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
401

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401

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4.43 avg rating — 3,041 ratings
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403

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4.39 avg rating — 8,714 ratings
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403

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4.06 avg rating — 2,060 ratings
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403

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3.79 avg rating — 2,646 ratings
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406

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4.36 avg rating — 176 ratings
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406

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4.40 avg rating — 201,257 ratings
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406

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3.86 avg rating — 5,773 ratings
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406

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4.02 avg rating — 62,191 ratings
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406

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4.13 avg rating — 437,745 ratings
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411

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4.53 avg rating — 157,463 ratings
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411

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3.84 avg rating — 28,642 ratings
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413

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4.40 avg rating — 969 ratings
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413

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4.12 avg rating — 1,469 ratings
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415

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4.08 avg rating — 7,706 ratings
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415

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3.82 avg rating — 5,084 ratings
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415

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3.69 avg rating — 6,391 ratings
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415

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3.87 avg rating — 321 ratings
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415

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4.37 avg rating — 10,426 ratings
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420

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4.08 avg rating — 11,343 ratings
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421

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4.17 avg rating — 6,077 ratings
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422

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3.83 avg rating — 156 ratings
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422

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4.20 avg rating — 46,510 ratings
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424

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4.09 avg rating — 4,636 ratings
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425

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4.12 avg rating — 1,000 ratings
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426

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3.81 avg rating — 2,297 ratings
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426

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4.16 avg rating — 347 ratings
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428

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4.41 avg rating — 1,129 ratings
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428

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4.38 avg rating — 9,758 ratings
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430

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4.20 avg rating — 966 ratings
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431

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4.37 avg rating — 187 ratings
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431

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3.99 avg rating — 29,487 ratings
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433

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3.85 avg rating — 66 ratings
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433

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3.89 avg rating — 1,661 ratings
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435

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3.97 avg rating — 1,039 ratings
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435

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4.31 avg rating — 26,856 ratings
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435

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3.93 avg rating — 3,788 ratings
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438

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3.84 avg rating — 833 ratings
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439

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4.01 avg rating — 3,132 ratings
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439

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4.08 avg rating — 225 ratings
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441

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4.14 avg rating — 192,494 ratings
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441

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4.36 avg rating — 118,620 ratings
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441

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3.63 avg rating — 17,753 ratings
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444

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3.79 avg rating — 3,462 ratings
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445

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4.47 avg rating — 4,169 ratings
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446

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3.86 avg rating — 5,743 ratings
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446

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3.70 avg rating — 8,281 ratings
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448

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4.15 avg rating — 9,508 ratings
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448

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3.93 avg rating — 344 ratings
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448

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4.04 avg rating — 11,640 ratings
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448

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4.18 avg rating — 5,316 ratings
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448

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4.31 avg rating — 18,507 ratings
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448

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3.55 avg rating — 76 ratings
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454

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4.43 avg rating — 4,528 ratings
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455

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3.69 avg rating — 2,753 ratings
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455

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3.73 avg rating — 4,679 ratings
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455

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4.05 avg rating — 11,352 ratings
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458

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3.84 avg rating — 1,119 ratings
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458

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3.98 avg rating — 42,145 ratings
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458

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4.06 avg rating — 20,395 ratings
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461

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4.29 avg rating — 203 ratings
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461

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4.08 avg rating — 7,855 ratings
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461

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3.96 avg rating — 8,447 ratings
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464

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3.66 avg rating — 73 ratings
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465

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4.16 avg rating — 7,184 ratings
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466

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3.85 avg rating — 27 ratings
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466

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4.26 avg rating — 5,840 ratings
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468

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3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings
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469

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3.94 avg rating — 5,288 ratings
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469

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3.78 avg rating — 544 ratings
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471

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4.02 avg rating — 20,002 ratings
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472

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4.06 avg rating — 47,757 ratings
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472

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3.99 avg rating — 63,228 ratings
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474

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4.11 avg rating — 36 ratings
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474

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4.34 avg rating — 2,661 ratings
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476

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4.49 avg rating — 29,195 ratings
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476

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4.11 avg rating — 5,696 ratings
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476

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4.01 avg rating — 846,968 ratings
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479

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4.20 avg rating — 2,431 ratings
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480

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4.13 avg rating — 7,828 ratings
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481

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3.71 avg rating — 79,783 ratings
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482

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4.19 avg rating — 19,978 ratings
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482

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4.39 avg rating — 12,668 ratings
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484

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3.97 avg rating — 11,635 ratings
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484

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3.48 avg rating — 8,009 ratings
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484

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3.89 avg rating — 121,732 ratings
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484

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3.84 avg rating — 349 ratings
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488

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3.92 avg rating — 6,640 ratings
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489

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3.64 avg rating — 20,141 ratings
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490

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3.98 avg rating — 159,847 ratings
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490

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4.13 avg rating — 9,850 ratings
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492

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3.58 avg rating — 15,871 ratings
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493

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4.10 avg rating — 29,904 ratings
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494

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4.30 avg rating — 38,583 ratings
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495

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3.84 avg rating — 428 ratings
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496

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4.25 avg rating — 3,405 ratings
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496

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3.87 avg rating — 106,146 ratings
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496

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4.06 avg rating — 4,576 ratings
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496

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4.39 avg rating — 12,376 ratings
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500

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4.50 avg rating — 21,272 ratings
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546 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Steve 1733 books
32 friends
Ben 1082 books
70 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3384 books
853 friends
Jennifer 3492 books
993 friends
Bettie 15668 books
19 friends
Manu 2 books
7 friends
Virginia 847 books
15 friends
Sam 191 books
26 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp 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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