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A List of Great Books? There are many!
Here's one famous list:
The Great Books of the Western World
as selected by Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books of the Western World program and the Great Books Foundation.
1. Homer
Iliad
Odyssey
2. Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
Aeschylus. Plays
Sophocles. Plays
Euripides. Plays
Aristophanes. Plays
3. Herodotus, Thucydides
Herodotus. History
Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War
4. Plato
Dialogues
Seventh Letter
5. Aristotle (I)
Works
6. Aristotle (II)
Works (continued)
7. Hippocrates, Galen
Hippocrates. Hippocratic Writings
Galen. On the Natural Faculties
8. Euclid, Archimedes, Nicomachus
Euclid. Elements
Archimedes. Works (including The Method)
Nicomachus. Introduction to Arithmetic
9. Lucretius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus
Lucretius The Way Things Are
Epictetus. Discourses
Marcus Aurelius. The Meditations
Plotinus. The Six Enneads
10. Virgil
Eclogues
Georgics
Aeneid
11. Plutarch
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans
12. Tacitus
Annals
Histories
13. Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler
Ptolemy. Almagest
Copernicus. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
Kepler. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy
Kepler. The Harmonies of the World
14. Augustine
The Confessions
The City of God
On Christian Doctrine
15. Thomas Aquinas (I)
Summa Theologica
16. Thomas Aquinas (II)
Summa Theologica (continued)
17. Dante, Chaucer
Dante. Divine Comedy
Chaucer. Troilus and Criseyde
Chaucer. Canterbury Tales
18. Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion
19. Machiavelli, Hobbbes
Machiavelli. The Prince
Hobbes. Leviathan, or, Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil
20. Rabelais
Gargantua and Pantagruel
21. Erasmus, Montaigne
Erasmus. Praise of Folly
Montaigne. Essays
22. Shakespeare (I)
The Plays and Sonnets
23. Shakespeare (II)
The Plays and Sonnets (continued)
24. Gilbert, Galileo, Harvey
Gilbert. On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies
Galileo. Concerning the Two New Sciences
Harvey. On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
Harvey. On the Circulation of the Blood
Harvey. On the Generation of Animals
25. Cervantes
The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha
26. Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza
Bacon. Advancement of Learning
Bacon. Novum Organum
Bacon. New Atlantis
Descartes. Rules for the Direction of the Mind
Descartes. Discourse on the Method
Descartes. Meditations on First Philosophy
Descartes. Objections Against the Meditations and Replies
Descartes. The Geometry
Spinoza. Ethics
27. Milton
English minor poems
Paradise Lost
Samson Agonistes
Areopagitica
28. Pascal
The Provincial Letters
Pensees
Scientific Treatises
29. Moliere, Racine
Moliere. The School for Wives
Moliere. The Critique of the School for Wives
Moliere. Tartuffe
Moliere. Don Juan
Moliere. The Miser
Moliere. The Would-Be Gentleman
Moliere. The Would-Be Invalid
Racine. Berenice
30. Newton, Huygens
Newton. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
Newton. Optics
Huygens. Treatise on Light
31. Locke, Berkeley
Locke. A Letter Concerning Toleration
Locke. Concerning Civil Government, Second Essay
Locke. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Berkeley. The Principles of Human Knowledge
Hume. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
32. Swift, Voltaire, Diderot
Swift. Gulliver's Travels
Voltaire. Candide
Diderot. Rameau's Nephew
33. Montesquieu, Rousseau
Montesquieu. The Spirit of Laws
Rousseau. On the Origin of Inequality
Rousseau. On Political Economy
Rousseau. The Social Contract
34. Smith
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
35. Gibbon (I)
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
36. Gibbon (II)
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (continued)
37. Kant
The Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Practical Reason, and Other Ethical Treatises
The Critique of Judgment
38. American State Papers, The Federalist, Mill
Declaration of Independence
Articles of Confederation
The Constitution
Hamilton, Madison, Jay. The Federalist
Mill. On Liberty
Mill. Representative Government
Mill. Utilitarianism
39. Boswell
Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.
40. Lavoisier, Faraday
Lavoisier. Elements of Chemistry
Faraday. Experimental Researches in Electricity
41. Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche
Hegel. The Philosophy of Right
Hegel. The Philosophy of History
Kierkegaard. Fear and Trembling
Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil
42. Tocqueville
Democracy in America
43. Goethe, Balzac
Goethe. Faust: Parts One and Two
Balzac. Cousin Bette
44. Austen, Eliot
Austen. Emma
Eliot. Middlemarch
45. Dickens
Little Dorrit
46. Melville, Twain
Melville. Moby Dick, or, The Whale
Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
47. Darwin
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
48. Marx, Engels
Marx (edited by Engels). Capital
Marx and Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party
49. Tolstoy
War and Peace
50. Dostoyevsky, Ibsen
Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov
Ibsen. A Doll's House
Ibsen. The Wild Duck
Ibsen. Hedda Gabler
Ibsen. The Master Builder
51. James
The Principles of Psychology
52. Freud
The Major Works of Sigmund Freud
53. 20th Century Philosophy and Religion
James. Pragmatism
Bergson. An Introduction to Metaphysics
Dewey. Experience and Education
Whitehead. Science and the Modern World
Russell. The Problems of Philosophy
Heidegger. What is Metaphysics?
Wittgenstein. Philosophical Investigations
Barth. The Word of God and the Word of Man
54. 20th Century Natural Science
Poincare. Science and Hypothesis
Planck. Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers
Whitehead. An Introduction to Mathematics
Einstein. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
Eddington. The Expanding Universe
Bohr. Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (selections)
Bohr. Discussion with Einstein on Epistemological Problemns in Atomic Physics
Hardy. A Mathematician's Apology
Heisenberg. Physics and Philosophy
Schrodinger. What is Life?
Dobzhansky. Genetics and the Origin of Species
Waddington. The Nature of Life
55. 20th Century Social Science (I)
Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class
Tawney. The Acquisitive Society
Keynes. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
56. 20th Century Social Science (II)
Frazer. The Golden Bough (selections)
Weber. Essays in Sociology (selections)
Huizinga. The Waning of the Middle Ages
Levi-Strauss. Structural Anthropology (selections)
57. 20th Century Imaginative Literature (I)
James. The Beast in the Jungle
Shaw. Saint Joan
Conrad. Heart of Darkness
Chekhov. Uncle Vanya
Pirandello. Six Characters in Search of an Author
Proust. Remembrance of Things Past. "Swann in Love"
Cather. A Lost Lady
Mann. Death in Venice
Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
58. 20th Century Imaginative Literature (II)
Woolf. To the Lighthouse
Kafka. Metamorphosis
Lawrence. The Prussian Officer
Eliot. The Waste Land
O'Neill. Mourning Becomes Electra
Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby
Faulkner. A Rose for Emily
Brecht. Mother Courage and Her Children
Hemingway. The Short Happy Life of Macomber
Orwell. Animal Farm
Beckett. Waiting for Godot