buy a book where two people recommended it (even if it were their 7th and 8th choices (resulting in only 7 points by the author’s strategy) than one where one person offered it as their first choice (for 10 points). A mention of a specific book should be worth more than one point, i.e., we need a non-zero starting point (“base”). I would use a base of 12 or more, giving, for example, 22 points for #1, 21 points for #2, …, 13 points for #10. In addition, I would have each submitter provide an additional five unranked books, which would be given 10 points each. This would provide a much bigger data sample and a more realistic set of results.

I did use the raw data from the Top Ten book to modify my book list. Having a hobby of making lists makes you realize how “unreliable” top 10 lists are. Every time you add data from a new source, it invariably changes the ranking. In my list (315 above), Don Quixote has been bumped to second place by Madame Bovary. Incidently, using my analysis of the “Top Ten” data, Don Quixote came in 12th place in the book; therefore, wasn’t entirely ignored.

But why does Lolita have so much interest by this group of Top Ten authors? It shows up in several references I have analyzed but the highest previous ranked mark I have seen is a #47. It is a good book for sure, but now comes in at #61 in my list based on 13 references that I have analyzed and ranked. Anyway, just my obsession with lists (and books, of course).

I have also have ranked popular music and classic movies using dozens of sources, but I’m getting a bit carried away here. Have a good day. Enjoy your reading. Good to see books making a comeback.

By: Nostromo

Nostromo — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:55:17 +0000

Gerry D (315) – Great List. Loved to see Moby Dick so high on the list and both Brothers K. and Crime and Punishment. Why no Dickens? I would add Great Expectations to this list.

By: willocalie

willocalie — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:30:43 +0000

well, why not select books people pretend to have read but are really bored out off their tiny minds about?

By: audreymile

audreymile — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:11:26 +0000

Oh and another mention;

The Catcher in the Rye
& Stone Angel

& Oedipus the King.

By: audreymile

audreymile — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:09:57 +0000

I believe that, as vulgar as some of his work is, Chuck Palahniuk’s writing style is unsurpassed.
Its incredibly different and unique in its bitter honesty.
He writes with no boundaries and of the subjects many would cringe away from in an instant.
He can make the most unlikely of things interesting and get you on the edge of your seat.
Some of his books (that I’ve indulged in) are;

Choke
Invisible Monsters
Survivor
Haunted

and I plan on reading them all; I’m amazed with his work.

By: f. scott

f. scott — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:15:37 +0000

an adequate list, however I would have included the following:

Crime and Punishment
Les Misérables
Moby-Dick
The Count of Monte Cristo
Paradise Lost

Hamlet is a good story, but it’s a play, not a book; Huck Finn is well-written but flawed, particularly toward the end; and In Search of Lost Time is a perfect example of Mark Twain’s famous definition of a classic as something that “everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”