100 Best Epic Books of All Time

Ted TurnerWhen I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. (Source)

Max PorterI still have an image of Odysseus in my head from when I was a child – he’s very Anglo-Saxon and stubbly, a bit like Michael Fassbender (Source)

Janine di GiovanniThe thing I loved about Ulysses was that he’s so in love with adventure and with love. (Source)

Elon MuskBest books in recent years imo are Iain Banks & George Martin. (Source)

Ted TurnerWhen I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. (Source)

John GittingsHomer, like Shakespeare, encompassed all humanity in his work, and in The Iliad he encompasses peace as well as war. (Source)

Kate McLoughlinA lot of people who had public school educations, classical educations, might have gone into the First World War thinking that they were fighting Homer’s war. (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Cressida CowellThe Hobbit is such a richly imagined fantasy that, especially as a child, you can live in it. It is so completely immersive. (Source)

Lev GrossmanFirst up, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by JRR Tolkien. But you knew I was going to say that. This one book, which was published in 1937, defined so many variables for the fantasy tradition that are still in place today. Tolkien’s extraordinary achievement was to recover the epic landscapes of Anglo-Saxon myth, bring them back to life, and then to take us through them on foot, so we could... (Source)

Reid Hoffman[The book] that I’ve most often read. (Source)

Elon MuskAs a boy in Pretoria, Musk was un dersized and picked upon, a smart-aleck known as Muskrat. In his loneliness, he read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. “The heroes of the books I read, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and the ‘Foundation’ series, always felt a duty to save the world,” he told me. (Source)

Alan LeeHis alternative world and mythological system is totally coherent–it’s a fantastic gift that he has given us. (Source)

Elon MuskBest books in recent years imo are Iain Banks & George Martin. (Source)

Elon MuskBest books in recent years imo are Iain Banks & George Martin. (Source)

Chris Albon@WaltHickey I don’t really read fiction and randomly found that book, amazing. (Source)

Matt Schlicht@teej_m Read it. Love it. So amazing. Waiting for the last book and fear it may never come. (Source)

Mark ZuckerbergOh, it’s not a favorite book or anything like that, I just added it because I liked it. I don’t think there’s any real significance to the fact that it’s listed there and other books aren’t. But there are definitely books—like the Aeneid—that I enjoyed reading a lot more. (Source)

Ryan HolidayI made an effort to read some classical poets and playwrights this year. The Aneiad was far and away the most quotable, readable and memorable of all of them. There’s no other way to put: the story is AMAZING. Better than the Odyssey, better than Juvenal’s Satires. Inspiring, beautiful, exciting, and eminently readable, I loved this. I took more notes on it that I have on anything I’ve read in a... (Source)

Ted TurnerWhen I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. (Source)

Jeff BezosI’m a big science-fiction fan. I love [this book]. (Source)

Elon MuskBrilliant. [The author] advocates placing limits on machine intelligence. (Source)

Adam SavageIf you haven't read it, just go read it. It is amazing! (Source)

Elon MuskBest books in recent years imo are Iain Banks & George Martin. (Source)

Ryan HolidayI read this on my honeymoon (probably the only person on the beach reading it, if I had to guess). Especially when I learned after that a new introduction paragraph had been discovered only recently. His tomb may have been found recently too. Imagine if Homer’s works had only been discovered in the mid 1800’s after being lost to history for thousands of years. How crazy would that be? Reading the... (Source)

Stephen CaveGilgamesh is a hero in the ancient mould. He’s half-god, enormously strong, a bit randy, a bit dim, and he goes through adventures which embody the human experience writ large. He starts off as the king of a small kingdom, making a nuisance of himself – enforcing droit du seigneur, sleeping with women on their marriage night, pushing other men around, being a bit of an arse. So the gods make a... (Source)

Elon MuskBest books in recent years imo are Iain Banks & George Martin. (Source)

Stephen GreenblattMilton’s astonishing intervention in the Adam and Eve story includes thinking how it was possible—not for ignorant children, but knowing, thoughtful, complex human beings in a relationship with one another—to do what they did. (Source)

Emily WilsonParadise Lost is a homecoming story of marital breakup and martial reunion, just as the Odyssey is. They’re also both epics about redefining a community in the wake of a devastating war, and about whether there will ever be an end to war. (Source)

