Best 21st Century Non-Fiction

Non-fiction that you enjoyed reading. Books that changed your thinking, changed your mind, enlightened you, helped you move ahead, helped you heal, in short, made a difference. Just plain, good non-fiction.

Note: the 21st Century began on January 1st, 2001. Books originally published in 2000 or before are not eligible.

See also
Most Rated Book By Year
Best Books of the 21st Century
Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century
Best Historical Fiction of the 21st Century
Best Horror Books of the 21st Century
Best Science Fiction Books of the 21st Century
1

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4.22 avg rating — 403,557 ratings
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2

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4.35 avg rating — 1,141,664 ratings
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3

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4.08 avg rating — 455,738 ratings
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4.12 avg rating — 767,744 ratings
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5

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4.01 avg rating — 874,369 ratings
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6

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4.47 avg rating — 1,684,595 ratings
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7

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4.39 avg rating — 973,018 ratings
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8

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 720,138 ratings
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9

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4.32 avg rating — 1,287,478 ratings
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10

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4.63 avg rating — 51 ratings
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11

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4.34 avg rating — 107,934 ratings
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12

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4.17 avg rating — 541,199 ratings
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13

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4.07 avg rating — 229,121 ratings
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14

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4.28 avg rating — 192,484 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 26,780 ratings
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16

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4.40 avg rating — 348,443 ratings
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17

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4.08 avg rating — 368,596 ratings
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18

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4.10 avg rating — 238,662 ratings
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19

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4.19 avg rating — 207,586 ratings
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20

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3.87 avg rating — 33,899 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 193,049 ratings
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22

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4.49 avg rating — 203,473 ratings
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23

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4.22 avg rating — 314,148 ratings
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24

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4.20 avg rating — 269,298 ratings
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25

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4.41 avg rating — 732,034 ratings
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26

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4.36 avg rating — 52,273 ratings
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27

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3.93 avg rating — 73,035 ratings
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28

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4.19 avg rating — 824,581 ratings
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29

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4.30 avg rating — 165,463 ratings
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30

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3.88 avg rating — 91,886 ratings
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31

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3.89 avg rating — 210,175 ratings
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32

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3.96 avg rating — 1,031,015 ratings
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33

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4.05 avg rating — 79,212 ratings
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34

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4.16 avg rating — 601,001 ratings
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35

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4.68 avg rating — 145 ratings
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36

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4.22 avg rating — 189,587 ratings
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37

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4.47 avg rating — 109,290 ratings
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38

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4.22 avg rating — 78,278 ratings
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39

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4.31 avg rating — 223,668 ratings
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40

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4.20 avg rating — 71,992 ratings
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41

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4.14 avg rating — 404,255 ratings
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42

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4.39 avg rating — 343,209 ratings
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43

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3.95 avg rating — 58,790 ratings
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44

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4.48 avg rating — 541 ratings
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45

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4.32 avg rating — 27,358 ratings
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46

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4.05 avg rating — 90,906 ratings
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47

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4.23 avg rating — 77,831 ratings
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48

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3.88 avg rating — 44,766 ratings
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49

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4.38 avg rating — 205,350 ratings
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50

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4.16 avg rating — 190,568 ratings
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51

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4.96 avg rating — 24 ratings
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52

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4.17 avg rating — 211,706 ratings
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53

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4.15 avg rating — 1,301,759 ratings
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54

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4.20 avg rating — 91,277 ratings
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55

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4.22 avg rating — 23,736 ratings
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56

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4.45 avg rating — 1,124,444 ratings
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57

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4.06 avg rating — 57,709 ratings
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58

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3.96 avg rating — 56,117 ratings
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59

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3.96 avg rating — 116,657 ratings
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60

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4.35 avg rating — 140,592 ratings
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61

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3.98 avg rating — 112,941 ratings
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62

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4.13 avg rating — 39,407 ratings
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63

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4.24 avg rating — 60,706 ratings
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64

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4.15 avg rating — 41,185 ratings
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65

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3.69 avg rating — 102,234 ratings
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66

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3.93 avg rating — 270,933 ratings
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67

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4.41 avg rating — 47,647 ratings
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68

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3.90 avg rating — 169,095 ratings
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69

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3.85 avg rating — 464,519 ratings
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70

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4.36 avg rating — 286 ratings
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71

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,022 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 228,673 ratings
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73

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3.73 avg rating — 119,597 ratings
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74

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4.17 avg rating — 10,689 ratings
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75

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3.86 avg rating — 505,947 ratings
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76

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4.07 avg rating — 20,757 ratings
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77

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4.21 avg rating — 1,759 ratings
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78

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4.01 avg rating — 31,980 ratings
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79

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3.76 avg rating — 24,096 ratings
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80

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4.20 avg rating — 115,103 ratings
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81

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4.06 avg rating — 2,010 ratings
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82

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4.42 avg rating — 23,153 ratings
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83

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3.60 avg rating — 39,856 ratings
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84

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4.06 avg rating — 78,134 ratings
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85

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3.82 avg rating — 8,981 ratings
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86

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4.03 avg rating — 15,894 ratings
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87

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4.21 avg rating — 35,999 ratings
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88

