Martin Seymour-Smith, The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: The History of Thought From Ancient Times to Today [1998]
136 entries: 127 monographical, 9 otherwise
Unrankedarranged chronologically
Seymour-Smith's book offers one of the best list of "great books," and perhaps the most provocative. Moreover, the book makes for an excellent read in and of itself. Clifton Fadiman's, also a list-as-book, is a fine read, but Seymour-Smith challenges received wisdom, addresses complex philosophical and scientific issues in depth, and takes the task he sets out—defining the "most influential" of books—very seriously. As with Kanigel's inclusion of Mein Kampf (which Seymour-Smith argues is actually not especially influential), books most humans would not want to read are included. As Seymour-Smith notes in his Introduction, "what is evil has on the whole, though by no means always or unequivocally—a balance is somehow achieved—been more influential than what is, shall we say, better."
Only a few works of fiction are included. Seymour-Smith's explanation of this, again, rests on the question of influence, but he falters in focusing on Gone with the Wind as an example of fiction's deficiency in this regard and in not considering serious countering arguments (we know at least that Harold Bloom, with his notion of Shakespeare's "invention of the human," would disagree). Seymour-Smith argues, "If some women thought they modeled themselves on Scarlet O'Hara [...] then, since Scarlet O'Hara was herself based [...] on a stereotype rather than on a real character, those women would have modeled themselves on another version of that stereotype." First, the term, "real character," is awkward: is he suggesting all non-fiction makes characters out of persons, yet whom remain real? More important, what of fictional characters not based on stereotypes (that is, why did he choose Gone with the Wind as his example)? Also, does he regard poetry, largely ignored here, in a similar way?
The few works of fiction he does include, Seymour-Smith acknowledges, "changed or colored the way in which people, even whole nations—as well as individuals—think of themselves." Ultimately, though, he sees philosophical and religious texts as primary: "Writers of imaginative literature are themselves, in any case, inevitably, initially influenced by a certain sort of predecessor." A supposition fair enough, but again his brief exposition does not satisfy. Such predecessors (Plato, Kant, etc.) "made it their first purpose not to express their personal vision but to determine what kind of a world it is that we live in." But that is precisely what poets and novelists do. If anything, in this day of a glut of non-fiction titles from university presses (even in the liberal arts)—not to mention the post-structuralist, Deconstructionist perspective on philosophical texts, countering their non-personal, objective natureSeymour-Smith's position is in the minority. Still, the short essays accompanying each entry I have read so far serve as excellent overviews of their many pertinent subjects, and one only has to review the list below to see the breadth of Seymour-Smith's knowledge.
Unlike Van Doren's, Fadiman's, Dirda's, and Newman's list-as-book projects, in his explication of each choice Seymour-Smith does not recommend other works; when others are mentioned, they are meant to explain the author's overall work or context. In a few instances, Seymour-Smith does suggest that other works are superior. For example, the Evgeny Zamyatin novel We "is far above even Nineteen Eighty-Four at an imaginative level," but he is not satisfied with its translations to English. He acknowledges that Thoreau's Walden might be as important as 'Civil Disobedience' "in the long run"; Jan Amos Komensky's The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart [1631], compared to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, is a "priceless masterpiece"; and Anna Karenina "is perhaps a greater novel than War and Peace." He too speaks very highly of Sartre's Nausea and Cervantes' Exemplary Novels. However, given the book's purpose, the inclusion of these other works is not appropriate. Van Doren's, Fadiman's, Dirda's, and Newman's lists, first of all, do not give a precise number of listed works like Seymour-Smith does; and, compared to other listmakers who give a precise number, Seymour-Smith mostly lists actual books, not vague selections of texts or excerpts. Second, the works that I have included in the Greater Books lists, but which are not listed in Van Doren's, Fadiman's, Dirda's, or Newman's chapter or section headings, are often recommended as highly as the listed works. Seymour-Smith, on the other hand, includes, for example, Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson instead of P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous, and Spinoza's Ethics instead of his correspondence, precisely because of his focus on the question of influence; We is not picked for the same reason, as Orwell's novel has obviously been more influential. This stricter interpretation has the unfortunate effect of, for now, excluding Komensky's work from the Greater Books master list, as no other listmaker includes him.
