Great Books of the Western World as Free eBooks

Posted here for your convenience is the fullest free eBook list of Mortimer Adler’s Great Books of the Western World.

What makes this list more useful than the eBooks @ Adelaide list, from which the bulk of this version comes, is that several of the holes have been filled in by Project Gutenberg, and others by the Internet Archive. Links not provided by eBooks @ Adelaide are italicized. Notably, some links do not lead to eBooks, some of these even to simple Web pages. If an eBook or PDF of the appropriate work becomes available, leave a comment so this list can be updated. However, due to copyright concerns, please do not link to free eBook versions of books still under copyright in the United States.

Homer, ca.800 BC

• The Iliad / Homer
  
• The Odyssey / Homer

Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC)

• Agamemnon / Aeschylus
• The Choephori / Aeschylus
• The Eumenides / Aeschylus
• The Persians / Aeschylus
• Prometheus Bound / Aeschylus
• The Seven against Thebes / Aeschylus
• The Suppliants / Aeschylus

Sophocles (c. 496-c. 405 BC)

• Ajax / Sophocles
  
• Electra / Sophocles
  
• The Oedipus Trilogy of Sophocles
  (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone)
• Philoctetes / Sophocles
  
• The Trachiniae / Sophocles

Euripides (480 or 484-406 BC)

• Rhesus / Euripides
• Medea / Euripides
• Hippolytus / Euripides
• Alcestis / Euripides
• The Heracleidae / Euripides
• The Suppliants / Euripides
• The Trojan Women / Euripides
• Ion / Euripides
• Helen / Euripides
• Andromache / Euripides
• Electra / Euripides
• The Bacchantes / Euripides
• Hecuba / Euripides
• Heracles / Euripides
• The Phoenissae / Euripides
• Orestes / Euripides
• Iphigenia in Tauris / Euripides
• Iphigenia at Aulis / Euripides
• The Cyclops / Euripides

Aristophanes (ca. 446 BC – 385 Bc)

• The Acharnians / Aristophanes
• The Knights / Aristophanes
• The Clouds / Aristophanes
• The Wasps / Aristophanes
• Peace / Aristophanes
• The Birds / Aristophanes
• The Frogs / Aristophanes
• Lysistrata / Aristophanes
• The Thesmophoriazusae /Aristophanes
• The Ecclesiazusae / Aristophanes
• Plutus / Aristophanes

Herodotus, 485–420 BC

• The History of Herodotus

Thucydides, ca.460 BC

• History of the Peloponnesian War / Thucydides

Plato, c.427–c.347 BC

• Charmides, or Temperance / Plato
• Lysis; or Friendship / Plato
• Laches, or Courage / Plato
• Protagoras / Plato
• Euthydemus / Plato
• Cratylus / Plato
• Phaedrus / Plato
• Ion / Plato
• The Symposium / Plato
• Meno / Plato
• Euthyphro / Plato
• Apology / Plato
• Crito / Plato
• Phaedo / Plato
• Gorgias / Plato
• The Republic / Plato
• Timaeus / Plato
• Critias / Plato
• Parmenides / Plato
• Theaetetus / Plato
• The Sophist / Plato
• The Statesman / Plato
• Philebus / Plato
• Laws / Plato
• The Seventh Letter / Plato

Aristotle, 384–322 BC

• The Categories / Aristotle
• On Interpretation / Aristotle
• Prior Analytics / Aristotle
• Posterior Analytics / Aristotle
• Topics / Aristotle
• On Sophistical Refutations / Aristotle
• Physics / Aristotle
• On Generation and Corruption / Aristotle
• Meteorology / Aristotle
• Metaphysics / Aristotle
• On the Soul / Aristotle
• On Dreams / Aristotle
• On Longevity and Shortness of Life / Aristotle
• On Memory and Reminiscence /Aristotle
• On Prophesying by Dreams / Aristotle
• On Sense and the Sensible /Aristotle
• On Sleep and Sleeplessness / Aristotle
• On the Heavens / Aristotle
• On Youth and Old Age, On Life and Death, On Breathing / Aristotle
• The History of Animals / Aristotle
• On the Parts of Animals / Aristotle
• On the Motion of Animals / Aristotle
• On the Gait of Animals / Aristotle
• On the Generation of Animals / Aristotle
• Nicomachean Ethics / Aristotle
• Politics / Aristotle
• The Athenian Constitution / Aristotle
• Rhetoric / Aristotle
• Poetics / Aristotle

Hippocrates, 460–377 BC

• Works (approximation)

Galen, 131–201

• On the Natural Faculties / Galen

Euclid ca.300 BC

• The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements, or
• First Six Books of Euclid’s Elements

Archimedes, c. 287–212 BC

All works listed between On the Sphere and Cylinder and the Book of Lemmas may be found in The Works of Archimedes.

