# Greatest book of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952 "2003-03-04T06:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nomadic\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/858c86/32.png) [@Nomadic\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nomadic_One)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/1 "2003-03-04T06:16:10Z")
I think its the King James Version Bible, you? ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/2 "2003-03-04T12:55:05Z")
The Cat in the Hat. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/3 "2003-03-04T13:26:39Z")
Alan Sherman’s _The Rape Of The A_P\*E\*\*. Moving this to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![WillSantini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@WillSantini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillSantini)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/4 "2003-03-04T13:53:25Z")
The Great Santini ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/5 "2003-03-04T14:02:38Z")
My biased, humble opionions - Lord of the Rings ---
**Author:** ![Coda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Coda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coda)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/6 "2003-03-04T14:05:54Z")
**Nomadic\_one** I just have to ask…why do you think the king james bible is the greatest book of all time? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/7 "2003-03-04T14:09:30Z")
I’ll put a second to **Lord of the Rings**. And put out a few more - **A Confederacy of Dunces** **Extraordinary and Popular Delusions and the Maddness of Crowds** **Chaos** Oh there’s just too many. So welcome to **Nomadic\_One**. What else do you like to read besides the bible? Any non-fiction? ---
**Author:** ![MissBungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MissBungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissBungle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/8 "2003-03-04T14:13:35Z")
the thesaurus ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/9 "2003-03-04T14:18:37Z")
Well, not sure if I could say the best ever written but I enjoy (over and over again): Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut) Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein) ---
**Author:** ![green\_dragon\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/13edae/32.png) [@green\_dragon\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_dragon_1)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/10 "2003-03-04T14:19:57Z")
hmmm… Lord of the Rings Chaos, Genius Autobiography of a Yogi ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/11 "2003-03-04T16:38:35Z")
“Discourses on Livy” by Machiavelli. Specifically the two volume translation by Walker: The Discourses of Niccolo Machiavelli Translated from teh Italian With an Introduction and Notes by Leslie J. Walker, S.J. \*First published in 1950 Reprinted, with new Introduction and Appendices, 1975 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd New Introduction and Appendices © Cecil H. Clough, 1975\* You want the version with the notes because there are so many references to historical events from Livy’s Histories (duh) but also ancient Greece and “modern” Italy. At the end of the errata table, it is remarked that > [@](#): > > Thirty-odd mistakes in a work of such length comprising some 750 names and almost as many incidents is not very many. That’s a lot of stuff to know and the notes fill the reader in on much, if not most, of it. The book itself is what should be taught in political science, not The Prince. Machiavelli has been done a great disservice through that mistake. Indeed, we’ve all been done a disservice The Discourses are about _republics_, i.e. there is stuff that actually applies to our lives in it. Something that suprises everybody whom I’ve mentioned this to: Machiavelli argues convincingly that popular governments are better than principalities. For example in book 1, discourse 58 he discusses how “The Masses are more Knowing and more Constant than is a Prince”. The following discourse argues that a republic is more trustworthy than a prince. Anywho, that’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/12 "2003-03-04T17:08:19Z")
Well, since the **Bible** is a collection of 66 books, I can’t really say the whole thing is the greatest book. I will say **Matthew** (the gospel) is the greatest book of all time, if only for the Sermon on the Mount. In terms of novels, it’s either **Lord of the Rings** or **Brothers Karamazov** ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/13 "2003-03-04T17:12:51Z")
**Lord of the Rings** ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/14 "2003-03-04T17:20:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coda \* > \*\ ***Nomadic\_one** > > I just have to ask…why do you think the king james bible is the greatest book of all time? \*\* Because “God” wrote it…well, through man…err, whatever. Anyways, I stand by 2001: A Space Odyssey as the best book I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/15 "2003-03-04T17:22:07Z")
If I had to pick one, I think the **King James Bible** is a pretty good place to start, if only for the extraordinary influence it had (directly and indirectly) on so much literature, art, and politics for hundreds of years after it’s publication. And of course it contains “the Greatest Story Ever Told” so maybe that makes it the greatest book by default. Although I’m a huge LOTR fan, I can’t serioiusly consider it the greatest book of all time by any meaningful standard. If I were pressed to name a book of fiction and I heard you say “you already said the Bible” I would go for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But that’s probably just the greatest _American_ book of all time. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/16 "2003-03-04T17:52:31Z")
Not one, not two, but **three** posters named LotR as the greatest book of all time. My faith in the intelligence of humanity, already at an all-time low, has had the bottom dropped out of it. Sob. ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/17 "2003-03-04T17:55:30Z")
One humble vote for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” It started this dude on his voracious sci fi habit (and I still carry a small towel in my car trunk) ---
**Author:** ![superkentclark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@superkentclark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superkentclark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/18 "2003-03-04T18:04:04Z")
Yea the Hitchhiker’s Guide isnt too shabby, but my personal fav is The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse… it kinda makes you think. If anyone knows of some books along this line, im glad to hear about them. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/19 "2003-03-04T18:22:52Z")
[Don Quixote is the world’s best book say the world’s top authors](http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,711688,00.html) I never read it myself but want to after looking at [Lost In La Mancha](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0308514) over the weekend. My favourite? 1984. ---
**Author:** ![xenothrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/7ab992/32.png) [@xenothrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenothrope)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952/20 "2003-03-04T18:34:19Z")
what about Animal Farm 1984 Catcher in the Rye The Great Gatsby The Scarlet Letter Honestly IMHO Lord of the Rings… not that great of a book. GRANTED its good, but overall not truely GREAT. However I must say Hitchikers Guide has to be one of my top 20. There is so much modern philosophy in that book, its uncanny. -x out [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-book-of-all-time/158952.md?page=2)