- Yì Jīng
I Ching; Zhouyi; The Classic of Changes; The Book of Changes
Eleventh-Third centuries B CChinese
--
- The Bible
Hebrew; Aramaic; Greek
Homer
- Iliad
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Odýsseia
The Odyssey
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
--
Seventh-Fourth centuries B CSanskrit
- Lăozĭ (Lao-tzu) (Laocius)
Dàodéjīng
Tao te Ching
ca. Sixth Century B CChinese
--
- Avesta
Avestan
- Confucius (Kŏng Zǐ) (Kŏng Fūzǐ) (K'ung Fu-tzu)
Analects
Lún Yǔ
written and compiled by the author's pupils; ca. Fifth Century B C-Second CenturyChinese
- Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian War
early Fifth Century B CGreek
- Hippocrates
Hippocratic Corpus
late Fifth-early Fourth centuries B CGreek
Selected works
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Herodotus
Historiē
History
Fifth Century B CGreek
- Plato
Politeia
The Republic
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Euclid
Elements
written ca. 300 B CGreek
--
- Dhammapada
part of the Khuddaka Nikaya, fifth of five nikayas in the Sutta Pitaka; written ca. Third Century B CPali
- Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)
Aeneid
First Century B CLatin
- Titus Lucretius Carus
De Rerum Natura
On the Nature of Things
First Century B CLatin
"Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws"
First CenturyGreek
- Plutarch
Bìoi Paràllēloi
Parallel Lives; Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
First CenturyGreek
- Cornelius Tacitus
Annales
written First CenturyLatin
--
- The Gospel of Truth
probably originally written in Greek; earliest extant copy is Coptic Egyptian translation; Second CenturyEgyptian
- Marcus Aurelius
Ta Eis Heauton
Meditations
written 161-80Greek
- Sextus Empiricus
Pyrrhōneioi Hypotypōseis
Outline of Pyrrhonism
late First Century-early Second CenturyGreek
- Plotinus
Enneads
Third CenturyGreek
- Augustine of Hippo
Confessionum Libri Tredecim
The Confessions of St. Augustine
written 397-98Latin
--
- Quran
Koran
Seventh CenturyArabic
- Maimonides (Moshe ben Maimon)
Dalalatul al-Hairin
Moreh Nevukhim; The Guide for the Perplexed
written Twelfth CenturyArabic; Hebrew version, 1204
--
Quabala; Cabala
Aramaic; Hebrew
- Thomas Aquinas
Summa Theologiae
Summa Theologica
written 1265-74Latin
- Dante
La Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21Italian
- Desiderius Erasmus
Stultitiae Laus
In Praise of Folly
1511; later revisedLatin
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Il Principe
The Prince
1532Italian
- Martin Luther
De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae, Praeludium
Von der Babylonischen Gefangenschaft der Kirche; On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
1520; German version published the same yearLatin
- François Rabelais
La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel
originally published in five volumes: Les Horribles et Épouvantables Faits et Prouesses du Très Renommé Pantagruel Roi des Dipsodes, Fils du Grand Géant Gargantua, 1532; La Vie Très Horrifique du Grand Gargantua, Père de Pantagruel, 1534; Le Tiers Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1546; Le Quart Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1552; Le Cinquiesme et Dernier Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1564French
- John Calvin
Christianae Religionis Institutio
Institutes of the Christian Religion
1536; French translation, Institution de la Religion Chrestienne, 1541Latin
- Nicolas Copernicus
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
1543Latin
- Michel de Montaigne
Les Essais
Essays
originally published in three volumes: 1580, 1588, and 1595French
- Miguel de Cervantes
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Don Quixote
originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615Spanish
- Johannes Kepler
Harmonices Mundi
The Harmony of the World
1619Latin
- Francis Bacon
Novum Organum Scientiarium
1620English
William Shakespeare
- Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies
The First Folio
1623; includes 36 of the author's playsEnglish
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ca. 1590-94English
- Romeo and Juliet
ca. 1591-97English
- The First Part of Henry VI
ca. 1592English
- The Second Part of Henry VI
ca. 1592English
- The Third Part of Henry VI
ca. 1592English
- The Taming of the Shrew
ca. 1592-94English
- Richard III
ca. 1592-7English
- Titus Andronicus
1594English
- The Comedy of Errors
1594English
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
ca. 1595-1600English
- The Merchant of Venice
ca. 1596-98English
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
ca. 1597-1602English
- The First Part of Henry IV
1597English
- Richard II
1597English
- Love's Labour Lost
1598English
- King John
ca. 1598English
- Much Ado About Nothing
ca. 1598-99English
- Julius Caesar
1599English
- Henry V
1599English
- The Second Part of Henry IV
1600English
- Twelfth Night; or, What You Will
1602English
- Hamlet
1602English
- Troilus and Cressida
ca. 1602-09English
- As You Like It
1603English
- Measure for Measure
1604English
- Othello
ca. 1604English
- Coriolanus
written ca. 1605-08English
- King Lear
1606English
- All's Well That Ends Well
ca. 1606-08English
- Macbeth
ca. 1607English
- Antony and Cleopatra
ca. 1606-08English
- Timon of Athens
written ca. 1607English
- The Tempest
1611English
- The Winter's Tale
ca. 1611English
- Henry VIII
ca. 1613English
- Cymbeline
written ca. 1609English
- Galileo
Dialogo Sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
1632Italian
- René Descartes
