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Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago? ↗

The books people recommended

2019-09-08 · 290 points · 237 comments · 104 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

  1. 9

    Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    9 here · 165 all-time · #10 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 21,552 ratings on Amazon
  2. 9

    The Count of Monte Cristo

    Alexandre Dumas

    9 here · 70 all-time · #50 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,487 ratings on Amazon
  3. 6The Art of War

    The Art of War

    Sun Tzu

    6 here · 43 all-time · #110 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 9,633 ratings on Amazon
  4. 5

    Les Misérables

    Victor Hugo

    5 here · 24 all-time · #250 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,681 ratings on Amazon
  5. 4

    Tao Te Ching

    Lao Tzu

    4 here · 53 all-time · #76 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,771 ratings on Amazon
  6. 4

    Anna Karenina

    Leo Tolstoy

    4 here · 51 all-time · #83 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 13,344 ratings on Amazon
  7. 4

    Crime and Punishment

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    4 here · 50 all-time · #85 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,186 ratings on Amazon
  8. 4

    The Prince

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    4 here · 34 all-time · #152 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 8,164 ratings on Amazon
  9. 4Essays

    Essays

    Michel de Montaigne

    4 here · 12 all-time · #546 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 750 ratings on Amazon
  10. 3

    Atlas Shrugged

    Ayn Rand

    3 here · 173 all-time · #9 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 22,012 ratings on Amazon
  11. 3The Brothers Karamazov

    The Brothers Karamazov

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    3 here · 69 all-time · #51 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,359 ratings on Amazon
  12. 3

    Rich Dad Poor Dad

    Robert Kiyosaki

    3 here · 35 all-time · #148 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 108,495 ratings on Amazon
  13. 3

    The Odyssey

    Homer

    3 here · 28 all-time · #200 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,214 ratings on Amazon
  14. 3

    Candide

    Voltaire

    3 here · 21 all-time · #297 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 5,755 ratings on Amazon
  15. 3The Three Musketeers

    The Three Musketeers

    Alexandre Dumas

    3 here · 10 all-time · #645 overall

  16. 3Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

    Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

    Jules Verne

    3 here · 6 all-time · #1189 overall

  17. 2

    The Fountainhead

    Ayn Rand

    2 here · 90 all-time · #36 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 12,667 ratings on Amazon
  18. 2

    Moby Dick

    Herman Melville

    2 here · 51 all-time · #82 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 16,756 ratings on Amazon
  19. 2

    Don Quixote

    Miguel de Cervantes

    2 here · 33 all-time · #161 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,758 ratings on Amazon
  20. 2Bhagavad Gita

    Bhagavad Gita

    C Radhakrishnan

    2 here · 33 all-time · #168 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 63 ratings on Amazon
  21. 2

    The Wealth of Nations

    Adam Smith

    2 here · 27 all-time · #212 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,706 ratings on Amazon
  22. 2

    Letters from a Stoic

    Seneca

    2 here · 20 all-time · #311 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 4,127 ratings on Amazon
  23. 2Frankenstein

    Frankenstein

    Mary Shelley

    2 here · 15 all-time · #429 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 30,870 ratings on Amazon
  24. 2The Mysterious Island

    The Mysterious Island

    Jules Verne

    2 here · 13 all-time · #495 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 932 ratings on Amazon
  25. 2Faust

    Faust

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    2 here · 10 all-time · #665 overall

  26. 2On Liberty

    On Liberty

    John Stuart Mill

    2 here · 8 all-time · #889 overall

  27. 2The Machine Stops

    The Machine Stops

    E. M. Forster

    2 here · 7 all-time · #979 overall

  28. 2Mahabharata

    Mahabharata

    Ramesh Menon

    2 here · 6 all-time · #1162 overall

  29. 2Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

    Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

    Charles Mackay

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1399 overall

  30. 2The Canterbury Tales

    The Canterbury Tales

    Geoffrey Chaucer

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1450 overall

  31. 2The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    Leo Tolstoy

    2 here · 5 all-time · #1451 overall

  32. 2Democracy in America

    Democracy in America

    Alexis de Tocqueville

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1746 overall

  33. 2Alice in Wonderland

    Alice in Wonderland

    Lewis Carroll

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1856 overall

  34. 2Around the World in Eighty Days

    Around the World in Eighty Days

    Jules Verne

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1921 overall

  35. 2Nietzsche

    Nietzsche

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2573 overall

  36. 1

    Dune

    Frank Herbert

    1 here · 250 all-time · #3 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 104,032 ratings on Amazon
  37. 1