• On the Sphere and Cylinder
• Measurement of a Circle
• On Conoids and Spheroids
• On Spirals
• On the Equilibrium of Planes
• The Sand-Reckoner
• The Quadrature of the Parabola
• On Floating Bodies
• Book of Lemmas
• The Method Treating of Mechanical Problems

Apollonius of Perga, 262 BC–ca. 190 BC

• Treatise on Conic Sections / Apollonius of Perga

Nicomachus of Gerasa

• Introduction to Arithmetic / Nicomachus of Gerasa 

Lucretius, 98?–55 BC

• Of the Nature of Things / Titus Lucretius Carus

Epictetus, ca. 55–135

• The Discourses of Epictetus

Marcus Aurelius, 121–180

• The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Virgil, 70–19 BCE

• Eclogues / Virgil
• Georgics / Virgil
• The Æneid / Virgil

Plutarch, 46–120

• Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans / Plutarch

Cornelius Tacitus, ca.56–ca.120 AD

• The Annals / P. Cornelius Tacitus
• Histories / P. Cornelius Tacitus

Ptolemy

• The Almagest (approximation)

Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473–1543

• On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (approximation, and not in ePub)

Johannes Kepler, 1571–1630

• Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (Books IV – V)
• The Harmonies of the World (Book V)

Plotinus, 205–270

• The Six Enneads / Plotinus

Augustine of Hippo, 354–430

• The Confessions / St. Augustine
• The City of God
• On Christian Doctrine

Thomas Aquinas, 1224–1274 

• Summa Theologica

Dante, 1265–1321

• The Divine Comedy : The Vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise / Dante Alighieri

Geoffrey Chaucer, ca.1343–1400

• Troilus and Criseyde
• The Canterbury Tales / Geoffrey Chaucer

Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469–1527

• The Prince / Nicolo Machiavelli

Thomas Hobbes, 1588–1679

• Leviathan / Thomas Hobbes

François Rabelais, 1494?–1553?

• Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel / Francois Rabelais

Michel de Montaigne, 1533–1592

• The Essays of Michel de Montaigne

William Shakespeare, 1564–1616

• The First Part of King Henry the Sixth / William Shakespeare
• The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth / William Shakespeare
• The third part of King Henry the Sixth / William Shakespeare
• The Life and Death of Richard the Third / William Shakespeare
• The Comedy of errors / William Shakespeare
• Titus Andronicus / William Shakespeare
• The Taming of the Shrew / William Shakespeare
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona / William Shakespeare
• Love’s Labour ‘s Lost / William Shakespeare
• Romeo and Juliet / William Shakespeare
• The Life and Death of Richard the Second / William Shakespeare
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream / William Shakespeare
• The Life and Death of King John / William Shakespeare
• The Merchant of Venice / William Shakespeare
• The first part of King Henry the Fourth / William Shakespeare
• The second part of King Henry the Fourth / William Shakespeare
• Much Ado About Nothing / William Shakespeare
• The Life of King Henry the Fifth / William Shakespeare
• The Life and Death of Julius Ceasar / William Shakespeare
• As you like it / William Shakespeare
• Twelfth Night; or, what you will / William Shakespeare
• The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark / William Shakespeare
• The Merry Wives of Windsor / William Shakespeare
• The History of Troilus and Cressida / William Shakespeare
• All’s Well that Ends Well / William Shakespeare
• Measure for Measure / William Shakespeare
• Othello, the Moore of Venice / William Shakespeare
• King Lear / William Shakespeare
• Macbeth / William Shakespeare
• Antony and Cleopatra / William Shakespeare
• The Tragedy of Coriolanus / William Shakespeare
• The Life of Timon of Athens / William Shakespeare
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre / William Shakespeare
• Cymbeline / William Shakespeare
• The Winter’s Tale / William Shakespeare
• The Tempest / William Shakespeare
• The Life of King Henry the Eighth / William Shakespeare
• The Sonnets / William Shakespeare

