Books that Changed theWorld: The 50 Most Influential Books in Human History (2008, this version 2014)
is a subjective list – not of authors or popular books, but of influential manuscripts. Taylor presents
the list in chronological order, with 5-10 pages for each entry detailing its
content and the reason for its listing. The timeline commences with Homer’s The Iliad, circa 8th century
BCE, and finishes with J.K. Rowling’s Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997).
Any list would be
debatable, and there are entries which seem questionable, but it is interesting
to consider his inclusions. The most entries are for literature, language or
poetry (48%) with scientific texts second (20%) – starting with geography, and
then medicine, astronomy, genetics, astrophysics, psychology, and environmental
science. Political manuscripts are the third most cited entries (10%), followed
by philosophy (8%), religion (4%), reference material (4%), and history (2%) –
although history appears quite often within the literature selections.
It is also interesting
to note that many of the manuscripts were originally controversial, but later
regarded as ‘breakthrough’ thinking, such as medicine, geography, evolution,
and astronomy.
Literature too often
broke controversial ground at the time of publication – particularly in the
West and during the Victorian era, such as Mallanaga Vatsyayan’s Kama Sutra (2nd/3rd
century), Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin (1852), Gustave Flaubert’s Madame
Bovary (1857), and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady
Chatterley’s Lover (1928). Other literature was included for its
perspective on reality from people who experienced it, such as Primo Levi’s If This is a Man (1947) on concentration
and extermination camps, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) on an African view of colonialism – ‘a
masterpiece of African literature in English.’ Primarily their inclusions were
due to disseminating a message globally that influenced subsequent action.
Other inclusions were
added, not because they were the ‘first’ or ‘new’ but that they were the first
to compile other people’s thoughts and managed to publish them widely. These
included the 5th century BCE The
Analects by Confucius, in which he states that he was not the ‘creator’ but
‘documenting traditional Chinese thought’. However, later the West attributed
the thinking to Confucius. The Bible
(2nd century BCE to 2nd century AD) is another example of
various authors compiled into one book – to provide ‘the Word of God.’ However,
Taylor does also add the 7th century text The Qur’an – not a compilation, but ‘the literal Word’ of the
Islamic faith that is ‘unique, unchallengeable, and ultimately untranslatable.’
Although Leo Tolstoy
did not consider his book, War and Peace
(1869) a novel – ‘it is not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a
historical chonicle’ – because he considered it to be ‘a philosophical
discussion’ Taylor includes it because it ‘mixes fiction, history, and
philosophy that ranks it among the world’s greatest novels.’ In any case, it is
worthy of inclusion.
I question Taylor’s placement
of The Thousand and One Nights
translated in 1885 by Richard Burton. Known as The Arabian Nights it was written in the 9th or 10th
century, and I think it should have been listed earlier and not attributed to
Burton. Taylor’s rationale is that the translation brought the tales of the
Middle East to the West in a manner that has enabled them to endure many
interpretations and presentations.
Entries such as Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1774 The Sorrows of
Young Werther, the Lyrical Ballads
(1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
(1997) by J.K. Rowlings I would not have included in the list of the most
influential 50.
I would have listed
Dale Carnegie’s 1936 book How to Win
Friends and Influence People because it was the first self-help manuscript
and an international bestseller that influenced personal and business
relationships at that time, and for a long time into the future. I would have
also included the trilogy by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, one of the first
contemporary writers of Arabic literature and the winner of the 1988 Nobel
Prize for Literature. Known as the Cairo
Trilogy (1956-57) it included Palace
Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street, which explored the
philosophy and psychology of time in comparison with physical time. And perhaps
I would include a Wilfred Patrick Thesiger book that documents his travels and explorations,
such as The Marsh Arabs (1964) – that
set the standard for travel writing.
However, I agree with
the inclusion of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The
Canterbury Tales (1380-90s), Don
Quixote (1605-15) by Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623), Arthur Conan Doyle’s
(1888) A Study in Scarlet
(introducing Sherlock Holmes), and Ulysses
(1922) by James Joyce.
Confining a list to 50
books is open to contention, but as a start it provides a thought-provoking
list to ponder.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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