1.The Bible
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There’s no doubt that the Bible has influenced the world more than any other book ever published. It created religion which control about one third of the world for two thousand years. It comprises two books: the Old Testament, used by Christ and the apostles, and the New Testament, written by some of the Apostles after Jesus’ death. The Bible is the first book printed ever, and the most purchased book in the world of all times.
2. The Qur’an
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The Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, has had influenced the world not as much as the Bible, but it created the second largest religion. Muslims believe that that’s the last revealed word by God. The founder of Islam, Mohammed, had been given revelation by Angel Gabriel. These revelations are the base of the book. In last few years there’s debate about the message that the Qur’an sends. While some people say that it advocates war, the believer say that it propagate peace, actually, while Islamic fundamentalists try to abuse it.
3. On the Origin of Species – Charles Darwin
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This is the book that has shaken up the Roman Catholic Church best. Charles Darwin made a research in 1830s during traveling on Beagle. He revealed that over time, through natural selection, species evolve. Claiming that the man was not created by God, but through evolution, there was nothing that could stir more controversy in XIX century. Although this theory was widely accepted, debates haven’t finished yet.
4. The Interpretation of Dreams – Sigmund Freud
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Sigmund Freud’s theories changed the way people were thinking about psyche. In this book he introduced the Ego, and describes Freud’s theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation. Freud’s theories are dismissed and revised by modern psychologists recently. Even Freud had revised this book several times, but it remained as basis for modern psychology and its upgrading.
5. The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir
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The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir is the starting point of the feminist movement. The author wrote the book in attempt to write about herself. She wrote that she was a woman, but she realized that she needed to define what the woman is. The book is about the treatment of women through history and their definition as “the other sex” compared to “the normal” male sex. Beauvoir advocates the attitude that because women were treated as “abnormal” their success was limited.
6. Either/Or – Soren Kierkegaard
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As a reaction against more traditional philosophies, existentialism is a philosophical movement that claims that individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. It’s about two different life views, one of them hedonistic, and the other based on ethics and responsibility, giving the reader opportunity to compare. Kierkegaard’s work has made big influence on a lot of authors of that period.
7. Das Kapital – Karl Marx
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Das Kapital by karl Marx is the book that changed some people’s view on economic and political situation in Europe in XIX century, and led to a lot of socialistic revolutions in the next hundred years. According to Marx, the central driving force of capitalism is in the exploitation and alienation of labor. But this book is not an ethical analysis, but rather an attempt to explain the objective laws of the capitalist system as a whole, its origins and future.
8. Experimental Research in Electricity – Michael Faraday
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With the research explained in this book Michael Faraday set the path to inventing the electromagnetic rotary devices which formed the foundation of electric motor technology. Although he received a little formal education, he managed to change the world with his inventions, with his experiments leading to electricity becoming viable for use in technology. The English physician rejected a knighthood and twice refused to become President of the Royal Society.
9. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory – Albert Einstein
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The greatest genius of all times managed to change the world with his revelations related to relativity. In this book, which is his major contribution to science, he explains the special and the general theory of relativity, giving revolutionary view of space and time. Because of his incredible work, today “Einstein” is synonym of genius.
10. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
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Printed privately in Florence in 1928 for first time, this book had to wait until 60s to be printed in United Kingdom. The story about a love relationship between working-class man and aristocrat woman abounds with explicit sex scenes. Scandalous for its time, the book had to be revised by the author, but succeeded to change the way publishers look to “unprintable words” today.
