# Most Influential Book In History **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241 "2001-12-01T02:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/1 "2001-12-01T02:28:47Z")
What do you think is the book that influenced history more than any other book, and why? ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/2 "2001-12-01T02:32:08Z")
I’m going to guess the Bible. Huge impact on the cultures of many nations. In second place would be the Qu’ran. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/3 "2001-12-01T02:32:16Z")
The Bible Runner up: The Koran Honoarable Mention: Uncle Toms Cabin. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/4 "2001-12-01T02:39:32Z")
1.) The Bible 2.) Rich Hall’s “Sniglets” ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/5 "2001-12-01T03:22:08Z")
I agree with the bible as #1 and the Qu’ran as #2. For #3 I submit the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels ---
**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:** [December 1, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/6 "2001-12-01T04:30:10Z")
Let’s say we forget the first five posts in this thread, and remember the name of this message board. Y’know-the “SD” part of “SDMB”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/7 "2001-12-01T04:46:39Z")
Euclid’s book of algebra, verbatim translations of it continued to be used to teach algebra into the twentieth century. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/8 "2001-12-01T05:55:24Z")
Other than religious texts, I’d go with Locke’s _Second Treatise on Civil Government_, considering how many of today’s government’s are based on it. _The Origin of Species_ deserves mention as well. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/9 "2001-12-01T05:59:33Z")
“The Prince” by Machiavelli “On the Origin of Species” by Darwin ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/10 "2001-12-01T06:15:46Z")
Honorable Mention: _An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of **the Wealth of Nations** _ Adam Smith ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/11 "2001-12-01T18:25:40Z")
At the moment I’d nominate in no particular order: 1. Plato’s _Dialogues_, in particular “Timaeus” and “Phaedrus” because they talk about the nature of being and of discourse 2. Aristotle’s works, in particular “Poetics” and “Nicomachean Ethics” because if I remember correctly they talk about the structure of poetry and drama and general principles of logic 3. _Don Quijote_ by Miguel de Cervantes because it set the standard for the genre of the novel. ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/12 "2001-12-01T18:49:18Z")
Oh, and what about _The Art of War_ by Sun Tzu because it provides strategies for war? Okay, it’s time for me to leave this thread. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/13 "2001-12-01T22:33:37Z")
What’s wrong with saying the Bible? After all, Judaism and Christianity, like it OR NOT, DID have a HUGE impact on history as we know it. You don’t have to like it to acknowledge it. (Hell, our DATING system is based on the life of Christ, is it not?) However, I would most definetly add the works of Plato, Aristotle, Marx, Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine of Hippo, etc. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/14 "2001-12-02T00:08:14Z")
Yes, the Bible, Koran… all honorable mentions. The best book: here it goes, drumroll pls: “Green Eggs and Ham” by the (no pun intended) illustrious Dr. Suess. Hehe, sorry Palve, got bored. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/15 "2001-12-02T01:49:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*Euclid’s book of algebra, verbatim translations of it continued to be used to teach algebra into the twentieth century. \*\* **D-OOOHH!!!** Geometry!! I meant Geometry! I was _that_ tired last night? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/16 "2001-12-02T05:30:48Z")
Descartes’s _Meditations_, not for “I think, therefore I am”, but for the second appendix, establishing the core of Cartesian geometry, establishing that any object can be described in mathematical terms. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/17 "2001-12-03T05:07:49Z")
How about documents as well as books? _U.S. Constitution._ ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/18 "2001-12-03T05:20:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Asylum \* > \*\*How about documents as well as books? > _U.S. Constitution._ \*\* Or possibly even more so, the [Code of Hammurabi](http://www.snu.edu/syllabi/history/s97projects/hamurabi/). ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/19 "2001-12-03T06:05:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dijon Warlock \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Asylum \* > > \*\*How about documents as well as books? > > _U.S. Constitution._ \*\* > > Or possibly even more so, the [Code of Hammurabi](http://www.snu.edu/syllabi/history/s97projects/hamurabi/). \*\* **Good one.** Another document: _Magna Carta_ Another honorable mention book: The first dictionary. _Webster_? _OED_? Can’t remember which was first (if it was one of those two). Still, definitely had an effect on language, whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![Bedrosian\_Bixby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@Bedrosian\_Bixby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bedrosian_Bixby)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241/20 "2001-12-03T06:18:35Z")
“Epic of Gilgamesh” Sort of the precursor to everyone else’s Holy scriptures. IIRC, it’s the first written religious text. Feel free to flay the skin from my back, if I am wrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-influential-book-in-history/96241.md?page=2)