The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: The History of Though from Ancient Times to Today

Details the books that have forever changed civilization, from the Bible and the Koran to Darwin's Origin of the Species and Freidan's Feminine Mystique, and includes a historical overview and fascinating facts for each author and book, and much more. Original.

This book is part of the publisher's "100" series, which includes The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (Carol Pub., 1992) and 13 similar compilations of the most influential women, films, gays, blacks, and so on. The current title describes the 100 books that have most changed human history, having formed the basis of the world's religions, advanced scientific knowledge, altered our understanding of ourselves, and created and reformed social and political traditions. The author, who has written many books on literary and biographical topics, e.g., Hardy (LJ 1/95), offers a four- or five-page essay on each title, giving historical background and setting, an argument for the book's right to be on the list, and a discussion of its influence today. Among the works included are Herodotus's History, The Gospels of Truth, Erasmus's In Praise of Folly, Shakespeare's First Folio, Pascal's Pens?es, Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women, Martin Buber's I and Thou, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, and Mao's Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Half the fun of any such list is seeing which books are included and hearing the author's reasoning. Unfortunately, though the content is good, the essays are uneven and the style digressive. Not an essential purchase.APaul A. D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., ME
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.