Discours de la Méthode Pour Bien Conduire sa Raison, et Chercher la Vérité dans les Sciences
Discourse on the Method
1637French
- Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
1651English
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz
Selected works
late Seventeenth-early Eighteenth centuriesFrench
- Blaise Pascal
Pensées
Thoughts
1669French
- Baruch Spinoza
Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata
Ethics
1677Latin
- John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress From This World to That Which Is to Come
1678English
- Isaac Newton
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
1687; revised 1713 and 1726Latin
- John Locke
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
1689English
- George Berkeley (Bishop Berkeley)
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
1710; revised 1734English
- Giambattista Vico
Principi di Scienza Nuova d'Intorno Alla Comune Natura Delle Nazioni
The New Science
1725; revised 1730 and 1744Italian
- David Hume
A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects
originally published in three volumes: first-second, 1739; third, 1740English
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers
published in 28 volumes, 1751-72French
- Samuel Johnson
A Dictionary of the English Language
1755English
- Voltaire
Candide, ou L'Optimisme
1759French
- Thomas Paine
Common Sense; Addresed to the Inhabitants of America
1776English
- Adam Smith
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
1776; revised through third edition, 1784English
- Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
originally published in six volumes: first, 1776; second-third, 1781; fourth-sixth, 1788English
- Immanuel Kant
Kritik der Reinen Vernunft
Critique of Pure Reason
1781; revised 1787German
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Les Confessions
1782French
- Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France
1790English
- Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
1792English
- William Godwin
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness
1793English
- Thomas Robert Malthus
An Essay on the Principle of Population
originally anonymously published 1798; revised and published under the author's name, 1803English
- George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Die Phänomenologie des Geistes
Phenomenology of Spirit
1807German
- Arnold Schopenhauer
Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung
The World as Will and Idea
published in two volumes, 1819 and 1844German
- Auguste Comte
Cours de Philosophie Positive
published in six volumes, 1832, 1835, 1838-1842French
- Carl von Clausewitz
Vom Kriege
On War
1832German
- Sǿren Kierkegaard
Enten - Eller
Either/ Or
originally published under the pseudonym, Victor Eremita, 1843Danish
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei
The Communist Manifesto
1848German
'Civil Disobedience'
originally published 1849 in Aesthetic PapersEnglish
- Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
1859English
- John Stuart Mill
On Liberty
1859English
- Herbert Spencer
First Principles
1862English
'Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden'
'Experiments on Plant Hybrids'
originally published 1866 in Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereins Brünn; edited 1865 lectureGerman
- Leo Tolstoy
Voyna i Mir"
War and Peace
originally entitled 1805, published in part, 1865 and 1867; retitled and published in its entirety, 1869Russian
- James Clerk Maxwell
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
originally published in two volumes, 1873English
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen
Thus Spake Zarathustra
originally published in four volumes, 1883-85German
- Sigmund Freud
Die Traumdeutung
The Interpretation of Dreams
1899German
- William James
Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking
1907English
- Albert Einstein
Die Grundlage der Allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie
Foundations of the General Theory of Relativity
1916German
- Vilfredo Pareto
Trattato di Sociologia Generale
The Mind and Society
1916Italian
- Carl Jung
Psychologische Typen
Psychological Types
1921German
- Martin Buber
Ich und Du
I and Thou
1923German
- Franz Kafka
Der Prozess
The Trial
1925German
- Karl Popper
Logik der Forschung
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
1934German
- John Maynard Keynes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
1936English
- Jean-Paul Sartre
L'Être et le Néant: Essai d'Ontologie Phénoménologique
Being and Nothingness
1943French
- Friedrich von Hayek
The Road to Serfdom
1944English
- Simone Beauvoir
Le Deuxième Sexe
The Second Sex
published in part serially in Les Temps Modernes; in its entirety in two volumes, 1949French
- Norbert Wiener
Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine
1948; revised 1961English
- George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1949English
- George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
Rasskazy Vel'zevula Svoemu Vnuku
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson
1950Russian
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophische Untersuchungen
Philosophical Investigations
1953German
- Noam Chomsky
Syntactic Structures
1957English
- Thomas S Kuhn
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
1962; expanded 1970English
- Betty Friedan
The Feminine Mystique
1963English
- Máo Zédōng
Máo Zhuxí Yulù
Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung
1966Chinese
- B F Skinner
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
1971English