# The Dope List of 100 books of the 20th Century **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639 "2002-08-19T20:21:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/81 "2002-08-23T19:42:04Z")
I don’t really have a comment on the list so ar. Seems a bit Americentric, though. Algernon(Swinburnew poem right?): Nice job compiling the list, bt you missed a few: TRACTUS LOGIC-PHILOSOPHICUS ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/82 "2002-08-23T19:49:35Z")
I don’t really have a comment on the list so far. Seems a bit Americentric, though. Also, half are required reading in elementary schools which doesn’t really mean they’re great books, just easy reading. Algernon(Swinburne poem right?): Nice job compiling the list. Not to be bitchy, but you missed a few: TRACTUS LOGIC-PHILOSOPHICUS (which I and another poster misspelled as TRACTATUS) by Ludwig Wittgenstein had 2 votes. And COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS by Ferdinand de Saussure had 2 as well. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/83 "2002-08-23T19:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Adam P. \* > I don’t really have a comment on the list so far. Seems a bit Americentric, though. > > Algernon(Swinburnew poem right?): Nice job compiling the list, bt you missed a few: TRACTUS LOGIC-PHILOSOPHICUS. Definitely more than a little bit Americentric. Must be a reflection on the readership of the SDMB. Sorry about the screw-up. **Chronos** , could you please correct my oversight? Regarding my username… you’ve given me a new reference. It is primarily a reference to the book “Flowers For Algernon” (which disappointingly, no one else has seconded my nomination). The name is used prominently in “The Importance of Being Earnest” also. Now I’ll have to look up Swinburnew. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/84 "2002-08-23T22:41:28Z")
A few more additions : Killer Angels, The, Shaara Future Shock, Toffler Small is Beautiful, Schumacher History of the Second World War, Liddell Hart This Kind of War, Fehrenbach And as a "thank you **Algernon** for havong compiled this list, Flowers for Algernon (Keyes) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/85 "2002-08-24T03:28:02Z")
Uh, ooo, arrgh, eeee!!! I don’t know if that was birth or loss of virginity but for my very first post I submit a few books that I think are significant for their genre Fear of Flying, Erica Jung (Okay, you hated it. It was stupid. It was still influential.) Any of the “All” books by James Herriott (Pet lovers come out of the closet) Steal This Book, Abby Hoffman (Historically significant) The Nature of Man, Desmond Morris (A personal favorite) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/86 "2002-08-24T03:38:52Z")
\*\*Tretiak, \*\*try The Getaway, which is opressively moralistic (and unlike either of the movies), or Roughneck, Thompson’s autobiography. Also, I have a couple more titles to add. \ **Advise and Consent,** Drury **God and Man at Yale,** Buckley **Winnie-the-Pooh,** Milne **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,** Dahl **The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle,** Loftig **Charlotte’s Web,** White **Tomorrow the Moon,** Disney **Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone,** Rowling I can’t bring myself to nominate Ayn Rand, so I substituted the first two for the conservatives. The others are children’s literature, which I originally ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Hunsecker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Hunsecker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunsecker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/87 "2002-08-24T21:29:42Z")
wow, so many good books already on the list… heres a bunch of seconds, and a few more Seconds: _Animal Farm_, Orwell _Blind Watchmaker, The_, Dawkins _Infinite Jest_, Wallace _Gravity’s Rainbow_, Pynchon _Godel, Escher, Bach_, Hofstadter _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, Pirsig _Pale Fire_, Nabokov _Cat’s Cradle_, Vonnegut _Maus_, Spiegelman _Catch-22_, Heller _An Incomplete Education_, Jones and Wilson _Calvin and Hobbes_, Watterson _Night_, Weisel _Where the Sidewalk Ends_, Silverstein _The Big Sleep_, Chandler To these I would add some i don’t remember seeing yet: _House of Leaves_, Danielewski _The Soccer War_, Kapucizinski _The Visual Display of Quantitative Information_, Tufte _The Design of Everyday Things_, Norman _Wonderful Life_, Gould (The Mismeasure of Man was really good too) _The Ants_, Holldobler and Wilson ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/88 "2002-08-26T03:59:02Z")
66 books have now received three or more votes, and so are now on the list: 15 1984 - George Orwell 13 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 11 Animal Farm by George Orwell. 9 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 8 Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger 8 Lord of the Rings–Tolkien 7 Catch-22, Joseph Heller 7 On the Road, Kerouac 7 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance–Pirsig 6 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley 6 Diary of Anne Frank – Frank 6 In Cold Blood – Capote 6 Night – Weisel 6 Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut) 5 Demon Haunted World (Sagan) 5 Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald 5 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 5 Invisible Man (Ellison). 