(the library of Melk Abbey)
Add yours if you like…
I. The Jewish Bible, by Various Authors
II. The Iliad, by Homer
III. The Odyssey, by Homer
IV. Corpus Aristotelicum, by Aristotle
V. The Republic, by Plato
VI. Analectus, by Confucius
VII. The Aeneid, by Virgil
VIII. The New Testament, by Various Authors
IX. The Quran, by Various Authors
X. The Guide for the Perplexed, by Maimonides
XI. Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas
XII. Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri
XIII. Institues of Christian Religion, by John Calvin
XIV. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World System, by Galileo
XV. Principia Mathematica, by Isaac Newton
XVI. The New Science, by Giambattista Vico
XVII. Encyclopedie, by Denis Diderot
XVIII. The wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith
XIX. Phenomenology of Mind, by G.W.F. Hegel
XX. On War, by Carl Von Clausevitz
XXI. Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and F. Engels
XX. The Origin of the Species, by Charles Darwin
XXI. Experiment on Plant Hybridization, by Gregor Mendel
XXII. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
XXIII. The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud
XXIV. Relativity, by Albert Einstein
XXV. I and Thou, by Martin Buber
XXVI. If This Is a Man, by Primo Levi
Attenti al Lupo 
“1984”, George Orwell
Very good!! Thank you…
“War and Peace” is on my list. Am in the middle of “Anna Karenina” – – my son is studying Dante in school now…ha, ha, ha…sometimes he comes home afraid he is going to purgatory…..because even purgatory is kinda scary in Dante’s world. Buona domenica…
Anna Karenina e’ un altro libro fantastico! Ah! Ricordo i giorni di Dante, non solo al liceo ma anche All’Universita’!..Hai mai letto “Resurrezione” sempre di Tolstoy? Meno famoso ma eccezionale…e Buona domenica anche a te!
No….non ho mai letto “Rsurrezione” – – ma adesso e’ sulla mia lista anche! 🙂
Benissimo! E complimenti al tuo blog…lavoro di prima qualita’, il tuo! In fondo io e te abbiamo fatto il viaggio al contrario (vivo negli US)…Ciao Diana e a presto!
You might want to add The Analects by Confucius, the Tao Te Ching by Lao-tzu, Gilgamesh, and The Prince by Machiavelli.
Excellent choices! I do have Analects (is in Latin number VI) and I was debating on The Prince…Thank you!!
Mostly scholarly and great choices, however, as far as influential, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” has to be added to your list.
Excellent addition Sandy…Thank you
Oh, that’s a good one…
What about the Harry Potter series? While not influential like the classics, they have made a definite impact.
Indeed!
Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
I suggested the Harry Potter series when I commented on his blog site; however, I’d like to include Star Trek. Think of all the inventions that came to be from that series.
a brilliant approach! I like it, Thank you!
Gianfranco, what about the top most influential writers? It would do better justice to the “cause”, as most of the books you mentioned were written by authors who wrote more than one…
Wonderful idea my friend! Brilliant…give me a few days…
Of course, for the works like the Jewish Bible or similar, where authorship isn’t identifiable, you may keep the position… Just thinking aloud;-)
or could create a new category…
I’ll leave that to your kind discretion and wisdom:-)
The Jewish Bible
Thank you!
Very interesting list. A couple of suggestions:
The Works of William Shakespeare
Two Treatises of Government–John Locke
Bill, excellent suggestions! Thank you…
Great list and further suggestions as above. I would like to propose the following:
1) A Brief History of time by Stephen Hawking
2) Mahabharata by several authors.
Shakti
Great suggestions! Thank you!
Yeah, Your list looks comprehensive enough! 🙂
Thank you my friend!
I would include The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy since it helped inspire Gandhi who in turn inspired MLK.
Also, A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft 🙂
Ashleigh, Thank you! They are both great suggestions…
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung. He gets my vote over Freud any day!
annabelle, Thank you!
So many great books and authors… but in terms of influential, I have to believe that The Art of War would be ranking up there… not sure if any battles or wars would have changed hands without it but to hear so many great soldiers in the world’s history talk about it you would think they were influenced by it.
You are right and I was truly tempted to add the Art of War to this list…
The American writer Mark Twain has said that a classic book is a book that everyone knows but few have read – I found some truth in those words – many books have had a strong indirect influence posterity – also where the book itself may be “forgotten” but still stay alive – really many good suggestions here – some others could be – Ahmed Salman Rushdie / The Satanic Verses – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / Faust – Richard Dawkins / The Selfish Gene – George Orwell / Animal Farm – Franz Kafka / The Trial – Ernest Hemingway / For Whom the Bell Tolls – Anne Frank / The Diary of a Young Girl – Jean-Paul Sartre / Being and Nothingness – no doubt many could be mentioned… 🙂
My friend, you are right! And so it was Mark Twain. I had to study many of these and only now I start to understand why…
A bit heavy on the olden days perhaps? How about Asimov’s I robot – his three laws will undoubtedly influence today’s search for artificial intelligence. If you include that then add Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K DIck. And then there’s Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Das Kapital also should have an honourable mention. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. The list is getting longer, and I haven’t mentioned Dostoyevsky or William Gibson or Catch 22.
Oh Well, keep on keepin’ on
Thank you for adding your input here! The Wealth of Nation is there as well is the Communist Manifest (emanation of Das Kapital)…
No list is complete without Voltaire’s Candide!
Thanks for the visit and the follow to my still-under-construction blog.
You are right! Thank you…