I recently finished reading 100 Books That Changed the World by Scott Christianson and Colin Salter. It’s a beautifully illustrated book that informs and entertains readers about 100 books that shaped, changed, and even revolutionized the world.

The book includes scriptures that founded religions, manifestos that sparked revolutions, scientific treatises that challenged ingrained beliefs, and novels that kick-started new literary movements.

Reading this book is similar to having a time machine as you travel around the globe through time from the I Chang written in 2800 BC to modern-day books such as Harry Potter and This Changes Everything.

This is an excellent book for literature lovers, history buffs, or anyone who wants a fascinating coffee table book that will get your guests talking about books.

Here are the 100 books and a short description of each. Enjoy!

1) I Ching (2800 BC)

An ancient Chinese philosophy text that stresses the importance of caution, humility, and patience in one’s daily living.

2) The Epic of Gilgamesh (2100 BC)

A 4,000-year-old tale that is the oldest work of literature ever recorded and shares classic themes such as friendship, a voyage of self-discovery, and a pursuit for eternal life.

3) Torah (1280 BC)

The guide to daily life that provides the basis for Jewish law and practice.

4) The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (750 BC)

Two of the greatest epic poems written by a blind man in ancient Greece. It tells heroic stories of characters caught up in a city’s brutal siege and a warrior’s long journey home.

5) Aesop’s Fables (620 BC)

One of the earliest and greatest collections of fables ever written, it includes classic stories such as: The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

6) The Art of War by Sun Tzu (512 BC)

An ancient Chinese treatise with wise advice about warfare tactics that can also be applied to modern-day business strategies.

7) The Analects of Confucius (475 BC)

A collection of ancient sayings that offer ethical principles to regulate the 5 relationships of life: the relationships of prince and subject, parent and child, brother and brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend.

8) Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana (400 BC)

An explicit and highly literary sex manual written between 400 BC and 200 AD which makes it one of the oldest surviving texts of ancient Indian history.

9) The Republic by Plato (380 BC)

A masterpiece of philosophy and political thought which covers the nature of justice and the rights and responsibilities of the state and citizens.

10) Elements of Geometry by Euclid (300 BC)

One of the first textbooks in history, it shared the foundational work in mathematics and logic.

11) De Architectura by Vitruvius (20 BC)

A ten-volume treatise that illustrated architectural projects throughout the Roman Empire and the history of ancient engineering.

12) Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder (AD 79)

The world’s first scientific encyclopedia which contained everything that the Romans knew about the natural world.

13) The Quran (609)

A religious text that provides Muslims with rules to guide their faith and conduct.

14) Arabian Nights (800)

The first-ever collection of bedtime stories featuring the famous One Thousand and One Nights story.

15) The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (1021)

An early masterpiece of Japanese literature with an overarching theme on “the sorrow of human existence.”

16) The Divine Comedy by Dante (1308)

The greatest literary creation of the Middle Ages. It envisions a trip through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.

17) The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1390)

A royal clerk’s path-breaking collection of tales in verse and prose about a motley group of characters on a religious pilgrimage.

18) Gutenberg Bible (1450)

The first major book to be printed using moveable type. It took 3 years to print 180 copies of this Bible.

19) The Prince by Machiavelli (1532)

A book focused on getting and keeping power based on Machiavelli’s own observations of kings, princes, and popes.

20) On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543)

Copernicus shared his famous heliocentric theory and the book is now credited with starting the Scientific Revolution in Western culture.

21) Lives of the Artists by Vasari (1550)

The first book to examine the history of art.

22) The Prophecies by Nostradamus (1557)

Nostradamus was a French mystic who was outlawed by the Inquisition and went into hiding and began publishing grim prophecies that made him famous as history’s greatest seer.

23) Don Quixote by Cervantes (1605)

A famous novel about a thin man on a skinny horse and his fat servant on a tubby donkey, that go on a series of tragicomic episodes.

