51 Great Books You Should Have Read (and probably didn't)

Book excerpt: Simple words have had the most profound effect on the world — its history, literature, art, science, religion and economics. To know and to have read the great masters is to understand and appreciate the complex interaction of world events as they unfold. 51 Great Books You Should Have Read (and probably didn't) is the first attempt to organize the great literature, both fiction and non-fiction, in such a way as to demonstrate their world-wide impact. This invaluable book is a selection of 51 seminal works and a fascinating peep into the beliefs, teachings and thought-process of some of the greatest and the finest minds who ever walked this planet. Every attempt has been made to introduce readers to books and literature that is international in scope and spans the centuries. The works included are from Homer's The Iliad, Plato's The Republic and Mahabharata to Nelson Mandela's The Long Walk to Freedom and Alan Turing's On Computable Numbers. The works chosen are not necessarily the most famous — nor are their authors. Rather, they represent seminal works, masterpieces that every educated individual should have at least some familiarity with. In a few short pages, you will learn about the authors, their background and influences, as well as a good deal about the works themselves. In many ways this is a very sophisticated book with many important topics — but it is presented in an easy-to-read reference style.