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3.86 avg rating — 71,099 ratings
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89

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4.33 avg rating — 13,446 ratings
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90

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4.07 avg rating — 81,197 ratings
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91

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3.89 avg rating — 102,806 ratings
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92

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4.63 avg rating — 246,268 ratings
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93

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4.30 avg rating — 1,104 ratings
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94

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4.18 avg rating — 17,779 ratings
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95

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4.49 avg rating — 750,024 ratings
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96

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4.22 avg rating — 64,893 ratings
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97

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4.22 avg rating — 73,303 ratings
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98

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4.18 avg rating — 60,822 ratings
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99

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4.52 avg rating — 112,628 ratings
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100

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4.13 avg rating — 22,576 ratings
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521 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Steve 1640 books
32 friends
Ben 1082 books
71 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3378 books
857 friends
Jennifer 3435 books
993 friends
Bettie 15801 books
19 friends
Manu 2 books
7 friends
Virginia 847 books
15 friends
Sam 191 books
26 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Guns, Germs, and Steel, despite being terrific, was first published in 1997.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed for being first published before 2000:

Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela (1990)
Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand (1999)
A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn (1980)
Natasha's Story, by Michael Nicholson (1997)
Song for the Blue Ocean, by Carl Safina (1998)
Gay New York, by George Chauncey (1994)
In Pursuit of Happiness, by Mark Kingwell (1998)
We Die Alone, by David Howarth (1955)

Removed for being fiction:

11/22/63, by Stephen King
Honolulu, by Alan Brennert
Killing Rommel, by Steven Pressfield


message 3: by Steve (new)

Steve Thanks for editing the list.


message 5: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes I have removed six books from the top 100 that were ineligible by virtue of publication dates before January 1st, 2001.


message 6: by Elyse✨ (new)

Elyse✨ I removed The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and Homicide. Both were published prior to 1/1/2001. Read them both and they are great books!


message 7: by Prince (new)

Prince Epic List!


message 9: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Mar 31, 2019 05:49AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Removed for not being first published in the 21st century:
A History of Western Philosophy (1945)
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1918)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991)
Letters, 1925-1975 (1998)
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (2000)
Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne (2000)
Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg (1999)
George Eliot: The Last Victorian (1999)
Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle, and Drama (1977)
The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel: From Richardson to George Eliot (1996)
The True History of the Elephant Man (1980)
The Great Escape (1950)
Lakota Woman (1990)
Means of Ascent (1990)
A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn (1985)
The Life of Elizabeth I (1996)
The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism (1988)
King Leopold's Ghost (1998)
Paris to the Moon (2000)
James Joyce (1959)
The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon (2000)
Anne Frank Remembered (1987)
Warranted Christian Belief (1999)
Mind in a Physical World: An Essay on the Mind-Body Problem and Mental Causation (1998)
The Lost Daughters of China (2000)
The Animal Rights Handbook: Everyday Ways to Save Animal Lives (1990)
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (1999)
Discipline Without Punishment: The Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Superior Performers (1995)
Herk: Hero of the Skies: The Story of the Lockheed C-130 and Its Adventures Around the World ... (1983)
Knowledge and Its Limits (2000)
Multiple Sclerosis: A Guide for Patients and Their Families (1983)
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000)
The Problems of Philosophy (1912)
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (1991)
Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (1985)
The Eat Right 4 Your Type (1991)
Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present (1994)
Yoga Mind and Body (1996)
The Lost Wolves of Japan (2000)
Leonardo Da Vinci (1996)
From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees (1905)
Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics (1956)
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine (1990)
Tracking The Vanishing Frogs: An Ecological Mystery (1994)
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (1997)
Introduction to Logic: and to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences (1993)
Historia de la Economia (1987)
A Measure of Danger (1991)
Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998)
The Art of Happiness (1998)

The description clearly says "Books originally published in 2000 or before are not eligible."


message 10: by Elyse✨ (new)

Elyse✨ Booklovinglady wrote: "Removed for not being first published in the 21st century:
Booklovinglady - Thank you for all your hard work! I think this is an important list and your diligence is appreciated.



BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Elyse wrote: "Booklovinglady wrote: "Removed for not being first published in the 21st century:
Booklovinglady - Thank you for all your hard work! I think this is an important list and your diligence is apprecia..."


Thanks Elyse 😊


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Consider yourself reported for spam, "Kardi."


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Consider yourself flagged, you disgusting spammer.


message 14: by Vicki (last edited Sep 30, 2023 05:06PM) (new)

Vicki #1180 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman = great book, but published in 1985.
Also, A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer for fiction, thus doesn't belong here.


message 15: by Vicki (last edited Oct 01, 2023 10:03AM) (new)

Vicki Duplicates #339 & #366: The God Delusion (and/or #1455)


message 16: by Agnieszka (last edited Mar 24, 2024 12:38PM) (new)

Agnieszka Vicki wrote: "#1180 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman = great book, but published in 1985.
Also, A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer for fiction, thus doesn't belong here."


Thank you for the information. Deleted both.


The system found and removed 4 duplicates

Deleted Desert Flower - originally published 1998


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