    Ishmael

    Daniel Quinn

    1 here · 44 all-time · #104 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 7,045 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1

    War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy

    1 here · 41 all-time · #117 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 3,710 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1Walden

    Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    1 here · 35 all-time · #146 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 2,309 ratings on Amazon
  40. 1

    The Republic

    Plato

    1 here · 32 all-time · #174 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,034 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1

    The Little Prince

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    1 here · 29 all-time · #194 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 13,029 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1

    The Iliad

    Homer

    1 here · 28 all-time · #201 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 5,214 ratings on Amazon
  43. 1

    Shogun

    James Clavell

    1 here · 26 all-time · #223 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 27,634 ratings on Amazon
  44. 1

    The Road

    Cormac McCarthy

    1 here · 24 all-time · #243 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 39,314 ratings on Amazon
  45. 1

    Thus Spoke Zarathustra

    Friedrich Nietzsche

    1 here · 24 all-time · #249 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 3,956 ratings on Amazon
  46. 1

    Flatland

    Edwin A. Abbott

    1 here · 23 all-time · #261 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 5,255 ratings on Amazon
  47. 1

    On the Shortness of Life

    Seneca

    1 here · 22 all-time · #273 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 3,385 ratings on Amazon
  48. 1

    Sherlock Holmes

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    1 here · 21 all-time · #303 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,781 ratings on Amazon
  49. 1

    Capital

    Karl Marx

    1 here · 21 all-time · #307 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,644 ratings on Amazon
  50. 1

    History of Western Philosophy

    Bertrand Russell

    1 here · 20 all-time · #312 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,074 ratings on Amazon
  51. 1

    The Stars My Destination

    Alfred Bester

    1 here · 20 all-time · #317 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 4,493 ratings on Amazon
  52. 1

    Elements

    Euclid

    1 here · 20 all-time · #327 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 1,006 ratings on Amazon
  53. 1Orthodoxy

    Orthodoxy

    G.K. Chesterton

    1 here · 16 all-time · #393 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 2,701 ratings on Amazon
  54. 1Critique of Pure Reason

    Critique of Pure Reason

    Immanuel Kant

    1 here · 16 all-time · #397 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,334 ratings on Amazon
  55. 1Notes from Underground

    Notes from Underground

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1 here · 15 all-time · #414 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 5,859 ratings on Amazon
  56. 1Pride and Prejudice

    Pride and Prejudice

    Jane Austen

    1 here · 14 all-time · #447 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 39,261 ratings on Amazon
  57. 1The Prophet

    The Prophet

    Kahlil Gibran

    1 here · 14 all-time · #449 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 13,665 ratings on Amazon
  58. 1The Nicomachean Ethics

    The Nicomachean Ethics

    Aristotle

    1 here · 14 all-time · #463 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,048 ratings on Amazon
  59. 1The Confessions

    The Confessions

    Augustine of Hippo

    1 here · 13 all-time · #484 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 2,059 ratings on Amazon
  60. 1Ecclesiastes

    Ecclesiastes

    1 here · 12 all-time · #532 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 1,535 ratings on Amazon
  61. 1The Jungle

    The Jungle

    Upton Sinclair

    1 here · 10 all-time · #621 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 4,741 ratings on Amazon
  62. 1Self-Reliance

    Self-Reliance

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    1 here · 9 all-time · #699 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,724 ratings on Amazon
  63. 1The Picture of Dorian Gray

