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Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books

Type: Preset list created by peach3009

Members: 7 participating members (show all)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
A Room of One's Own
by Virginia Woolf
10,385 members, 135 reviews
4.12 stars (4.12 stars)

Lists: Kristelh (1), ManWithAnAgenda (2), Bretzky1 (2), peach3009 (4)

Score: 13.56

2
The Elements of Style
by William Jr. Strunk
17,942 members, 184 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: Bretzky1 (1), Kristelh (2), deldevries (2), ManWithAnAgenda (4), peach3009 (21)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: 13.42

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): There was much in this book to like, but I've found other books on writing just as helpful, if not more so.

3
In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
20,127 members, 403 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (1), Kristelh (3), deldevries (4), peach3009 (96)

Score: 11.15

4
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
6,880 members, 78 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: deldevries (1), aulsmith (4), peach3009 (69)

Score: 8.22

Explanations:

aulsmith (4): But read it carefully. It's not as post-modern as some people think

5
Notes of a Native Son
by James Baldwin
1,438 members, 21 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (3), kara.shamy (4), peach3009 (19)

Score: 7.78

6
The Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
4,114 members, 59 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: Kristelh (4), kara.shamy (5), peach3009 (31)

Score: 7.2

7
The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays
by Isaiah Berlin
591 members, 4 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (1), peach3009 (17)

Score: 5.97

Explanations:

aulsmith (1): Berlin is great, never satisfied with easy answers (or some times any answer)

8
Selected Essays
by T. S. Eliot
320 members, 0 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (2), peach3009 (6)

Score: 5.92

9
Up from Slavery
by Booker T. Washington
3,164 members, 30 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (3), deldevries (7)

Score: 5.5

10
Aspects of the Novel
by E. M. Forster
1,980 members, 35 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (2), peach3009 (14)

Score: 5.43

11
James Joyce
by Richard Ellmann
1,150 members, 10 reviews
4.4 stars (4.4 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (1), peach3009 (73)

Score: 5.37

12
The Right Stuff
by Tom Wolfe
3,974 members, 62 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (3), deldevries (6), peach3009 (52)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: 5.09

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): This was an interesting book, but too cynical for my taste.

13
The Guns of August
by Barbara W. Tuchman
5,438 members, 100 reviews
4.28 stars (4.28 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (3), peach3009 (16)

Score: 5.04

15
The Civil War (complete 14 volumes)
by Shelby Foote
18 members, 0 reviews

Lists: deldevries (8), peach3009 (15)

Score: 4.41

16
Out of Africa
by Isak Dinesen
4,494 members, 91 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: Kristelh (5), peach3009 (58)

Score: 4.12

17
The Education of Henry Adams
by Henry Adams
2,438 members, 36 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (1)

Score: 4

18
The Journalist and the Murderer
by Janet Malcolm
521 members, 10 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: deldevries (5), peach3009 (97)

Score: 3.95

19
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
by William Styron
2,644 members, 71 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (7), peach3009 (55)

Score: 3.93

20
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X
7,955 members, 104 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (8), peach3009 (51)

Score: 3.88

21
This Boy's Life
by Tobias Wolff
2,584 members, 39 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (6), peach3009 (86)

Score: 3.87

22
The Varieties of Religious Experience
by William James
4,396 members, 29 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (2)

Score: 3.36

23
Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson
5,244 members, 85 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (5), peach3009 (5)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: 3.35

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): This is getting very dated. A silent spring is certainly not our greatest ecological worry.

24
The Double Helix
by James D. Watson
2,600 members, 39 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (7)

Score: 2.46

25
Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
by Vladimir Nabokov
3,145 members, 37 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (8)

Score: 2.38

27
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
by John Maynard Keynes
1,491 members, 11 reviews
3.57 stars (3.57 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (10)

Score: 2.25

28
The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
by Lewis Thomas
1,847 members, 29 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (11)

Score: 2.2

29
The Frontier in American History
by Frederick Jackson Turner
434 members, 6 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (12)

Score: 2.15

30
Black Boy
by Richard Wright
4,383 members, 60 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (13)

Score: 2.11

31
The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation
by Reinhold Niebuhr
421 members, 2 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (18)

Score: 1.94

32
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
by Gertrude Stein
2,309 members, 40 reviews
3.59 stars (3.59 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (20)

