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The Most Influential Books in History
Holy books, political books, fiction, whatever. Which books do you think have had the greatest impact and influence (positive or negative) on our world? Please only add books, not documents or essays.
659 books ·
1,835 voters ·
list created November 15th, 2008
by Crazy Uncle Ryan (votes) .
Comments (showing 1-50 of 72) (72 new)
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JoAnn
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Jul 07, 2009 07:41pm
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Carol wrote: "My computer went crazy when I tried to do this. So, I have voted twice. The first one is the Bible on my "real" list. "
I think this is one of the few lists that I didn't add any books but going to check yours out. This is a good list.
I think this is one of the few lists that I didn't add any books but going to check yours out. This is a good list.
The use of the word ever is what is causing the problem - ever is infiniteAlso, the level of influence will be determined by the demographic of the survey population and the survey is opinion, if an individual who "reads" the survey doesn't agree with the survey response, say so once share your opinion and then shutup.
Everyone has an opinion and it probably does not agree completely with yours, accept it and move on.
Your list is so limited. I could add just a few: The Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith, The Spirit of Laws: de Montesquieu, Analects of Confuscius, Rights of Man, Politics and Poetics: Aristotle, The Republic: Plato, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: A.T. Mahan...the list goes on and on. Why did you stop where you did?
Donna wrote: "Your list is so limited. I could add just a few: The Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith, The Spirit of Laws: de Montesquieu, Analects of Confuscius, Rights of Man, Politics and Poetics: Aristotle, The ..."Wealth of Nations is on the list already, as is Plato's Republic, and Aristotle's Poetics.
Well, I'm fond of a few modern pieces of literature to be sure! This isn't an exhaustive list of the books I've read. The list now runs into the hundreds of thousands of books. People write for all kinds of reasons--but mostly to tell a good story...me included!
My least predictable choice is Statistical Methods for Research Workers by R.A. Fisher, but it is an extremely important book in the methodology of twentieth century science. It's the book that either directly or indirectly taught most non-math-jock scientists how to evaluate their experiments, at least according to The Lady Tasting Tea by David Salsburg, a history of statistics.
Whether you believe in them or not, the Bible and the Koran are two of the most influential books ever. if you know much about history you can see all of the wars fought over them, and those are just the tip of the influence iceberg. This is a great list. I didn't add much that wasn't already on there.About Harry Potter: I don't know about that one. Certainly it has been influential in recent years as it has brought reading back to the Nintendo generation, but influential in the way that these others are in actually shaping a culture? Eh.
Harry Potter: it's hard to say that something that so many people have read hasn't been influential. It's easy to question whether it belongs in the top one hundred.If HP follows the example of The Lord of the Rings and becomes as embedded in our culture as firmly as King Arthur, it might be possible to declare it to be in the top one thousand.
I can see that. Maybe in the top one thousand. I would even say perhaps top one hundred in the century, two hundred for sure.
Gglast wrote: "Who the hell voted the Koran?"108 people as of this writing. Don't you think the Koran has been extremely influential?
The question didn't ask for quality; it asked for influence. Raw numbers of people matter. Islam is the religion of over a billion persons, and given birthrates and migratory patterns, it's spreading.
here's my (short) list of books which have had the greatest impact and influence (positive or negative) on our world's cultures and civilizations until the 21th century
So many books, so much influence - in my world+ - Western, European - The Bible is the most influential book at least for the last 1500 years. The Koran has increasing influence. But many books are not in the list. IE - a Wrinkle in Time - almost any woman of thought will list this in her top ten.
You know, I'm going to have to agree with The Bible, The Koran, and The Origin of the Species being the top 3. I may not like the fact that the Bible and Koran have gained this much influence, but it's very clear that they influence everyday life in more ways than just about any other books. Look at every war being fought right now, and tell me that those two holy books are not at least tangentially involved in them. Look at the American political and legal system, and tell me that Christianity has not infiltrated it to the highest levels (sadly for those of us ho are non-Christian). The same can be said for The Koran and the Middle East and Northern Africa. Those two books govern, for good or for bad, the lives and deaths of millions. And as for the Origin of the Species, well, all I need to say is that evolution is the foundation of modern Biology. Taking evolution out of biology undermines everything, from the classification system on down. That, to me, is a pretty influential book.
To Kill a Mockingbird has been influential for the last fifty years. There are other books that have been influential world wide for centuries or even millennia. Getting a book into the top thousand most influential in history is a great achievement.
Frankenstein? Really? Who thinks the novel Frankenstein is more influential than any other book on the list (except maybe Old Man and the Sea)?
