BOOKS
This list is a perpetual work in progress and subject to change.
Selection Methodology. Fiction books are taken from the top 200 of The Greatest Books (abbreviated TGB), with certain exceptions made for members of peripheral genres such as classical writings, children's literature, drama, genre fiction and poetry. Nonfiction books include (subject) histories, topic introductions and narratives based on expert recommendations and popular consensus. For a sense of which books are endorsed by the academic community, I've relied heavily on the Open Syllabus' Galaxy project.
Organization. Books are classified by subject according to a system adapted from the BISAC Subject Headings List, Dewey Decimal Classification, and Wikipedia's Outline of Science. Within sections, books are sorted lexicographically by author last name.
Bias. The list is shaped by institutions with cultural power in the English-speaking world and reflects the biases of those institutions. It targets books worth reading in English or English translation.
Acknowledgements. I'm indebted to The Greatest Books, Editor Eric's The Greatest Literature of All Time, and Make Lists, Not War for inspiration. Google Books and Wikipedia were helpful resources. Word counts are taken from various sources and estimated using Word Counters and Reading Length otherwise. Page count varies greatly by edition, so I generate an approximation corresponding to 300 words per page. ReadingLength.com estimates that the average reader reads 250 words per minute.
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