Score: 1.89

33
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy
by Gunnar Myrdal
115 members, 1 review
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (22)

Score: 1.85

34
Principia Mathematica (3-volume set)
by Alfred North Whitehead
0 members, 0 reviews

Lists: peach3009 (23)

Score: 1.83

35
The Mismeasure of Man [Revised & Expanded]
by Stephen Jay Gould
1,588 members, 17 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (24)

Score: 1.81

36
The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition
by Meyer H. Abrams
487 members, 4 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (25)

Score: 1.79

37
The Art of the Soluble: Creativity and Originality in Science
by P. B. Medawar
64 members, 2 reviews
4.33 stars (4.33 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (26)

Score: 1.77

38
The Ants
by Bert Hölldobler
311 members, 2 reviews
4.37 stars (4.37 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (27)

Score: 1.76

39
A Theory of Justice
by John Rawls
2,677 members, 21 reviews
3.87 stars (3.87 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (28)

Score: 1.74

40
Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation
by E. H. Gombrich
942 members, 5 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (29)

Score: 1.72

41
The Making of the English Working Class
by E. P. Thompson
1,486 members, 9 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (30)

Score: 1.71

42
Principia Ethica
by G. E. Moore
589 members, 3 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (32)

Score: 1.68

43
Philosophy and Civilization
by John Dewey
25 members, 0 reviews
3 stars (3 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (33)

Score: 1.67

44
On Growth and Form
by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
255 members, 2 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (34)

Score: 1.66

45
Ideas and Opinions
by Albert Einstein
1,670 members, 7 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (35)

Score: 1.65

46
The Age of Jackson
by Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr.
783 members, 11 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (36)

Score: 1.63

47
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes
2,864 members, 42 reviews
4.47 stars (4.47 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (37)

Score: 1.62

48
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
by Rebecca West
1,417 members, 20 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (38)

Score: 1.61

49
Autobiography of William Butler Yeats
by William Butler Yeats
224 members, 2 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (39)

Score: 1.6

51
Goodbye to All That
by Robert Graves
3,240 members, 56 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (41)

Score: 1.58

52
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
5,567 members, 86 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (42)

Score: 1.57

53
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
by Mark Twain
752 members, 8 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (43)

Score: 1.56

54
Children of Crisis: A Study of Courage and Fear
by Robert Coles
133 members, 0 reviews
4.5 stars (4.5 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (44)

Score: 1.55

55
A study of history
by Arnold Joseph Toynbee
239 members, 1 review
3.33 stars (3.33 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (45)

Score: 1.54

56
The Affluent Society
by John Kenneth Galbraith
1,473 members, 9 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (46)

Score: 1.54

57
Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department
by Dean Acheson
391 members, 4 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (47)

Score: 1.53

58
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
by David McCullough
2,176 members, 53 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (48)

Score: 1.52

59
Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War
by Edmund Wilson
348 members, 3 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (49)

Score: 1.51

60
Samuel Johnson
by W. Jackson Bate
347 members, 4 reviews
4.43 stars (4.43 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (50)

Score: 1.5

61
Eminent Victorians
by Lytton Strachey
1,558 members, 27 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (53)

Score: 1.48

62
The Liberal Imagination
by Lionel Trilling
435 members, 4 reviews
3.73 stars (3.73 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (56)

Score: 1.46

63
The Second World War {complete}
by Winston S. Churchill
1,242 members, 7 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (57)

Score: 1.46

64
Jefferson and His Time (6 Volume Set)
by Dumas Malone
231 members, 2 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (59)

Score: 1.44

65
In the American Grain
by William Carlos Williams
470 members, 2 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (60)

Score: 1.44

66
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
by Marc Reisner
1,456 members, 33 reviews
4.35 stars (4.35 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (61)

Score: 1.43

67
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
by Ron Chernow
1,140 members, 17 reviews
3.87 stars (3.87 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (62)

Score: 1.43

68
The Open Society and Its Enemies
by Karl Popper
720 members, 12 reviews
4.28 stars (4.28 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (64)

Score: 1.41

69
The Art of Memory
by Frances A. Yates
1,241 members, 14 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (65)

Score: 1.41

70
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism: A Historical Study
by R. H. Tawney
653 members, 1 review
3.55 stars (3.55 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (66)

