Most influential academic books, according to Britons


This video is called The Genius of Charles Darwin – HD Full Length (All 3 Episodes).

There is not only a National Bird election in the Netherlands. There was also another election in Britain.

From daily The Independent in Britain today:

These five books have been named as the most influential academic texts of all time

Posted 2 hours ago by Louis Doré

The most influential academic books in history have been revealed in a public vote.

Charles Darwin‘s On the Origin of Species from 1859, which founded evolutionary biology, was named the most influential academic text ever written.

The study was voted for by 26 per cent of the public in an online poll of over 900, to mark the inaugural Academic Book Week.

The top five were:

1) On the Origin of SpeciesCharles Darwin
2) The Communist ManifestoKarl Marx and Friedrich Engels
3) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
4) The RepublicPlato
5) Critique of Pure Reason – Immanuel Kant

Also shortlisted were:

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
The Meaning of Relativity by Albert Einstein
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
Orientalism by Edward Said
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

The poll was organised as part of a series of events and competitions throughout the UK, conducted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in conjunction with the British Library, between 9-16 November.

3 thoughts on “Most influential academic books, according to Britons

  1. Pingback: William Shakespeare, new book | Dear Kitty. Some blog

  2. Pingback: British physicist Stephen Hawking, RIP | Dear Kitty. Some blog

  3. Pingback: French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, video | Dear Kitty. Some blog

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