Vanora BennettAlthough it was published in 1869, War and Peace deals with events half a century earlier. This makes it one of the first historical novels – and, all these years later, it’s still the greatest. (Source)

Tendai HuchuTolstoy does something which is very unusual in War and Peace and which, for his time, was pretty profound: he sees the conditions of the ordinary soldier on the battlefield. (Source)

Niall FergusonAs a middle aged man, I react differently to Tolstoy than I did when I first read War and Peace at about 15. (Source)

A N WilsonI don’t think there’s anything in world literature to compare with the last few cantos of the Paradiso as a Christian statement. (Source)

Joe Lycettguys i just read this book called harry potter well worth checking out it’s about a really interesting magic lad (Source)

Ian MortimerYes, I was 15, I think, when I read it. I couldn’t believe that no one had ever written other books like it. I remember going to my English master at school and saying “What else is like this? I want to read more books like this!” I can’t remember what he recommended, but I can remember picking them up and thinking they were nothing like Shogun. I was so entranced by the world of the 16th century... (Source)

Edward NortonI devoured [this book]. (Source)

Tradeciety RolfThe best fiction book I've read since "The player of games". Can't put it down :) https://t.co/goANBDBjY3 (Source)

Maude Garrett@GeekBomb Best use of time travel in a book or series to date (Source)

Malcolm TanThe fiction series that got me hooked was The Wheel of Time series. Every time a new book was published in that LONG series, I immediately got hold of a copy from the bookstore and would spend the next few days reading the books since they were incredibly long. What appealed to me was the epic scale of the series, and how the various protagonists were very well characterised and captured my... (Source)

Mike BenkovichI'm cheating here (again) because this isn't a single book but a series. This is a 14 book fantasy epic written over DECADES! It took so long to complete and is so expansive the author died before he finished. The mantle was picked up by another author who finished the series in 2014. It's a story of massive scale featuring or launching any fantasy trope you can think of. If you think Game Of... (Source)

Nick HavelyIt is a close and reliable translation, with the original text on the facing page, and it also has excellent notes. (Source)

Chris WalshThe Inferno is the classic moment of people not wanting to talk about cowardice. (Source)

Ted TurnerI enjoyed "Gone with the Wind" and history books of all types. (Source)

Annie Parker@mariesornin @Twitter @goodreads @colinismyname @lonelyplanet @AmazonKindle @nytimestravel @TravelLeisure @Delta @BNBuzz Shantaram, The Beach, Round Ireland with a Fridge, and please read Gone with the Wind (not really a travel book but very awesome & needs a good chunk of time!) (Source)

Kris ReidI’m a hopeless romantic, Gone With the Wind is an epic love story based around a tale of an empowered woman struggling to success in a time of extreme adversity. There is a reason it’s a classic! (Source)

Big Structural Change@siriusclaw Azkaban ftw! Goblet is the worst of the series. Great book though. (Source)

Oprah WinfreyNobody who reads it—nobody who reads it—looks at a church or a cathedral the same. I made me think about my own life differently, reading that book, the experience of reading that book. What a treasure. (Source)

Theresa EvanoffOne of my favourite non-business book is “Pillars of the Earth”, by Ken Follett. I have read this many times over the years, and still enjoy eit ach time. I love how the characters are all very complex, strategic, and how the story weaves together on so many levels. (Source)

Shami ChakrabartiIt’s all about the War on Terror as far as I’m concerned. (Source)

Oprah WinfreyIt's the perfect summer read...a novel so rich and full of drama you won't be able to turn the pages fast enough! (Source)

John Lilly@ben_mathes @kevinakwok @samhinkie @aweissman Amazing book. Ive always liked it better than Grapes of Wrath. (Source)

Steve BenjaminsMy favorite non-business book is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I think all of John Steinbeck’s books are uplifting. He sees the best in humanity and it leaves me feeling warm and generous. (Source)

Chelsea HandlerI don't know if I have to expound on why I love this book, but everyone should read [this author], and this was the first one of his works I read. So, it's like a first boyfriend. Or my first Cabbage Patch Kid. (Source)

Marvin LiaoMy list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make... (Source)

Rupert IsaacsonAnna’s trying to be her authentic self, a sexual and loving woman and she gets whopped for it and that’s not fair. (Source)

