Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Literature ×
Showing 105 books in Literature
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1. Writing to the Moment, Selected Critical Essays 1980-1996
BT: 8.38 124 comparisons
english literature essays literary criticism literature +1
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2. Neruda: The Poet’s Calling
BT: 6.89 101 comparisons
20th century history biography history latin american literature +2
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3. The Prelude, 1805 edition
BT: 6.01 132 comparisons
british literature literary classic literature poetry +1
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4. The Henriad
BT: 5.51 139 comparisons
drama english literature historical fiction literature +1
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5. Irish Classics
BT: 5.10 158 comparisons
cultural studies irish literature irish studies literary criticism +1
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6. Goethe: A Faustian Life
BT: 4.98 122 comparisons
biography european history german history german literature +3
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7. Vita Nuova
BT: 4.86 155 comparisons
classic literature italian literature literature medieval literature +1
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8. The Lives of the Novelists
BT: 4.75 179 comparisons
biography english literature literary biography literature +1
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9. Where Have You Been?: Selected Essays
BT: 4.58 638 comparisons
essays german literature literary criticism literature +1
MR Post MR Post +2 more
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10. Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life
BT: 4.57 151 comparisons
biography cultural history european history european literature +4
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11. Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success
BT: 4.54 148 comparisons
american literature american philosophy biography literature +1
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12. The Letters of T.S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922
BT: 4.34 146 comparisons
biography correspondence history literary history +1
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13. The new Gabriel García Márquez biography
BT: 4.32 165 comparisons
biography latin american literature literary biography literature
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14. Heller biography of Rand
BT: 4.30 156 comparisons
american literature biography literature philosophy
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15. Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature
BT: 4.00 203 comparisons
arts essays literature music
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16. Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling
BT: 3.86 180 comparisons
epic poetry hinduism indian literature literature +3
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17. The Anatomy of Influence: Literature as a Way of Life
BT: 3.64 212 comparisons
literary criticism literary studies literature
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18. On Seamus Heaney
BT: 3.31 220 comparisons
literary criticism literature poetry
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19. biography of Vassily Grossman
BT: 3.06 214 comparisons
biography literature
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20. Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature
BT: 2.61 246 comparisons
american history business history literary history +2
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21. The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
BT: 2.40 268 comparisons
english history history literary history literature +1
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22. La verdad de Agamenón
BT: 2.22 274 comparisons
cultural studies essays history literary criticism +4
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23. Notebooks
BT: 2.17 288 comparisons
american literature essays literature philosophy
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24. Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Learning Curve 1907-1948
BT: 2.14 278 comparisons
american history biography history literature +1
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25. Homer’s Odyssey
BT: 2.10 1503 comparisons
ancient greek literature classics epic poetry fiction +2
MR Post MR Post +4 more
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26. Essays
BT: 2.05 668 comparisons
ethics european history literature philosophy +1
MR Post MR Post +1 more
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27. The Bridge
BT: 1.94 296 comparisons
literature poetry
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28. How the Classics Made Shakespeare
BT: 1.39 293 comparisons
classical studies english literature literary criticism literature +1
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29. Samuel Beckett’s correspondence
BT: 1.28 333 comparisons
biography irish literature letters literary biography +1
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30. Reading Jane Austen
BT: 1.26 352 comparisons
english literature literary criticism literature
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31. How to be Well Read: A Guide to 500 Great Novels and a Handful of Literary Curiosities
BT: 1.19 259 comparisons
literary criticism literature reading guide reference
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32. John Le Carré: The Biography
BT: 1.18 293 comparisons
biography british literature literary biography literature
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33. Living and Dying with Marcel Proust
BT: 1.15 301 comparisons
french literature literary criticism literature
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34. Somebody with a Little Hammer, Essays
BT: 1.11 487 comparisons
essays film criticism literary criticism literature +1
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35. Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
BT: 1.05 306 comparisons
classical literature cultural history essay heian period +2
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36. The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
BT: 0.85 374 comparisons
biography collective biography cultural history european history +3
MR Post
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37. Beautiful & Pointless {A Guide to Modern Poetry}
BT: 0.80 289 comparisons
literary criticism literature modern poetry poetry
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38. The Book of Common Prayer
BT: 0.71 624 comparisons
anglicanism christianity literature liturgy +2
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39. Possessed by Memory: The Inward Light of Criticism
BT: 0.55 327 comparisons
essays literary criticism literature
MR Post
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40. Philip Roth: The Biography
BT: 0.36 341 comparisons
biography literary biography literature
MR Post
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41. After Ireland: Writing the Nation from Beckett to the Present
BT: 0.28 345 comparisons
cultural studies history irish history irish literature +2
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42. Proust Was A Neuroscientist
BT: 0.24 341 comparisons
cognitive science literary criticism literature neuroscience +1
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43. The Mahabarata
BT: 0.05 444 comparisons
epic poetry indian literature literature mythology +1
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44. Ayn Rand biography
BT: 0.03 232 comparisons
american history biography history literature +1
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45. The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers
BT: -0.29 357 comparisons
african american history african american literature american history american literature +5
MR Post
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46. Companion to V.
