
The Most Influential Books Ever Written (2010) - ekm2
http://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/45
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gruseom
I 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
This 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.

~~~
sabbatic13
The 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
_The 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.

------
marshray
Gurdjieff 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)

~~~
Tloewald
It'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.

~~~
ganeumann
But it would be easy to make a long, long list of other works and of important
people who were influenced by the Analects or by the New Testament. Or indeed,
by most of the books on this list. A list of works and people influenced by
Gurdjieff would not be very long. I would be curious to see his reasoning
here, because without an explanation it brands the whole list as personal
opinion.

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henryw
This site really needs to link to gutenberg. For example
[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300)

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DonGateley
Hugely 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.

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ithinkso
Surprised that The Art of War and Heart of Darkness are missing.

~~~
blumkvist
Agreed. 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.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The
Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged . One is a childish fantasy that often
engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an
emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real
world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

~~~
DonGateley
Then, of course, there is Catcher in the Rye, the most damaging book ever
written. Completely ruined two generations at the least. Made effete and
cynical cool and we've yet to recover the hard nosed optimism that infused us
with greatness for a too short a while.

I sincerely wish we'd lost Salinger in the war.

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japaget
Notably absent from the list are the Bible and the Koran.

~~~
tgb
The New Testament is listed as well as the "Hebrew Bible". Edit: correction

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ArkyBeagle
It is phenomenal how many of those books are on the scrap heap of history.

~~~
jayvanguard
People are suckers for ideology.

