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The Most Influential Books Ever Written (2010)
- gruseom 13y agoI noticed that this list was made by Martin Seymour-Smith. He was an English poet and critic whose masterpiece was called Guide to Modern World Literature. It is a monster of a book that covers hundreds (thousands?) of writers, a tour de force that is nearly impossible to believe was put together by one person. I used to spend hours poring over it in the reference section of the library. For such an encyclopedia, it's remarkable how idiosyncratic and addictive it is. He makes no attempt to be balanced or standard about anything; he just gives his personal views—for example he pooh-poohs Eliot and says that the greatest poet of the 20th century was César Vallejo. So, unlike most reference works, it's wonderfully intimate. It's like having an uncle who knows everything and will happily tell you all about anyone you name. Sometimes it's even perverse, as he loves nothing better than to champion the obscure and take the famous and well-established down a peg. So I suppose it's fitting that basically no one has heard of his work. I discovered him years ago on a long bus trip with a layover in Salt Lake City, where I went to a used bookstore. His book--actually an earlier one called "Who's Who in 20th Century Literature", smaller but still massive--was on a shelf in the basement of the store. I looked someone up in it and thought "this is interesting", sat on the floor and looked someone else up, and then another and so on. Hours later I woke up and realized that I was sitting on the basement floor of a bookstore in a strange city. I remember I had to run to the bus station and barely made it. That book, and then later the astonishing one I described above, became my companions for years, the sort of thing where the author is your mentor and friend and you feel vividly that you know him. Thank you Martin Seymour-Smith!
- jamesbritt 13y agoThis site, as best I can tell, does not given any reason for inclusion. There are blurbs from wikipedia, but they're basic descriptions of the work. I want to see the rationale for each item. Perhaps the site exists to sell an associated book.
- gruseom 13y agoWell the site is just ripping off the list from one of Seymour-Smith's books, which would certainly have given reasons. I don't think respect for the original is a high priority there.
- sabbatic13 13y agoThe specific rationale wouldn't be something one could really explain in less than a few pages for each of those. The overarching reason is that each of these books had a huge effect on intellectual and cultural history across a long span of time. To demonstrate that, one would need quite a bit of space, and ultimately it would amount to giving someone an entire education in the intellectual history of most of the world over the last 2500 years. It seems rather futile in any event. Pointing out the highlights of Plotinus' influence would involve referring to a large number of other authors and texts and movements that are even less well known, e.g. Marsilio Ficino, the Corpus Hermeticum, and Renaissance Neo-Platonism. I am pretty sure that for most of the authors, however, a good Wikipedia entry will throw out a few sentences that give someone an idea.
- jamesbritt 13y agoThe specific rationale wouldn't be something one could really explain in less than a few pages for each of those. Sure, but something should be said as to the reason for inclusion, if only to direct people as to were to get a better understanding. As it is it reminds of the many "best of" lists (movies of all time, etc.) where some suspect or opaque selection process is used and the results put out as if the veracity is just to assumed. Great for starting conversations at parties, perhaps. I am pretty sure that for most of the authors, however, a good Wikipedia entry will throw out a few sentences that give someone an idea. I have roughly zero confidence in anything on Wikipedia that is not a matter of hard science. I'd much prefer a comment from a single person who admits biases upfront than the subtly distorted content of Wikipedia.
- WildUtah 13y ago"long bus trip ... Salt Lake City ... used bookstore ... on a shelf in the basement" Probably Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore [0]. Three blocks from the bus station for the second half of the twentieth century, it occupied two stories of new books and a large basement full of used books always full of treasures. It moved two miles southeast to Trolley Square in 2011. [0] http://www.wellerbookworks.com/history/ http://www.wellerbookworks.com/history/
- gruseom 13y agoThat was it! It was a magical place. Thank you.
- marshray 13y agoGurdjieff was influential for some 20th century folks, but it seems a little ridiculous to put him anywhere near, say, Marx or Mao. I suspect Seymour-Smith was a fan, or at least his circles held a disproportionate number of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff
- torus 13y ago"Beelzebub's tales to his grandson" is probably the only book I've found that I really, really, couldn't read. I'd love to know what it means though.
- Tloewald 13y agoIt's hard to compare ancient books whose influence is clearly enormous -- e.g. analects of confucious and the new testament -- to more recent books whose influence is hard to estimate, especially in the longer term, so it's necessarily a silly but interesting exercise. And, is a book influential for being famous or having an impact or simply acting as a standin for influence that clearly exists? E.g. I doubt Einstein's influence stems from his book on relativity.
- gruseom 13y agoThere's no doubt that many of these books are standins for personal influence. It's sort of a convention for lists like that.
- henryw 13y agoThis site really needs to link to gutenberg. For example http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
- ithinkso 13y agoSurprised that The Art of War and Heart of Darkness are missing.
- blumkvist 13y agoAgreed. Mein Kampf, Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead and Strike towards freedom deserve mentions too. Also the list shows a striking lack of science fiction. Neuromancer, Do androids dream of electric sheep, Lovecraft, Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, Dune, Foundation series by Asimov, Jules Vern's works, Time machine by H.G. Wells are some very influential titles. Shakespeare's work is missing also.
- digitalengineer 13y agoThat first one does not deserve to be there. As a book it didn't represent any original theory or 'higher' thought. Just the ramblings of a prisoner with too much time on his hands.
- blumkvist 13y agoThe list is about influential books, not works that introduce original ideas. IMO Mien Kampf fits the requirements to be influential.
- drjesusphd 13y agoWas the book actually influential, or just the author?
- dmoo 13y agoFirst Folio is on the list. Also I guess books which stand the test of time are more likely to be seen as influential so science fiction has a while to wait.
- navait 13y ago>...Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, Dune, Foundation series by Asimov... It's the most influential books ever written, not a list of books the HN crowd is most likely to have read. I think there's an argument for HG wells, but Dune? really?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- japaget 13y agoNotably absent from the list are the Bible and the Koran.
- ArkyBeagle 13y agoIt is phenomenal how many of those books are on the scrap heap of history.
- jayvanguard 13y agoPeople are suckers for ideology.
- DonGateley 13y agoHugely surprised to see Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson by George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff on the list. Gurdjieff is the modern father of mindfulness. Of course he borrowed it from the Buddha but in his time the Buddha wasn't much in vogue in the west. Shocked to see such an obscure yet such a marvelous thinker/doer on the list. Absolutely fascinating human.