Carol wrote: "My computer went crazy when I tried to do this. So, I have voted twice. The first one is the Bible on my "real" list. "
Carol wrote: "My computer went crazy when I tried to do this. So, I have voted twice. The first one is the Bible on my "real" list. "The Bible is the basis of everything--would like to share with you. www.goodreads.com/ardisa
This list doesn't make any sense to me. Best loved, sure, but INFLUENTIAL? To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein, LOTR, Pride and Prejudice, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Paradise Lost and Shakespeare -- over the BIBLE, Really?? I love all of the above mentioned, but I don't think people understand what is meant by Influential. The Bible has influenced each of those and many other books, not to mention other aspects of life and thought through the centuries.
Courtney wrote: "Whether you believe in them or not, the Bible and the Koran are two of the most influential books ever. if you know much about history you can see all of the wars fought over them, and those are ju..."Certainly many people have bought the books, but i dont think they read them. When the bible was first written it was so in Greek. Greek was the universal language of the time. St Paul wrote it or put it together. Now I wont swear to this, i wasnt there.
The book is more of a symbol of moral authority, it empowers those who claim to know....the thoughts of God.
When the books were written illiteracy was the rule. Heck even now we have places that dont have high literacy rates. There is a tale in the bible about how people were bldg a stairway to the sky. God got upset and gave them all different languages. So they couldnt continue with their ambition. Apparently he didnt want to hear from us then.
Story tellers roamed the country and told stories for money. Stories are something you make up, they didnt have copyright laws then. Books were rare and people would pay to go have someone read to them.
You may remember "deux ex machina" something like that. So anytime the story was about to end up with the bad guys winning, the hero would show up in a white hat to say the day.
I could never read the bible...it didnt taste good. I started the Koran and was pleasantly surprised. Still I dont believe in magic, vodoo, and things like that. But many people do....and they call it faith. My god is better than your god. Want to make something out of it.
Ardis wrote: "Carol wrote: "My computer went crazy when I tried to do this. So, I have voted twice. The first one is the Bible on my "real" list. ""Watch out Carol...I believe I see a bible thumper heading your way.
It occurs to me that the Bible and the Koran are two sides of the same coin. Heads your good, tails your bad.
Or one side can have Mohamed and the other side Jesus. Now this coin would look good in my collection.
Mukesh wrote: "The bible isn't the most influential book ever!"Really? I should love to hear your argument.
Wow, this list seems to have started out as a list of most influential books, and then deteriorated to a list of "classics". A classic book does not equal an influential book.
Why are people turning this into some random flame war? Books, even those that you have not read/read and did not like, can have a profound influence on others. I think that most peopl are voting with the idea of what was influential in their life personally, not what they think was influential for everyone else.
What the heck is the Spirit Filled Life Bible, and why is it ranked so high on a list of "most influential" books? As I'm posting this the King James Bible is 23rd on the list. I think that's slightly more influesntial than some book I never heard of...
Rather than confuse things by nominating their favorite translation, most persons are voting for the first translation of the Bible on the list, which happens to be the Spirit Filled Life translation.
Mukesh wrote: "The bible isn't the most influential book ever!"No matter what religion you practice (I'm not a catholic by the way), Guttenberg's edition of the Bible IS the most influential book ever, after all it was the first printed Book in the world, and that has made all the difference. If Guttemberg had decided to print his memoirs instead of the Bible, then that would be a very influential book, but not as much as a book that had been around for over a thousand years by the time it was printed
Ugh. I'm deleting my vote for the Bible, because it somehow became "The Spirit Filled Life Bible," which I most certainly did not vote for.People voting for "The Gutenberg Bible" by Martin Davies might want to know that it is 64 pages and is described thus: "This book reproduces many illustrations from the Bible, and discusses how it was created and published, and its role in the early spread of printing in Europe."
I had to change mine to the King James Version.My husband always says not to bring up religion or politics because it gets heated and it looks like it can happen online too.
Retarded that the spirit filled life is #2. Do people have no sense of history? These lists are so bad sometimes.
Francisco wrote: "newton's book not in the top 3? objection, your honor!"Paul wrote: "Retarded that the spirit filled life is #2. Do people have no sense of history? These lists are so bad sometimes."
"Retarded?" You choice of words to express your dislike in this list is suspect. I understand your concern but you choice of descriptive values negates the value of your objection. Use your literary mind and use words that don't undermine an unfortunate group of individuals in our society.
Aah, these books make me feel nostalgic, in a "in-a-past-life-I-was-alive-when-this-was-written" kind of way..
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