5 Little Red Book, the, Mao Zedong 5 Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck 5 Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer 5 Silent Spring - Rachel Carson: 5 Stranger in a Strange Land, fiction, Robert A. Heinlein 5 Sun Also Rises, the – Ernest Hemingway 5 Ulysses - James Joyce 5 Waste Land, The - T.S. Eliot 4 Atlas Shrugged (Rand) 4 Brief History of Time, a – Stephen Hawking 4 Godel, Escher, Bach (Hofstadter) 4 Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 4 Hobbit–Tolkien 4 Lolita - Nabokov 4 Lord of the Flies–Golding 4 Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett 4 Mein Kampf - Hitler 3 An Incomplete Education (Jones, Wilson) 3 As I Lay Dying, Faulkner 3 Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X/Alex Haley 3 Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson) 3 Cat’s Cradle, Vonnegut 3 Devil’s Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce 3 Dr Spock’s Baby and Child Care by Dr. Spock 3 Dune - Frank Herbert 3 Farenheit 451 – Bradbury 3 Foundation Series–Isaac Asmiov 3 Gone with the Wind - Mitchell 3 Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon: 3 Guns, Germs, and Steel (Diamond) 3 Handmaid’s Tale – Atwood 3 Heart of Darkenss, Joseph Conrad 3 Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo 3 Naked and the dead - Norman Mailer 3 Name of the Rose (Eco). 3 Native Son – Wright 3 Portnoy’s Complaint - Roth 3 Power and the Glory, the – Graham Greene 3 Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe 3 Second Sex (de Beauvoir) 3 Stand, by Stephen King 3 Tree Grows In Brooklyn, a, by Betty Smith 3 Trial, the (Kafka) 3 USA - John Dos Passos 3 Watership Down - Richard Adams 3 Winesburg Ohio - Sherwood Anderson 3 Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne 3 World According to Garp, the, by John Irving. 49 more have received two votes, and are not yet on the list: 2 All Quiet on the Western Front – Remarque 2 And The Band Played On (Randy Shilts) 2 Big Sleep-Raymond Chandler 2 Blind Watchmaker, The, Dawkins 2 Bonfire of Vanities - Tom Wolfe 2 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl 2 Chronicles of Narnia-C.S. Lewis 2 Civil War, A Narrative (in three volumes) - Shelby Foote 2 Civilization & Its Discontents Freud 2 Color Purple – Walker 2 Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy O’Toole 2 Course in General Linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure 2 Elements of Style - William Strunk and E. B. White 2 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey: 2 Executioner’s Song Norman Mailer: 2 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson) 2 Feminine Mystique (Freidan) 2 First Three Minutes Steven Weissberg: 2 Flowers for Algernon (Keyes) 2 Fountainhead - Ayn Rand 2 Goodnight Moon – Brown 2 Guns of August- Barbara Tuchman 2 How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Seuss 2 If On A Winter’s Night… Calvino 2 Illuminatus - Wilson & Shea 2 IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME–Proust 2 Infinite Jest-David Foster Wallace 2 Journey To the End Of the Night (Celine) 2 Killer Inside Me, the – Jim Thompson 2 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men - James Agee and Walker Evans: 2 Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the, C. S. Lewis 2 Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) 2 Love in the times of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 2 Maus by Art Spiegelman 2 Moviegoer (Percy) 2 Pale Fire, Nabokov 2 Poisonwood Bible–Kingslover 2 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce: 2 ROAD TO SERFDOM\*David Chilton’s Frederich Von Hayek’s 2 Second World War - Winston Churchill: 2 Selfish Gene by Dawkins 2 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey) 2 Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman - Richard Feynman 2 Things Fall Apart – Achebe 2 Tractus Logico-Philosophicus Wittgenstein 2 Tropic of Cancer (Miller) 2 What to Expect When You’re Expecting–I don’t remember 2 Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein 2 White Noise - Don DeLillo: 265 more books have received only one nomination, and are not listed here. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/89 "2002-08-26T14:49:46Z")
Perspective is a funny thing. As is true of most centuries, the last one had ten decades. Theoretically, there should be roughly ten books per decade which make the list. Yet, I see remarkably few books being nominated which were published between 1991 and 2000. Does this mean no important books were published in that decade? Or do we just not _realize_ they were important because they have not yet become assigned reading in literature classes? I’m going to lobby for a couple of books in that category (which I nominated previously. The first is Cold Mountain. For my money, this is the best piece of literature published in the past twenty years, let alone the past ten. The richness of the language, the vivid imagery, a compelling story-- really a terrific book. Surely it is one of the two or three best books of the last decade of the century, and as such, belongs on this list. The second is Generation X, a book which defined its generation every bit as much as the Great Gatsby defined the 20’s. It’s hard to see how this book could be denied a spot as one of the most important of the century. On another note, I’m surprised no one has seconded Tarzan of the Apes or The Hound of the Baskervilles. Neither book may be regarded as great literature, but it’s hard to deny their influence on popular culture. Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes are two of the most enduring characters ever created. I’m also disappointed (but not as surprised) that no one has seconded For Whom the Bell Tolls. For my money, this was Hemingway’s best novel. (Though others obviously disagree.) Aside from its literary merit, the book is historically important for its subject matter, the Spanish Civil War and the rise of fascism in Europe. Can I get a witness? ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/90 "2002-08-26T22:09:35Z")