William Gilbert, 1540-1603

• On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies

Galileo Galilei, 1564–1642

• Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences / Galileo Galilei

William Harvey, 1578–1657

• On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals / William Harvey
• On the Circulation of Blood
• On the Generation of Animals

Miguel de Cervantes, 1547–1616

• The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha / Miguel de Cervantes

Francis Bacon, 1561–1626

• The Advancement of Learning / Francis Bacon
• The New Organon / Francis Bacon
• The New Atlantis / Francis Bacon

René Descartes, 1596–1650

• Rules for the Direction of the Mind
• Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences / René Descartes
• Meditations on First Philosophy
• Objections Against the Meditations and Replies
• The Geometry

Benedict de Spinoza, 1632–1677

• The Ethics / Benedict de Spinoza

John Milton, 1608–1674

• English Minor Poems
• Paradise Lost / John Milton
• Samson Agonistes
• Areopagitica / John Milton

Blaise Pascal, 1623–1662

• The Provincial Letters / Blaise Pascal
• Pensées / Blaise Pascal
• Scientific and mathematical essays (approximation)

Isaac Newton, 1642–1727

• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
• Optics

Christiaan Huygens, 1629–1693

• Treatise on Light

John Locke, 1632–1704

• A Letter Concerning Toleration / John Locke
• Second Treatise of Civil Government / John Locke
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding / John Locke

George Berkeley, 1685–1753

• A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge / George Berkeley

David Hume, 1711–1776

• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding / David Hume

Jonathan Swift, 1667–1745

• Gulliver’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World / Jonathan Swift

Laurence Sterne, 1713–1768

• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman / Laurence Sterne

Henry Fielding, 1707–1754

• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling / Henry Fielding

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu

• The Spirit of the Laws Volume I and Volume II

Jean–Jacques Rousseau, 1712–1778

• Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men / Jean-Jacques Rosseau
• A Discourse on Political Economy
• The Social Contract / Jean-Jacques Rosseau

Adam Smith, 1723–1790

• An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations / Adam Smith

Edward Gibbon, 1737–1794

• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire / Edward Gibbon

Immanuel Kant, 1724–1804

• The Critique of Pure Reason / Immanuel Kant
• Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals / Immanuel Kant
• The Critique of Practical Reason / Immanuel Kant
• Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals / Immanuel Kant
• The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics / Immanuel Kant
• The Science of Right / Immanuel Kant
• The Critique of Judgement. Part I: Critique of Aesthetic Judgement / Immanuel Kant

American State Papers

• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution of the United States of America

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

• The Federalist

John Stuart Mill, 1806–1873

• On Liberty / John Stuart Mill
• Representative Government / John Stuart Mill
• Utilitarianism / John Stuart Mill

James Boswell, 1740–1795

• The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. / James Boswell

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, 1743–1794

• Elements of Chemistry: in a new systematic order, containing all the modern discoveries / Antoine Lavoisier

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier

• Analytical Theory of Heat

Michael Faraday

• Experimental Researches in Electricity

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770–1831

• The Philosophy of Right
• The Philosophy of History

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832

• Faust / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Herman Melville, 1819–1891

• Moby Dick; or the Whale / Herman Melville

Charles Darwin, 1809–1882

• The Origin of Species / Charles Darwin
• The Descent of Man / Charles Darwin

Karl Marx, 1818–1883

• Capital

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

• The Manifesto of the Communist Party / Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles

Leo Tolstoy, 1828–1910

• War and Peace / Leo Tolstoy

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821–1881

• The Brothers Karamazov / Fyodor Dostoyevsky

William James, 1842–1910

• The Principles of Psychology / William James

Sigmund Freud (Consider downloading from here)

• The Origin and Development of Psycho-Analysis
• Selected Papers on Hysteria
• The Sexual Enlightenment of Children
• The Future Prospects of Psycho-Analytic Therapy
• Observations on “Wild” Psycho-Analysis
• The Interpretation of Dreams
• On Narcissism
• Instincts and Their Vicissitudes
• Repression
• The Unconscious
• A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis
• Beyond the Pleasure Principle
• Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
• The Ego and the Id
• Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety
• Thoughts for the Times on War and Death
• Civilization and Its Discontents
• New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Second edition

To the pre-20th century books the second edition added the following:

