Books That Changed My Life

original ranker mollie Power
Ranker 150,428 views 425 items 98 followers

The most life changing books, ranked by the wisdom of the crowd of hundreds of people. Anyone can add their picks to this list of books that will change your life, making it an accurate, real-time ranking of the best life changing books, as picked by the people who love them. Ask yourself the question "what are the most life-changing books?" and then vote for the books that you read cover to cover, the novels that changed the way you see the world and the stories you still can't stop thinking about. Share your favorites, and see how your taste stacks up against other readers.

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Rank Name

51

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Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

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52

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Life of Pi

Yann Martel

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53

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Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

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54

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A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole

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55

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Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret

Judy Blume

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56

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

Robert M. Pirsig

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57

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl

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58

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Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes

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59

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The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck

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60

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The World According to Garp

John Irving

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61

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J. K. Rowling

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62

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle

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63

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Where the Sidewalk Ends

Shel Silverstein

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64

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The Road

Cormac McCarthy

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65

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A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn

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66

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A Farewell to Arms

Ernest Hemingway

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67

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The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner

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68

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Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert A. Heinlein

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69

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The Art of War

Sun Tzu

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70

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Dante's Inferno

Dante Alighieri

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71

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J. K. Rowling

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72

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Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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73

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Ulysses

James Joyce

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74

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Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

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75

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A Separate Peace

John Knowles

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76

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Othello

William Shakespeare

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77

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A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

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78

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Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe

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79

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The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho, Donna Boyd

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80

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Catch 22

Joseph Heller

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81

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The Giving Tree

Shel Silverstein

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82

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Franny and Zooey

J. D. Salinger

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83

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King James Version of the Bible

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84

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Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Dr. Seuss

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85

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Watchmen

Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

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86

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Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl

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87

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera

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88

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Night

Elie Wiesel

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89

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Gone with the Wind

Margaret Mitchell

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90

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The Pearl

John Steinbeck, Gregory McElwain

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91

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Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Herman Melville

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92

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In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

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93

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Diary of Anne Frank

Frank

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94

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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Tom Wolfe

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95

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The Godfather

Mario Puzo

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96

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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen Covey

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97

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The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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98

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War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

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99

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the oddysey

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100

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Jonathan Safran Foer

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MAYONNAISE
Books That Changed My Life at 12/12/2012 4:30 AM

Wow you are obsessed with life changing books!
Jeffry Avino
Books That Changed My Life at 8/28/2012 9:30 AM

Someone loves best chick lit.
Ja Poniatoski
Books That Changed My Life at 8/17/2012 10:30 AM

Looks like a bunch of most life changing books.
Son Gerety
Books That Changed My Life at 6/24/2012 1:30 AM

books that will change your life!
omar
Books That Changed My Life at 3/19/2012 6:33 AM

The Prophet by Khalil Gibron
ingcold cause
Books That Changed My Life at 1/18/2012 8:41 AM

To Kill a Mockingbird deserves to be at the top of this list, it influenced generations of people to open their eyes and walk in another's shoes. The social themes in it are still relevant today, and the language borders on the poetic
N Daniel
Books That Changed My Life at 1/03/2012 10:41 PM

Glad a woman author topped the list.
N. Daniel
Books That Changed My Life at 1/03/2012 10:37 PM

Glad that a book written by a woman has topped the list.
marc.zandersons
Books That Changed My Life at 6/06/2011 12:39 PM

Interesting list ... I made my personal list for self development books which actually have changed my life: http://www.thebooksthatchangedmylife.com/2011/06/04/50-personal-development-books-that-changed-my-life/
Anonymous
Books That Changed My Life at 1/12/2011 7:25 PM

OK - why would you want to read some of these boring books. I mean there are so many great books out there, but people feel they must put down the books that are considered classics. Be true to yourself.
Anonymous
Books That Changed My Life at 1/12/2011 7:22 PM

Why do people think that books that change your life have to be highly hailed classics? For real, most of the life changing books I can think of struck a chord in me - not with critics.
ruben
Island at 8/22/2010 11:42 PM

One of my favorite books of all time. I reread it at least twice a year