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Books You Should Keep on Your Shelf to Look Smart

From biographies of inspiring innovators to stories that have been must-reads for centuries, these are the top 40 books you should display on your bookshelf.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1
Douglas Adams
The Best and the Brightest
The Best and the Brightest
2
The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
The Corrections
3
Jonathan Franzen
The Innovators (Walter Isaacson)
The Innovators
4
Walter Isaacson
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace
5
Leo Tolstoy
Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)
Infinite Jest
6
David Foster Wallace
Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
Persepolis
7
Marjane Satrapi
Dune (Frank Herbert)
Dune
8
Frank Herbert
Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)
Letters to a Young Poet
9
Rainer Maria Rilke
The Art of War (Sun Tzu)
The Art of War
10
Sun Tzu
Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)
Gravity's Rainbow
11
Thomas Pynchon
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
12
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
Beloved
13
Toni Morrison
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (Sheryl Sandberg)
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
14
Sheryl Sandberg
The Art of Eating (Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher)
The Art of Eating
15
Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
16
James Joyce
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Gibbons, Hadas)
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
17
Gibbons, Hadas
From Dawn to Decadence (Jacques Barzun)
From Dawn to Decadence
18
Jacques Barzun
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary
19
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
Mrs. Dalloway
20
Virginia Woolf
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
21
Joseph Heller
The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
The Blind Assassin
22
Margaret Atwood
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (Edgar Allen Poe)
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe
23
Edgar Allen Poe
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M Pirsig)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
24
Robert M Pirsig
City of God
City of God
25
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
26
Zora Neale Hurston
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
Midnight's Children
27
Salman Rushdie
The Second Sex (Simone De Beauvoir)
The Second Sex
28
Simone De Beauvoir
Man and Superman (George Bernard Shaw)
Man and Superman
29
George Bernard Shaw
The History of the Peloponnesian War
The History of the Peloponnesian War
30
Dream of the Red Chamber (Cao Xueqin)
Dream of the Red Chamber
31
Cao Xueqin
Middlesex (Michigan)
Middlesex
32
Michigan
Pale Fire (Vladimir Nabokov)
Pale Fire
33
Vladimir Nabokov
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tale of Two Cities
34
Charles Dickens
The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
The Year of Magical Thinking
35
Joan Didion
On the Origin of Species (Charles Darwin)
On the Origin of Species
36
Charles Darwin
The Collected Short Stories of Eudora Welty
The Collected Short Stories of Eudora Welty
37
As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
As I Lay Dying
38
William Faulkner
The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
The Idiot
39
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
40
Rebecca Skloot
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