Ali AnsariYes, the Shahnameh is an epic poetic rendition of what is generally described as the national myth of Iran. It is in effect a creation myth which looks at mythical and legendary kings down into the historical period of the last two pre-Islamic dynasties. What Ferdowsi, the author of this poem, did at the cusp of the 11th century was put this monumental prose material into poetic form. And this... (Source)

Steve JobsJobs told me that "Moby-Dick" was among his favorite books and he reread it a lot when he was a teen. (Source)

Barack ObamaAccording to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, this title is among his most influential forever favorites. (Source)

Rebecca GoldsteinI actually have quite an idiosyncratic reading of this great metaphysical masterpiece. (Source)

William DalrympleIt’s one of the world’s great myths, an epic poem. It’s eight times the length of the Bible, one of the great works of literature of mankind. I came to it via the Peter Brook film, and read the script subsequently, and it is every bit as good as it’s made out to be. A very rare thing. It has a sort of Shakespearian ambiguity; you feel as much for the baddies as for the goodies. No one is pure.... (Source)

Harry Khachatrian@redsteeze great book though (Source)

Priscilla PilonI just voted for Outlander (Series) #VOTEOutlander! https://t.co/MM628DhkE9 Because @Writer_DG is a flipping genius. I dare you to read the first book and not fall in love with the series. Be forewarned, you’ll lose sleep because you...can’t...stop...reading! (Source)

Randall StephensonFavorite book: The Brothers Karamazov. (Source)

Kenan MalikDostoevsky was a devout Christian and The Brothers Karamazov, his last and possibly greatest novel, was a heartfelt plea for the necessity of faith. The phrase If God does not exist, everything is permitted is often attributed to Dostoevsky. He actually never wrote that, but the sentiment certainly runs through much of his work, and most especially through The Brothers Karamazov. (Source)

Rachel KushnerThis book taught me something I knew on a much deeper level but did not have the language or the reasoning to state: that innocence is something very durable and interior, and also evanescent. (Source)

Lucas MoralesMy favorite books are Tolkien’s the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion. In fact these book hold a special place in my memory. In highschool I was so into Tolkien that I delved into linguistics on my own time. I was obsessed with Quenya (Tolkien’s elvish language). I combined that obsession with my mediocre skills as a programmer, and made a sort of dictionary/translator program.... (Source)

Ryan HolidayI thought I’d read this book before but clearly they gave me some sort of children’s version. Because the one I’d read as a kid wasn’t a 1,200 page epic of some of the most brilliant, beautiful and complicated storytelling ever put to paper. What a book! When I typed out my notes (and quotes) after finishing this book, it ran some 3,000 words. I was riveted from cover to cover. I enjoyed all the... (Source)

Sol OrwellI have to go with Count of Monte Cristo. An unparalleled revenge story. (Source)

Chris KutarnaThe Count of Monte Cristo it is about revenge and the cost of revenge. Being careful what you wish for. The other theme is about riches and wealth and what is truly valuable. (Source)

Dr. Gabor MatéI read [this book] as a child and then, reread many times as an adult. And he’s my favorite character. (Source)

Barack ObamaWhen asked what books he recommended to his 18-year-old daughter Malia, Obama gave the Times a list that included The Naked and the Dead and One Hundred Years of Solitude. “I think some of them were sort of the usual suspects […] I think she hadn’t read yet. Then there were some books that are not on everybody’s reading list these days, but I remembered as being interesting.” Here’s what he... (Source)

Oprah WinfreyBrace yourselves—One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is as steamy, dense and sensual as the jungle that surrounds the surreal town of Macondo! (Source)

Richard BransonToday is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Ryan HolidayI read The Bhagavad Gita, which is something I wasn’t ready for before, but glad to finally understand. (Source)

Wim Hof[Wim Hof said this is one of his most-recommended books.] (Source)

Bernard TanThe “Tao Te King” by Lao Tzu probably resonated with me the strongest, but others like the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, “Bhagavad Gita” or Zen Buddhist scriptures were also real eye-openers, even for a non-religious person like myself. (Source)

Tudor MihailescuIt’s vacation time so I got brave enough to start a sizeable trilogy by Ken Follett, The Century (Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, Edge of Eternity). The only expectation I had was to enjoy a good story, take my mind off into a different space. And it delivers, it’s a nice blend of history and fiction, an absorbing story throughout 20th century. (Source)

Chris AndersonAs a child, they exploded my imagination. (Source)

