The Most Important Books Ever Written
“The book is the highest form of art when it is wisdom wrapped in beauty.”
Veering a bit from the previous course of this blog, I wish to offer for your consideration my list of the most important books ever published. In their highest form, books
are something that can change the world.
Yes, reading fiction for relaxation is often a good way to pass the
time, but reading an important work of non-fiction and then having an intellectual
(and perhaps emotional) reaction to it and using that reaction to effect change
is what has moved the world time and time again. The following books are thus the tracks of
humanity, marking the historical moments when we evolved, changed, or decided
to go in a different direction. While other
books may be considered to be as important, no one can dispute that these
particular books belong on this list.
And when you combine an important work with a beautiful, artistic
presentation and cloth it in a gorgeous leather binding, you have something
extremely special, worthy of enjoying, protecting and passing down to future
ages!
So how did I come to choose the below
books? My idea was to include mainly
non-fiction works that have changed the course of human history,
culture, or thought in some very significant way, or documented some
significant event or change. Besides that, criteria for inclusion are
that a version be available in English and an affordable antiquarian edition be
available. Everyone will have their own list, of course, but given those
criteria, the above books would have to form the core of any serious effort to
catalog the entire scope of human intellectual history. Works from the western cannon are given
precedence not because there are not many worthy works in the eastern
literature, but because that civilization happens to be the primary one that is
shaping the direction of human society today.
Why mainly non-fiction? While works of fiction can and often do
thoughtfully portray the people and the life and times in which they are
written and communicate many important thoughts, emotions, and themes, it is my
belief that they, less often that non-fiction, present those ideas and concepts
that change the course of society or the world.
I’m sure writers of fiction would disagree, but the driving force of
much of the change in western civilization has been the philosophers,
historians, political writers, and lately the scientists. They are the ones producing the works that
are transforming our understanding of us, our world, and everything in it, and
so it is to them that I give preference in my list. Comments or suggestions on my choices are always welcome. Enjoy!
[Note - Titles and authors are
hyperlinked to their respective Wikipedia entries if more information is desired.]
Author or source
|
Title
|
First Publication
|
30th century BC
| ||
Unknown
|
18th -17th cent. BC
| |
13th cent. BC
| ||
8th – early 7th cent. BC
| ||
9th – 6th cent. BC
| ||
5th–4th century BC
| ||
600 BC
| ||
5th century BC
| ||
5th century BC
| ||
430 BC
| ||
Plays
|
5th century BC
| |
Plays
|
5th century BC
| |
4th century BC
| ||
400 BC
| ||
4th century BC
| ||
380 BC
| ||
280 BC
| ||
Dhammapada (Path of the Dharma)
|
252 BC
| |
3rd century BC
| ||
100 BC
| ||
1st century BC
| ||
19 BC
| ||
94 AD, 75 AD
| ||
1st century AD
| ||
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
|
55 BC
| |
1st century AD
| ||
120 AD
| ||
120 AD
| ||
167 AD
| ||
3rd century
| ||
400 AD
| ||
524
| ||
Quran (Koran)
|
7th century
| |
Unknown
|
One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights)
|
8th century
|
Unknown
|
700-1000
| |
1266–1273
| ||
1300
| ||
1321
| ||
1349–1353
| ||
1390s
| ||
1418-1427
| ||
1509
| ||
1516
| ||
Notebooks
|
1480-1519
| |
1532
| ||
1543
| ||
Autobiography
|
1563
| |
1580
| ||
1605 & 1615
| ||
Various
|
1611
| |
1620
| ||
1621
| ||
First Folio, Works
|
1623
| |
1625
| ||
1632
| ||
1637
| ||
1643
| ||
1651
| ||
1661
| ||
Various
|
1662
| |
1667, 1671
| ||
1670
| ||
1677
| ||
1678–1684
| ||
1687
| ||
1689
| ||
1755
| ||
1759
| ||
1776, 1791
| ||
1776
| ||
1776–1787
| ||
1781, 1788
| ||
1781, 1762
| ||
Various
|
1788
| |
1790
| ||
1791
| ||
1791
| ||
1792
| ||
1798
| ||
1806
| ||
1807
| ||
1822
| ||
1832
| ||
1837
| ||
1844
| ||
1848
| ||
1849
| ||
Works
|
1830s-50s
| |
1851
| ||
Edward FitzGerald (trans.)
|
1859
| |
1859, 1871
| ||
1859
| ||
1862
| ||
1868–1869
| ||
1883–1885
| ||
1876, 1885
| ||
1902
| ||
1916
| ||
1922
| ||
1964
| ||
1962
| ||
1962
| ||
1968
| ||
Armstrong, Aldrin, et al.
|
First on the Moon
|
1970
|
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