24) King James Bible (1611)

The finest expression of Christian faith and one of the most influential books of all time.

25) Shakespeare’s First Folio by William Shakespeare (1623)

Published seven years after his death, this book contained some of Shakespeare’s most iconic works including Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Henry VI, and many more.

26) Micrographia by Robert Hooke (1665)

An astonishing book showing huge magnified images of tiny organisms that illustrated a miniature world most readers had never imagined.

27) Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667)

Milton’s retelling of the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden is considered to be among the greatest poetry ever written in the English language.

28) Samuel Pepys’s Diary by Samuel Pepys (1669)

For ten years, Pepys recorded details of his daily life which later became one of history’s finest eyewitness accounts of many important events including the Great Plague of London.

29) Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematic by Isaac Newton (1687)

One of the greatest contributions in the history of science, the book is a three-volume theoretical work applying mathematics to understanding the laws of nature and the universe.

30) Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)

A masterpieces tale of misadventures through imaginary countries that has entertained both children and adults for centuries.

31) Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus (1753)

Linnaeus is considered the father of taxonomy and ecology for putting together a simplified binomial taxonomic ranking system to identify every known plant by its specific name (species), classified into its genus.

32) Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary by Samuel Johnson (1755)

Johnson spent 8 years putting together a highly literary dictionary of more than 42,000 words that captured all of the richness and complexities of the English language.

33) The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764)

Walpole’s book created a new genre of literature known as Gothic stories and would inspire future authors to write Dracula, Hound of the Baskervilles, and many more Gothic culture pieces.

34) The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1766)

This book is regarded as the first modern historical work for its groundbreaking description of the economic, cultural, and political collapse of ancient Rome.

35) The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776)

Smith’s book provided a detailed rationale for a new approach to a political economy based on labor and natural liberty that would later become known as capitalism.

36) Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1791)

Paine’s book shook the world by opposing capital punishment and slavery and raising the idea of independence and natural rights for all men everywhere.

37) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)

Written as a manifesto to feminism, Wollstonecraft challenged the traditional roles of men and women, and was an advocate of women becoming more educated.

38) Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm (1812)

A collection of folklorist fairy tales that would become, despite their dark and brutal themes, the standard children’s book and one of the most controversial literary works in Western culture.

39) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

A classic love-conquers-all novel about a middle-class woman and an upper-class man who overcome their pride and prejudice.

40) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

A classic Gothic horror novel that discusses nature, responsibility, isolation, and the dangers of using powerful knowledge.

41) Procedure for Writing Words, Music and Plainsong in Dots by Louis Braille (1829)

Louis Braille invented the ingenious code of touch reading with this book brought literacy to the blind.

42) Murray’s Handbook for Travellers by John Murray (1836)

One of the first practical resources for travelers that shared local transportation and shops, detailed maps of cities, and helpful information for people traveling to a new town.

43) The Pencil of Nature by William Talbot (1844)

The first commercially produced book of photography, this book become a landmark in the world of illustrated book publishing.

44) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (1845)

Born a slave, Douglass taught himself how to read and write, later escaped to the North where he wrote a memoir about his life which became one of the most important tracts of the antislavery movement.

45) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

A vivid story of love, belonging, and class, this far-from-smooth course of true love tale rings true for each new generation that reads it.

46) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)

A fictionalized autobiography that shares a coming-of-age tale that follows a character’s journey from oppressive childhood to adult happiness.

47) Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

An epic tale about a captain’s pursuit of a ferocious white whale, the book shares deep lessons about social status, good and evil, and the existence of God.

48) Roget’s Thesaurus by Peter Roget (1852)

Roget, a brilliant polymath, invented the modern-day thesaurus when he compiled lists of synonyms which became an indispensable reference work for all kinds of writers.

49) Walden by Henry Thoreau (1854)

After spending two years in the wilderness and reflecting on life, Thoreau shares the lessons he learned about the environment, religion, politics, and philosophy in this book.

50) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857)

A tragic story that is considered by many to be the first great novel of literary realism.

51) Gray’s Anatomy by Henry Gray & Henry Carter (1858)

A beautifully illustrated anatomy textbook that presented students with an exact map of human geography.

52) On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)

The book where Darwin introduced his new theory of evolutionary biology, considered to be the most important academic book ever published.

53) Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (1861)

A bestselling book that was designed to improve the home lives of women by providing cooking recipes, first aid, social etiquette, and more helpful advice.

54) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (1862)

A tragic tale of compassion, hidden identities, and redemption that later became hugely successful on musical stages around the world.

55) Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (1864)

Verne is often considered the grandfather of science fiction since he combined cutting-edge scientific discoveries and added extraordinary, but fictionalized, adventures to them.

56) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)

A strange fantasy tale about a 10-year-old girl that became one of the most popular works of Victorian children’s literature.

57) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1867)

Considered to be one of the best novels in modern literature, the book tells a haunting tale about a tormented murderer and his attempt to receive redemption.

58) Das Kapital by Karl Marx (1867)

This book laid the theoretical foundation for all subsequent communist philosophy, economics, and politics.

59) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1869)

A lengthy, but amazing, historical fiction novel that changed literature and captured the Russian soul.

60) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)

A fictional narrative that’s regarded as the great American novel and a classic study of Southern antebellum race relationships.

61) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)

Wilde’s first and only novel which told a complex story of morality and duality, poorly received at first but it later became recognized as a masterpiece.

62) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)

H.G. Wells was the first author to play with the idea of time travel and established his reputation as the father of science fiction.

63) The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud (1899)

In this book, Freud argued that dreams were a form of wish fulfillment and outlined a new framework for interpreting dreams.

64) Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (1913)

An unnamed narrator describes his uneventful life in minute detail. IT may sound dull but this book is considered one of the most important works of fiction of the early 20th century.

65) The Origin of Continents and Oceans by Alfred Wegener (1915)

Wegener came up with the theory that there was originally one supercontinent called Pangaea. His idea forever changed the way geologists and people as a whole saw the planet.

66) Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1917)

After a decade of calculations and writing, Einstein published this book which many scholars have since called “the biggest leap of the scientific imagination.” Einstein’s relativity theory introduced a new framework for all of physics.

67) Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

Modeled on Homer’s epi,c Ulysses is regarded as one of the richest books ever written. It’s filled with tragicomedy, puns, parodies and literary allusions, all of which add up to a passionate affirmation of life.

68) The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)

This haunting classic of existentialism offers a bleak but compelling vision of what it is to be human and the unavoidable fate of death

69) The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Walter Evans-Wentz (1927)

A collection of writings that describe the process of dying as a natural transition according to Tibetan Buddhist concepts of death and rebirth.

70) Lady Chatterley’s Love by D.H. Lawrence (1928)

A highly charged tale of class, intellect, and sex. Lawrence’s novel is known for pushing the boundaries of publishing as well as exploring social and intellectual divisions.

71) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque (1929)

A brutal story of the effects of war on young soldiers at the front lines. Whereas traditional war novels glorified heroism snd patriotism, Remarque presents the grim reality of warfare where death is constant.

72) The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Keynes (1936)

In this book, Keynes offers a bold new theory: the government needed to take on more public works and deficit spending. He argued that it was wrong to assume that competitive markets would produce full employment and that governments needed to take more action.

73) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (1936)

The original self-help book. Written over 80 years ago, this book still sells 300,000 copies every year.

74) Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock (1946)

A common sense manual for baby and child care that became one of the best-selling books in American history.

75) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)

Forced to go into hiding during World War II, Frank poured out her most intimate thoughts in a personal diary that was later recovered and read by millions.

76) Kinsey Reports by Alfred Kinsey (1948)

Kinsey spent years asking strangers about their sex habits and published two empirical reports detailing the results. The books challenged conventional notions of male and female sexuality and contributed to America’s sexual revolution.