BT: -0.44 327 comparisons
literary analysis literary criticism literature study guide
MR Post
A
47. Aldous Huxley: A Biography
BT: -0.60 364 comparisons
biography english literature literary biography literature
MR Post
T
48. Twelfth Night
BT: -0.62 350 comparisons
classic literature comedy english literature fiction +2
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49. Coriolanus
BT: -0.63 364 comparisons
drama fiction literature play +2
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50. D.H. Lawrence: A Biography
BT: -0.68 362 comparisons
biography english literature literary biography literature
MR Post
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51. Richard II
BT: -0.73 349 comparisons
drama english history english literature historical drama +3
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52. Inferno
BT: -0.79 708 comparisons
christian literature classic literature epic poem fiction +4
MR Post MR Post +1 more
C
53. Comedy of Errors
BT: -0.83 367 comparisons
comedy english literature literature play +1
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54. Much Ado About Nothing
BT: -0.83 387 comparisons
comedy play drama fiction literature +1
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55. Studying with Miss Bishop: Memoirs from a Young Writer’s Life
BT: -0.86 366 comparisons
autobiography biography literature memoir +1
MR Post
T
56. The Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading
BT: -0.98 409 comparisons
literature memoir
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57. Love’s Labour’s Lost
BT: -0.99 357 comparisons
comedy drama english literature fiction +2
MR Post
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58. 3 Sections
BT: -1.01 363 comparisons
literature poetry
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59. The Western Canon
BT: -1.03 1053 comparisons
cultural history literary criticism literary history literature
MR Post MR Post +1 more
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60. poems by Pablo Neruda
BT: -1.07 399 comparisons
literature poetry
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T
61. The Hebrew Bible
BT: -1.17 608 comparisons
ancient history classic literature history literature +3
MR Post MR Post +1 more
S
62. Shakespeare and the Law
BT: -1.24 343 comparisons
interdisciplinary studies law legal studies literary criticism +2
MR Post
A
63. A Modest Proposal
BT: -1.32 829 comparisons
essay irish literature literature political satire +1
MR Post MR Post
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64. special edition of Montale’s poetry
BT: -1.47 400 comparisons
italian literature literature poetry
MR Post
B
65. Break, Blow, Burn
BT: -1.47 354 comparisons
cultural criticism literary criticism literature poetry
MR Post
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66. Memoirs
BT: -1.58 398 comparisons
autobiography biography chilean history literature +2
MR Post
T
67. Those Who Write for Immortality: Romantic Reputations and the Dream of Lasting Fame
BT: -1.69 390 comparisons
cultural studies literary criticism literary history literature +1
MR Post
D
68. Dante
BT: -1.74 380 comparisons
biography european history history italian literature +2
MR Post
T
69. The Bible
BT: -1.89 8246 comparisons
history literary classic literature philosophy +4
MR Post MR Post +26 more
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70. Hope Against Hope: A Memoir
BT: -1.92 648 comparisons
biography history literature memoir +3
MR Post MR Post
T
71. The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You Never Will Read
BT: -1.96 404 comparisons
book history history literary history literature
MR Post
C
72. Collected Works of William Shakespeare
BT: -2.05 367 comparisons
drama english literature literature poetry
MR Post
A
73. Aufbruch und Untergang: Osterreichische Kulturzwischen 1918-1938
BT: -2.20 358 comparisons
austrian history cultural history economics european history +2
MR Post
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74. Lives of the Novelists, A History of Fiction in 294 Lives
BT: -2.26 385 comparisons
collective biography history literary history literature +1
MR Post
S