Score: 1.4

71
A Preface to Morals
by Walter Lippmann
327 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (67)

Score: 1.4

72
The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution
by Jonathan D. Spence
360 members, 0 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (68)

Score: 1.39

73
The Strange Career of Jim Crow
by C. Vann Woodward
886 members, 6 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (70)

Score: 1.38

74
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
by William H. McNeill
611 members, 6 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (71)

Score: 1.38

75
The Gnostic Gospels
by Elaine Pagels
4,272 members, 42 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (72)

Score: 1.37

76
Florence Nightingale
by Cecil Woodham-Smith
259 members, 4 reviews
3.43 stars (3.43 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (74)

Score: 1.36

77
The Great War and Modern Memory
by Paul Fussell
1,824 members, 25 reviews
4.25 stars (4.25 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (75)

Score: 1.36

78
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
by James M. McPherson
4,496 members, 64 reviews
4.44 stars (4.44 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (77)

Score: 1.35

79
Why We Can't Wait
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
1,174 members, 5 reviews
4.39 stars (4.39 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (78)

Score: 1.35

80
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
by Edmund Morris
3,309 members, 44 reviews
4.42 stars (4.42 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (79)

Score: 1.34

81
Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance
by Erwin Panofsky
377 members, 1 review
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (80)

Score: 1.34

82
The Face of Battle
by John Keegan
2,413 members, 24 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (81)

Score: 1.33

83
The Strange Death of Liberal England
by George Dangerfield
371 members, 6 reviews
4.08 stars (4.08 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (82)

Score: 1.33

84
Vermeer (Barnes & Noble Art Series)
by Lawrence Gowing
90 members, 1 review
2.9 stars (2.9 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (83)

Score: 1.33

85
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
by Neil Sheehan
1,846 members, 26 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (84)

Score: 1.32

86
West with the Night
by Beryl Markham
3,098 members, 111 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (85)

Score: 1.32

87
A Mathematician's Apology
by G. H. Hardy
1,142 members, 21 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (87)

Score: 1.31

89
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard
4,630 members, 80 reviews
4.22 stars (4.22 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (89)

Score: 1.3

90
Shadow and Act
by Ralph Ellison
345 members, 0 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (91)

Score: 1.3

91
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by Robert A. Caro
2,147 members, 30 reviews
4.59 stars (4.59 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (92)

Score: 1.29

92
The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made it
by Richard Hofstadter
1,075 members, 11 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (93)

Score: 1.29

93
The Contours of American History
by William Appleman Williams
114 members, 1 review
3.38 stars (3.38 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (94)

Score: 1.29

94
The Promise Of American Life
by Herbert Croly
111 members, 0 reviews
2.6 stars (2.6 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (95)

Score: 1.28

95
The Taming of Chance
by Ian Hacking
206 members, 1 review
3.67 stars (3.67 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (98)

Score: 1.27

96
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
by Anne Lamott
1,577 members, 31 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (99)

Score: 1.27

97
The Young Melbourne
by David Cecil
53 members, 0 reviews
2 stars (2 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (100)

Score: 1.27

98
The Sweet Science
by A. J. Liebling
217 members, 6 reviews
3.84 stars (3.84 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (63)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: < 0

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): I love Liebling's writing, but even he couldn't get me to read about boxing.

99
The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects
by Lewis Mumford
1,197 members, 9 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: peach3009 (76)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: < 0

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): This has really been out-dated by more modern archeology.

100
The Golden Bough [set - 15 volumes]
by James George Frazer
23 members, 0 reviews

Lists: peach3009 (90)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Score: < 0

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): Even the abridged version is more than most people want to know.

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date

About this list

Started by: peach3009 (May 2015)

Type: Numbered and unnumbered

Related tags

20th century (1,975) American history (1,775) autobiography (3,262) biography (5,518) Civil War (923) essays (1,925) fiction (2,056) history (10,596) literature (1,659) memoir (3,723) military history (999) non-fiction (13,763) philosophy (2,949) politics (1,357) read (1,626) reference (2,412) religion (1,792) science (3,806) to-read (8,226) true crime (1,224) unread (976) USA (1,039) war (1,002) writing (3,385) WWI (2,323)