I’ll add Hound of the Baskervilles. (I guess I didn’t realize it was 20th century). I can’t list a book I haven’t personally read, even if I’m aware of it as a significant work. It just doesn’t seem right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/91 "2002-08-27T12:25:56Z")
I have the same feelings as **photopat** about voting for a book I’ve never read, and since I’ve never read For Whom The Bell Tolls I don’t feel like I could give it another vote. However, I concur with **spoke-'s** thoughts about… **Cold Mountain** (Frazier) and **Hound of the Baskervilles** (Doyle) … so I’ll add my vote for them here. PS - And a public thanks to **detop** for making me feel better with the sympathy vote for Flowers For Algernon. ~grin~ ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/92 "2002-08-27T16:24:27Z")
Let me add to my list **Maus** by Art Spiegelman. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/93 "2002-08-27T17:33:26Z")
I’ve one more bit of lobbying to do, on behalf of **Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel - C. Vann Woodward**. I realize it’s probably a lost cause, since I’m sure few here have read it. However, among historians, the book is considered a watershed for biographies. Prior to this book, biographies tended to be dull recitations of dates and facts. **Woodward** , perhaps for the first time, presented a biography as a compelling _story_, examining the complex psychology of a once-prominent American politician (Tom Watson, erstwhile Presidential nominee of the Populist Party). Because of this book Woodward is regarded by many as the father of the modern biography. So, while this book may not be widely read, it is “Important.” While I’m posting, I’ll add another vote for: **Tropic of Cancer** - Miller ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/94 "2002-08-30T22:23:27Z")
The latest additions have been tabulated. _The Hound of the Baskervilles_, _Maus_, and _Tropic of Cancer_ are now on the List (bringing us up to 69), and _Cold Mountain_ now has two votes. **spoke-** , can you get **Eve** to vouch for _Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel_? It seems to me that if this book is so important as a biography, then she of all people would know of it. And a point of order: I note that we have nominations for both _The Chronicles of Narnia_ and _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_. I guess I was asking for books, not series, although my inclusion of _Lord of the Rings_ in the OP might have been a source of confusion. What should I do with the _Chronicles of Narnia_ nominations? Count them as nominations for _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_, or count them as six nominations each, one for each of the books? And are there any other series on the list, that I’m not recognizing? And meanwhile, where the heck are our illustrious moderators, here? Surely, **Eutychus** and **Ukulele Ike** find _some_ books influential? ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/95 "2002-08-31T00:35:04Z")
This is definitevely an american list, that is what one can expect considering that the majority in here are americans. Still they are great books listed here. Let me add my votes to the following 1984 - George Orwell Animal Farm by George Orwell. Lord of the Rings–Tolkien Brave New World, Aldous Huxley Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Stranger in a Strange Land, fiction, Robert A. Heinlein Hobbit–Tolkien Lord of the Flies–Golding Devil’s Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce Dune - Frank Herbert Farenheit 451 – Bradbury Foundation Series–Isaac Asmiov Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon: Trial, the (Kafka) Guns of August- Barbara Tuchman Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) Love in the times of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Also Ficciones (Borges) 20 poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada (Neruda) La invención de Morel (Bioy Casares) Los pasos perdidos (Carpentier) Collected plays by George Bernard Shaw. Cien años de soledad (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/96 "2002-08-31T02:22:33Z")
Color Purple – Walker Elements of Style - William Strunk and E. B. White Flowers for Algernon I third these three. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/97 "2002-08-31T05:12:33Z")
_Catch-22_, by Joseph Heller. _The Grapes of Wrath_, by John Steinbeck. _As I Lay Dying_, by William Faulkner. _The Great Gatsby_, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. _The Lord of the Rings_, by J.R.R. Tolkien. _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and _Starship Troopers_, by Heinlein. _The Left Hand of Darkness_, by Ursula K. LeGuin. _Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_, by J.K. Rowling. _Guns, Germs, and Steel_, by Richard Dawkins. _Silent Spring_, by Rachel Carson. _Cosmos_, by Carl Sagan. _A Brief History of Time_, by Stephen Hawking. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/98 "2002-09-01T21:23:50Z")
We’re up to 76 on The List, now… Almost there! Two dozen more, and we’ll have our even 100. By the way, is _Ficciones_, by Borges, the same as _Fictions_? If so, it’s on the list, too. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/99 "2002-09-03T14:21:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jurhael \* > \ > Flowers for Algernon > \ ::Algernon dances a jig:: I made the list!! I made the list!! (Thanks **Jurhael** ) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/100 "2002-09-03T14:30:10Z")
I’ll add a vote for: **One Hundred Years of Solitude** , a/k/a Cien años de soledad (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) I think that one has at least three votes now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639.md?page=6)