# What are history's absolute most influential texts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095 "2010-06-30T18:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/21 "2010-06-30T23:26:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Euclid’s _Elements_. > Why just the _Inferno_—why not the whole _Comedy_? There’s more than the _Inferno_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/22 "2010-07-01T00:07:30Z")
_The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire_, by Burton ---
**Author:** ![ProfessorX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@ProfessorX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProfessorX)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/23 "2010-07-01T00:08:09Z")
Call me pathetic, but I totally thought this was going to be about text messages and I was going to link to Texts From Last Night. The Bible, Torah and Koran had a long lead on anything else IMO. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/24 "2010-07-01T00:26:04Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > _The Confessions_, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Also _The Social Contract._ N.B.: “Influential” != “any good” or “worth reading.” _Main Kampf_ was influential. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/25 "2010-07-01T01:13:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Why just the _Inferno_—why not the whole _Comedy_? Because virtually nobody reads the _Purgatorio_ and the _Paridiso_. I slogged my way through them both, but Oy! is it a tough read! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/26 "2010-07-01T01:19:18Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > _The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire_, by Burton Did you mean [Edward Gibbon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon)? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/27 "2010-07-01T01:26:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’d add Kinsey’s _Sexual Behavior in the Human Male_/_Sexual Behavior in the Human Female_ in their somewhere. _The Joy of Sex,_ although personally I felt the pictures were bad and the information was very boring. I’m not sure how influential this book actually is, but it’s been in print like 5k years: _The Art of War_, Sun Tzu ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/28 "2010-07-01T01:43:50Z")
The Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/29 "2010-07-01T02:05:05Z")
> [@ProfessorX](#): > > Call me pathetic, but I totally thought this was going to be about text messages and I was going to link to Texts From Last Night. The only reason I opened the thread was to see who would be the first to make the obvious joke. I’m (pleasantly) surprised no one has. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/30 "2010-07-01T02:39:42Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > The only reason I opened the thread was to see who would be the first to make the obvious joke. I’m (pleasantly) surprised no one has. 100 years from now, 21st century literature class textbooks will be comprised solely of LOLcats. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/31 "2010-07-01T06:03:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Did you mean [Edward Gibbon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon)? Exactly. Thanks. It’s been a long day… ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/32 "2010-07-01T12:26:08Z")
Mein Kampf? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/33 "2010-07-01T12:34:35Z")
Elements Principia Mathematica On computable numbers with an application to the _Entcheidungsproblem_ ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/34 "2010-07-01T12:42:16Z")
The Rosetta Stone? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/35 "2010-07-01T13:38:57Z")
Someday, soon, the most influential text in human history, and for the very brief remainder of same, will be [_The Book of the SubGenius._](http://www.amazon.com/Book-SubGenius-Sacred-Teachings-Dobbs/dp/0671638106) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/36 "2010-07-01T13:57:26Z")
The Wealth of Nations Two Treatises of Government ---
**Author:** ![GivenGrvty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@GivenGrvty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GivenGrvty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/37 "2010-07-01T14:10:42Z")
Bhagavad Gita Ramayana 1984 Oedipus Rex The Prince Aeneid Faust Walden and Civil Disobedience Common Sense The Jungle Don Quixote ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/38 "2010-07-01T14:27:32Z")
The _Torah_ Hammurabi’s code The Christian Bible (and yes, I realize it’s 75% the \*Torah \*- the other 25% is incredibly influential too) The Koran The _Magna Carta_ The Constitution of the United States Euclid’s Elements ---
**Author:** ![GivenGrvty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@GivenGrvty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GivenGrvty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/39 "2010-07-01T15:07:08Z")
The Vedas Plutarch’s Parallel Lives Ovid’s Metamorphoses Einstein’s On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies Gulag Archipelago The Buddha’s First Discourse ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095/40 "2010-07-01T15:14:52Z")
Most of the ones I’d have picked have already been mentioned. “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”, Albert Einstein. (Not so much for the concept of special relativity itself, but for helping popularize the idea of relativism.) (Edit: And **GivenGrvty** teaches me not to take so long typing this out) [The Zimmermann Telegram](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram) [The July Ultimatum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Ultimatum) (Guess the Tuchman I’ve been reading is having an effect…) The Emancipation Proclamation The Indian Independence Act of 1947? [The Treaty of Tordesillas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas) “Extraterrestrial Cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction”, Luis Alvarez _et al_. (Influential for getting people to realize the dangers of big rocks, and perhaps doing something about it…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-historys-absolute-most-influential-texts/545095.md?page=3)