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    Oscar Wilde

    1 here · 9 all-time · #712 overall

  64. 1The Law

    The Law

    Frédéric Bastiat

    1 here · 8 all-time · #787 overall

  65. 1The Art of Worldly Wisdom

    The Art of Worldly Wisdom

    Baltasar Gracián

    1 here · 8 all-time · #841 overall

  66. 1QED

    QED

    Richard Feynman

    1 here · 8 all-time · #847 overall

  67. 1Darwin's Dangerous Idea

    Darwin's Dangerous Idea

    Daniel Dennett

    1 here · 7 all-time · #909 overall

  68. 1Das Kapital

    Das Kapital

    Karl Marx

    1 here · 7 all-time · #915 overall

  69. 1On the Origin of Species

    On the Origin of Species

    Charles Darwin

    1 here · 7 all-time · #993 overall

  70. 1The Varieties of Religious Experience

    The Varieties of Religious Experience

    William James

    1 here · 7 all-time · #1010 overall

  71. 1Progress and Poverty

    Progress and Poverty

    Henry George

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1077 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 173 ratings on Amazon
  72. 1The Kingdom of God is Within You

    The Kingdom of God is Within You

    Leo Tolstoy

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1081 overall

  73. 1The War of the Worlds

    The War of the Worlds

    H.G. Wells

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1148 overall

  74. 1Beowulf

    Beowulf

    Anonymous

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1257 overall

  75. 1Madame Bovary

    Madame Bovary

    Gustave Flaubert

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1278 overall

  76. 1Leviathan

    Leviathan

    Thomas Hobbes

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1289 overall

  77. 1The Problems of Philosophy

    The Problems of Philosophy

    Bertrand Russell

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1290 overall

  78. 1Dracula

    Dracula

    Bram Stoker

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1299 overall

  79. 1My Antonia

    My Antonia

    Willa Cather

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1306 overall

  80. 1Leaves of Grass

    Leaves of Grass

    Walt Whitman

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1326 overall

  81. 1The Conquest of Bread

    The Conquest of Bread

    Peter Kropotkin

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1449 overall

  82. 1Romance of the Three Kingdoms

    Romance of the Three Kingdoms

    Luo Guanzhong

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1456 overall

  83. 1Great Expectations

    Great Expectations

    Charles Dickens

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1566 overall

  84. 1Dao De Jing

    Dao De Jing

    Lao Tzu

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1616 overall

  85. 1A Treatise of Human Nature

    A Treatise of Human Nature

    David Hume

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1632 overall

  86. 1The Revolt of the Masses

    The Revolt of the Masses

    José Ortega y Gasset

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1633 overall

  87. 1Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

    Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

    Paul Reps

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1688 overall

  88. 1Civilization and Its Discontents

    Civilization and Its Discontents

    Sigmund Freud

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1699 overall

  89. 1The Age of Reason

    The Age of Reason

    Thomas Paine

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1717 overall

  90. 1The Sorrows of Young Werther

    The Sorrows of Young Werther

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1718 overall

  91. 1The Terror

    The Terror

    Dan Simmons

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1719 overall

  92. 1The Devil's Dictionary

    The Devil's Dictionary

    Ambrose Bierce

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1817 overall

  93. 1The Island of Doctor Moreau

    The Island of Doctor Moreau

    H.G. Wells

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2290 overall

  94. 1Hound of the Baskervilles

    Hound of the Baskervilles

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2299 overall

  95. 1The Art of Money Getting

    The Art of Money Getting

    P. T. Barnum

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2310 overall

  96. 1Metamorphoses

    Metamorphoses

    Ovid

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2326 overall

  97. 1A Christmas Carol

    A Christmas Carol

    Charles Dickens

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2343 overall

  98. 1Enchiridion of Epictetus

    Enchiridion of Epictetus

    Epictetus

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2344 overall

  99. 1Gorgias

    Gorgias

    Plato

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2345 overall

  100. 1A Study in Scarlet

    A Study in Scarlet

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2398 overall

  101. 1A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

    Mark Twain

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2545 overall

  102. 1The Mayor of Casterbridge

    The Mayor of Casterbridge

    Thomas Hardy

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2572 overall

  103. 1Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

    Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

    Immanuel Kant

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2599 overall

  104. 1Matter and Motion

    Matter and Motion

    James Clerk Maxwell

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2622 overall