77) 1984 by George Orwell (1949)

The book tells a story of life in a totalitarian society in which “Big Brother” is always watching, lies are decreed as truth, and individuals are micromanaged and crushed by the state.

78) The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (1949)

Beauvoir’s book examined and rejected the traditional roles of women and argued. that women have been oppressed, degraded, and devalued throughout history.

79) A Book of Mediterranean Food by Elizabeth David (1950)

A book about food, fresh ingredients, and seasonal flavors, written in such beautiful prose that is was borderline poetic.

80) The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley (1954)

In the book, Huxley describes his hallucinogenic experience in detail and shares the drug’s' good and bad effects. The book influenced the rising drug culture of the 1950s and ‘60s.

81) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

A sexually explicit and controversial tale of tragedy, lust, and love. Nabokov’s book balances on a thin line between pornography and literary merit.

82) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1955)

Tolkien spent 12-years writing this epic high-fantasy trilogy about brutal armies in a mythical medieval land known as Middle-Earth. His iconic creation went on to become one of the best-selling novels of all time and the model for a huge genre of world-building fantasy books.

83) On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)

The defining novel of the Beat Generation. Kerouac’s almost-autobiographical voyage of discovery tells of the limits of friendship, of broken dreams, and plans gone awry in postwar America.

84) The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

This book broke the mold in young children’s literature. In just 236 different words, Dr. Seuss created a children’s book that would become loved by millions.

85) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

Often called the first great African novel, the book shares the story about how colonizers destroy one local institution after another in order to extinguish the native culture.

86) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Lee’s first and most successful novel which told a story about race and injustice in a small Alabama town in the 1930s. The book helped inspire the civil rights movement.

87) Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)

In this book, Carson revealed the shocking truth about how pesticides were poisoning the environment. Her book inspired a new environmental protection movement that led to sweeping reforms.

88) One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1962)

The first-ever book that publicly acknowledged the existence of the Soviet gulags. Solzhenitsyn based the book on his experience in a forced labor camp. Attempts were made to discredit Solzhenitsyn, and even poison him, but he survived and awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 for his book.

89) The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)

This book is often credited with starting the second wave of feminism which addressed women’s rights at home, in the workplace, and over their bodies.

90) Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung by Mao Tse-tung (1964)

A sacred text that complied over 400 quotes from the chairman of the Communist Party of China. It’s estimated that between 2-6 billion copies of this book have been printed.

91) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)

A masterpiece of magic realism, Marquez’s history of a fictional South American town with a universal message about progress and decay. The book won the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature.

92) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)

The first of seven volumes of Angelou’s autobiography takes her from infancy to young motherhood. Its frank retelling of incidents of racism and abuse has made it an essential element of many reading lists.

93) Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972)

The book is a series of philosophical discussions about how we view fine art and is still an essential read for students of both art and political studies.

94) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (1974)

A semi-autobiographical novel that examines the different approaches to enlightenment from the back of a Honda motorcycle during a country road trip.

95) A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988)

Hawking’s attempt to explain the universe and everything in it to nonscientists has been hugely successful and sold over 20 million copies to date.

96) The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988)

Considered the most controversial novel of modern times for it's perceived offenses against Islam. As a response to the offense, Iran’s spiritual leader issued a fatwa–a call for Muslims everywhere to kill the author.

97) Maus by Art Spiegelman (1991)

A modern masterpiece, Spiegelman’s used interviews with his father (who survived Auschwitz) to create a graphic novel that captured the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

98) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997)

The book that got children reading again and created a magical new world. To date, over 400 million copies of the book and its sequels have been sold.

99) Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty (2013)

Piketty argues that slow economic growth leads to wealth inequality in which a minority of people contain most of the capital and power and have no incentive to change the system. His solution to the problem: A worldwide tax, not just on income but on wealth itself as a solution.

100) This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein (2014)