John Calvin

• Institutes of the Christian Religion (Selections) (approximation, as full version)

Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1466–1536

• The Praise of Folly / Erasmus

Molière, 1622–1673 (Most plays are available at the Internet Archive)

• The School for Wives
• The Critique of the School for Wives
• Tartuffe ; or The Hypocrite / Molière
• Don Juan
• The Miser
• The Would-Be Gentleman
• The Would-Be Invalid

Jean Racine

• Bérénice
• Phèdre

Voltaire, 1694–1778

• Candide / Voltaire

Denis Diderot

• Rameau’s Nephew

Søren Kierkegaard

• Fear and Trembling (approximation, and full version but not in ePub)

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844–1900

• Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Future Philosophy /Friedrich Nietzsche

Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805–1859

• Democracy in America / Alexis de Tocqueville

Honore de Balzac, 1799–1850

• Cousin Betty / Honoré de Balzac

Jane Austen, 1775–1817

• Emma / Jane Austen

George Eliot, 1819–1880

• Middlemarch / George Eliot

Charles Dickens, 1812–1870

• Little Dorrit / Charles Dickens

Mark Twain, 1835–1910

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain

Henrik Ibsen, 1828–1906

• A Doll’s House / Henrik Ibsen
• The Wild Duck / Henrik Ibsen
• Hedda Gabler / Henrik Ibsen
• The Master Builder / Henrik Ibsen

The six volumes of 20th century material consisted of the following:

William James, 1842–1910

• Pragmatism : a new name for some old ways of thinking / William James

Henri Bergson

• An Introduction to Metaphysics

John Dewey

• Experience and Education

Alfred North Whitehead, 1861–1947

• Science and the Modern World

Bertrand Russell

• The Problems of Philosophy

Martin Heidegger

• What Is Metaphysics?

Ludwig Wittgenstein

• Philosophical Investigations (better version needed)

Karl Barth

• The Word of God and the Word of Man

Henri Poincaré

• Science and Hypothesis

Max Planck

• Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers

Alfred North Whitehead, 1861–1947

• An Introduction to Mathematics

Albert Einstein

• Relativity: The Special and the General Theory

Arthur Eddington

• The Expanding Universe

Niels Bohr

• Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (selections)
• Discussion with Einstein on Epistemology

G. H. Hardy

• A Mathematician’s Apology

Werner Heisenberg

• Physics and Philosophy

Erwin Schrödinger

• What Is Life?

Theodosius Dobzhansky, 1900-1975

• Genetics and the Origin of Species (approximation)

C. H. Waddington, 1905–1975

• The Nature of Life

Thorstein Veblen, 1857–1929

• The Theory of the Leisure Class / Thorstein Veblen

R. H. Tawney, 1880-1962

• The Acquisitive Society

John Maynard Keynes, 1883–1946

• The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money / John Maynard Keynes

Sir James George Frazer, 1854–1941

• The Golden bough : a study in magic and religion / Sir James George Frazer

Max Weber

• Essays in Sociology (selections)

Johan Huizinga

• The Waning of the Middle Ages

Claude Lévi-Strauss

• Structural Anthropology (selections)

Henry James, 1843–1916

• The Beast in the Jungle / Henry James

George Bernard Shaw, 1856–1950

• Saint Joan

Joseph Conrad, 1857–1924

• Heart of Darkness / Joseph Conrad

Anton Chekhov, 1860–1904

• Uncle Vanya / Anton Chekhov

Luigi Pirandello, 1867-1936

• Six Characters in Search of an Author

Marcel Proust, 1871–1922

• Remembrance of Things Past: “Swann in Love” / Marcel Proust

Willa Cather, 1873–1947

• A Lost Lady / Willa Cather

Thomas Mann, 1875-1955

• Death in Venice

James Joyce, 1882–1941

• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man / James Joyce

Virginia Woolf, 1882–1941

• To the Lighthouse

Franz Kafka, 1883–1924

• Metamorphosis / Franz Kafka

D. H. Lawrence, 1885–1930

• The Prussian Officer

T. S. Eliot

• The Waste Land

Eugene O’Neill, 1888–1953

• Mourning Becomes Electra

F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896–1940

• The Great Gatsby

William Faulkner, 1897-1962

• A Rose for Emily

Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956

• Mother Courage and Her Children

Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961

• The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

George Orwell, 1903–1950

• Animal Farm

Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989

• Waiting for Godot

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