Books

[Franconicus]

Which book/article influenced history most? Which writer?
(P.S.: No constitutions, please. Writers only as writers not a politicians)

[Ironside]

I'm very boring now, but the Bible has influenced history most.

[Al Khalifah]

I'd agree the Bible. Surely the most inspirational book along with the Torah, The Qu'ran, The Guru Gran Sahib (sp surely!), the Karma Sutra (he he) and so on.
The Bible was the first mass produced book.

Other significant works would include the poems of Homer which inspire Greeks to acts of heroism even to this day. The Aeniad and others as well.

The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, the Art of War.

[Franconicus]

I think Aristoteles influenced the hole Middle Age as well as the renaissance. Both moslems and christians. Plato was important too.

What about Karl Marx?

[IliaDN]

What about Karl Marx?

Yep, as well as many other idealogy-orintated books.

[King Henry V]

Caesar's treatise on the Gallic wars have influenced many generals I believe.

[IliaDN]

Manuals.

[Navaros]

i too must concur with the Bible along with adding my regrets that most Christians nowadays are pansies who have let Christianity turn into a joke instead of the almighty force of God that it is meant to be

which is to say, it's a darn shame that the Bible is not continuing to effect history with the same magnitude that it used to

hopefully in the future, it shall reclaim it's rightful glory yet again

[Lazul]

Id saythe bible... unfortunatly...

other then that, Karl Marx and Engels.

and as I think JAG would agree on; Jean Paul Satre... i think thats the one JAG likes hehe.

[Al Khalifah]

i too must concur with the Bible along with adding my regrets that most Christians nowadays are pansies who have let Christianity turn into a joke instead of the almighty force of God that it is meant to be

It's because the Church has stopped being allowed to make its own rules and is being forced to change to reflect society and the desires of non-faithful which is ridiculous. Surely it should work the other way round, if you want to be a Christian, you should play by our rules, otherwise don't be a Christian.

[King Henry V]

Unfortunately much of the Parishes nowadays have been taken over by what I call "Hippy Christians".

[edyzmedieval]

The Bible... Definitely

And the Osprey books, history books, magazines about basketball....

[Productivity]

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money - Hugely influenced economics - while I have issues with pure Keynesian economics, they do nothing to detract from how much of an impact he had.

[JAG]

The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engles and both Existentialism and Humanism, and Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre.

[Sjakihata]

Just to add to what have already been suggested

Sun Tsu: The Art of War

Kant and his moral

Shakespeare

[Franconicus]

The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engles and both Existentialism and Humanism, and Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre.

How did Sartre effect history?

[Sjakihata]

He affected the post-modern attitude to existentialism, renewed it.

[JAG]

Existentialism has greatly effected modern day thought, especially post WW2 thought and Sartre was the main modern proponent of that - as well as the most well known.

[Proletariat]

For Most Inappropriately Referenced, I'd go with The Prince.

[PanzerJaeger]

Achtung Panzer! by Guderian greatly contributed to the Second World War, which was the biggest in history.

[scooter_the_shooter]

The bible the best book ever

[Al Khalifah]

My personal favorite piece of work on the Bible lies in Wikipedia. The Book of Genesis is given a plot summary. It begins:
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Comic genius...

Wikipedia: The Book of Genesis

[Crazed Rabbit]

1) The Bible. The very word of Almighty God (though written down by humans).

2) The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith. Has helped people avoid the evils of socialism.

Crazed Rabbit

[Papewaio]

I wouldn't say it is a single book, as that would be to say there is a single drop in the ocean that influences it the most.

The biggest influence was mass production of information and literate masses.

The Bibles influence changed as more of its audience had the capacity to read, review and think about it for themselves.

This living meta-book of the internet is the most influential set of information.

[Byzantine Prince]

Wow another lame incoherant thread about "the best". So boring.

Ok let me explain before you all call me immature. This thread should retitled or at least redirected in a way that makes it have meaning. For example the Bible didn't have any significance in, oh I don't know, India or China. Are their histories not important? There's no such thing as unified human history unless we are talking about the stage between homo erectus and homo sapiens. There's no way of connecting cultures and histories together and say "this book has changed the history of every culture".

Meh, on the other hand what do I care, do whatever.

[Roark]

The thread is concerning our opinion of which book has influenced history the most. It's pretty simple, dude. There's no need to consider the unification o cultures, nor to choose a book which has influenced all cultures.

You've raised one good point (to consider China and India), and I would therefore add the following to a broader list:

- Lao Tzu's "Book of Changes" (I Ching)
- The Bhagavad Gita

[Papewaio]

Books on mathematics like Algebra are pretty much cross cultural....

[Reverend Joe]

Carl Hiaasen.

[Roark]

I would think Aristotles "Ethics" and "the Republic" would have to be up there too...

Books on mathematics like Algebra are pretty much cross cultural....

That's a good point.

I'm largely ignorant of the sciences, but are there any particular works which are considered "foundational"?

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Achtung Panzer! by Guderian greatly contributed to the Second World War, which was the biggest in history.

Let us never forget his memoirs, Memoirs den Soldat I beleive.