Lev GrossmanYou win some Turkish delight. Everyone knows Lewis’s Narnia books are a foundational work of the modern fantastic. But I don’t think Lewis gets enough credit for his craft as a writer. Those books are deceptively simple. Look at the way he constructed the opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He puts the shadows of the war in the background, the excitement of a new house in the country... (Source)

Chris AndersonAs a child, they exploded my imagination. (Source)

David BellosBecause it’s so huge and so capacious and contains so many different stories and takes on the world, you can make anything out of Les Misérables. (Source)

Christian B MillerVividly illustrates two ideas about character. The first is that our characters can change over time, the second is that role models can be powerful sources of character change. (Source)

Mark ZuckerbergOh, it’s not a favorite book or anything like that, I just added it because I liked it. I don’t think there’s any real significance to the fact that it’s listed there and other books aren’t. (Source)

Timothy FerrissAt one point, this was the only book listed on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page. If it’s good enough to be the sole selection of the founder of Facebook, maybe there’s something to it. The plot: In anticipation of another attack from a hostile alien race, the search for a brilliant military strategist has led to Ender Wiggin. In space combat school, Ender stands out, demonstrating exceptional... (Source)

Travis KalanickAbout a kid who is trained by the military to play video games [...] But he realizes at the end that the video games he was playing were an actual war. (Source)

Andrew ElliottI am currently reading The Gunslinger by Stephen King. I try to intersperse recreational, fun reading into my book queue and this is one of those books! I have only just started it, but it is a good read so far! (Source)

Esther PerelYou can reread the Russians. They are timeless. (Source)

Irvine WelshIt is not a crime book in the way that we understand crime fiction today. Instead it is like an existential psychological thriller. (Source)

Ben Domenech@SohrabAhmari @li88yinc @jgcrum @BlueBoxDave @InezFeltscher @JarrettStepman Maybe the best book ever written. (Source)

Ricky WhittleNobody can break my family.I’m proud to be apart of this diverse cast & crew who are working their butts off to deliver a fantastic season 3 continuing to tell Shadows story and the awesome characters he meets along the way as in @neilhimself incredible book #readit #details🤔 https://t.co/PahPC9j3HB (Source)

Scott JohnsonAmerican Gods by Neil Gaiman. This is a brilliant thought experiment about what happens to a god when its believers stop believing. My preferred edition is the 10th Anniversary release with expanded text. (Source)

Marko RakarBasically, first of all, I am a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy books and I grew up with Douglas Adams and Arthur C Clarke. For me, this is the best of Gaiman’s books and I’ve got all of them. It’s set in the present time and talks about settlers who have settled a continent and have brought their gods with them. So, if you are Swedish and you cherish Nordic gods and move to the US, the... (Source)

Steve McphersonI believe they’ve already started S2, which, again, is great, because The Subtle Knife is the best book of the three and should make for good TV. Concerned how they’re going to handle massive CGI demands for S3 if they follow the book. (Source)

Elon MuskIn terms of sci-fi books, I think Isaac Asimov is really great. I like the Foundation series, probably one of the all-time best. (Source)

Adam GazzaleyLife-changing for me as a kid, and have still read it multiple times throughout my life. (Source)

Amy WebbAsimov was a masterful fringe thinker, and this first book in the Foundation series shows just how attuned he was to possible and plausible future scenarios. Although it’s 50 years old, Foundation is especially provocative reading given our current state of world affairs — in order to save humankind and the vast knowledge we have accumulated, the main character gathers the smartest thinkers and... (Source)

Marion TurnerEach individual tale can be interpreted in so many ways—Chaucer really opens up possibilities of multiple interpretations. Even when he seems to give you a clear moral, that moral is never effective or convincing. He’s always saying: ‘Find your own moral; find your own meaning.’ (Source)

Helen HackettI wanted to include an example of literature from Elizabeth’s reign because she inspired a fantastic richness and breadth of poetry, with lots of writers competing with each other to praise her in ever more elaborate ways. Probably the most powerful example of that is Spenser’s Faerie Queene which is a huge epic romance published in two parts in the 1590s. (Source)

Rachel Miner@tenoko1 @audible_com Feel ill equipped to answer as I have not read most of these, I am currently on book 4 of the Witcher series, I did enjoy book 1, I like the world and found some of the commentary of magic especially to be inspired, but it is flawed, you have to be forgiving to enjoy the journey (Source)