75. Shakespeare
BT: -2.26 733 comparisons
classic literature drama english literature literature +1
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76. Henrik Ibsen: The Man & the Mask
BT: -2.32 332 comparisons
biography european literature literary criticism literature +1
MR Post
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77. the Great Books
BT: -2.38 338 comparisons
classics history humanities literature +1
MR Post
C
78. Classics for Pleasure
BT: -2.40 370 comparisons
book recommendations classics essays literary criticism +1
MR Post
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79. Selected Poetry and Prose
BT: -2.46 340 comparisons
literature poetry prose
MR Post
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80. Poems
BT: -2.59 376 comparisons
german poetry literature poetry
MR Post
T
81. The Works of William Wells Brown
BT: -2.60 356 comparisons
19th-century literature african american literature american literature literature
MR Post
C
82. Collected Poems
BT: -2.62 362 comparisons
literature poetry
MR Post
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83. Lawyer Poets and that World Which We Call Law
BT: -2.86 317 comparisons
law law and literature legal studies literary criticism +1
MR Post
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84. the Francis Steegmuller collection
BT: -3.01 320 comparisons
biography correspondence literary studies literature
MR Post
I
85. I, Robot
BT: -3.04 2636 comparisons
ethics fiction law literature +1
MR Post MR Post +7 more
V
86. Vivir para contarla
BT: -3.09 320 comparisons
biography latin american literature literature memoir +1
MR Post
D
87. Duino Elegies
BT: -3.14 371 comparisons
german literature literature poetry
MR Post
T
88. The Last Days of Mankind
BT: -3.22 374 comparisons
austrian literature drama literature satire
MR Post
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89. Emily Dickinson’s Poems as She Preserved Them
BT: -3.28 369 comparisons
american literature literature poetry
MR Post
T
90. The Poems of T.S. Eliot, volume 1
BT: -3.32 356 comparisons
literature poetry
MR Post
P
91. Poetry as Enchantment, and Other Essays
BT: -3.33 348 comparisons
essays literary criticism literature poetry
MR Post
C
92. Conversations with Goethe
BT: -3.37 762 comparisons
biography german literature intellectual history literature +2
MR Post MR Post
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93. Milosz: A Biography
BT: -3.46 291 comparisons
biography european literature literature poetry
MR Post
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94. Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation
BT: -3.50 323 comparisons
biography literary criticism literature poetry
MR Post
T
95. Think Pig! Beckett at the Limit of the Human
BT: -3.56 365 comparisons
criticism literary criticism literary theory literature +1
MR Post
P
96. Pride and Profit: The Intersection of Jane Austen and Adam Smith
BT: -3.66 354 comparisons
economics english literature history of economic thought interdisciplinary studies +2
MR Post
D
97. Der Rosenkavalier
BT: -3.66 316 comparisons
austrian literature drama libretto literature +2
MR Post
D
98. Dichtung und Wahrheit
BT: -3.76 272 comparisons
autobiography biography german literature literature +1
MR Post
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99. Spenserian Moments
BT: -4.00 241 comparisons
english literature literary criticism literature poetry
MR Post
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100. Usura Canto
BT: -4.40 254 comparisons
literature poetry
MR Post
T
101. The Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare
BT: -4.48 161 comparisons
biography english literature literary biography literature
MR Post
T
102. Timon of Athens
BT: -4.49 425 comparisons
drama fiction literature play +1
MR Post MR Post
T
103. The Threepenny Opera
BT: -4.94 147 comparisons
drama literature musical theatre opera +1
MR Post
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104. Final Harvest
BT: -5.43 116 comparisons
american literature literature poetry
MR Post
T
105. The Kraus Project
BT: -7.74 144 comparisons
austrian literature essays literary criticism literature
MR Post MR Post