Read by Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and 3 others
What books does Karl Marx recommend?
Karl Marx's book recommendations are unusual among these lists: they are reconstructed from his own writings, letters, and a parlor-game confession rather than a modern interview. The German philosopher and economist whose work founded modern communism read voraciously across literature, philosophy, and history, and the 9 titles here are sourced directly from Capital, his correspondence with Engels, his doctoral thesis, and his 1865 "Confessions." The themes are philosophy, fiction and literature, and history. His most-cited literary touchstone is Cervantes' Don Quixote, referenced in a footnote to Capital, while his intellectual debts are laid bare in a line about Hegel's Science of Logic: "I openly avowed myself the pupil of that mighty thinker." His confessions name Dante as his favorite poet and Aeschylus, whose Prometheus Bound he called the work of "the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical calendar," as his favorite tragedian.
Last updated January 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
Don Quixote
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
byMiguel de Cervantes
2003976 Pages“Don Quixote long ago paid the penalty for wrongly imagining that knight errantry was compatible with all economic forms of society.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx, K. (1867). Capital, Volume I, Chapter 2, Footnote 34.
Rameau's Nephew
and D'Alembert's Dream
byDenis Diderot
1976240 Pages“This unique masterpiece will give you fresh pleasure again... The mocking laughter at existence, at the confusion of the whole and at itself.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Letter from Marx to Engels, April 15, 1869.
byAeschylus
2003160 Pages“Prometheus is the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical calendar.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx, K. (1841). Doctoral Thesis, Foreword. Aeschylus was Marx's favorite tragic poet.
byWalter Scott
1816528 PagesSource: Paul Lafargue, 'Reminiscences of Marx'. Marx read and re-read Scott to his children.
Read by Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Karl Marx and 1 others
Faust
A Tragedy
byJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
1808512 Pages“My favorite heroine: Gretchen.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx's 'Confessions' (Parlor Game), 1865. Listed Gretchen as favorite heroine.
Read by Karl Marx, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Graham and 1 others
On the Origin of Species
By Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
byCharles Darwin
2009576 Pages(275,000)
“This is the book that contains the basis in natural history for our view.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Letter from Marx to Engels, December 19, 1860.
Science of Logic
Wissenschaft der Logik
byG.W.F. Hegel
2010866 Pages(968)
“I openly avowed myself the pupil of that mighty thinker.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx, K. (1873). Capital, Volume I, Afterword to the Second German Edition.
The Divine Comedy
Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
byDante Alighieri
2013752 Pages(169,113)
“My favorite poet: Dante.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx's 'Confessions' (Parlor Game), 1865. Listed Dante as favorite poet.
Robinson Crusoe
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
byDaniel Defoe
1719320 Pages(330,000)
“Of his prayers and the like we take no account... [but] he has satisfied a want of different kinds, and the execution of this work itself is an average social labour.”
— Karl Marx
Source: Marx, K. (1867). Capital, Volume I, Chapter 1, Section 4.
Also recommends books in
Frequently asked questions
What books did Karl Marx recommend or admire?
The 9 titles tied to Marx include Don Quixote, Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Goethe's Faust, Dante's The Divine Comedy, Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and Hegel's Science of Logic, drawn from his own writings and letters.
What was Karl Marx's favorite literature?
In his 1865 "Confessions" parlor game he named Dante as his favorite poet and Gretchen from Goethe's Faust as his favorite heroine. Aeschylus was his favorite tragic poet, and he read and re-read Walter Scott to his children.
Where do Karl Marx's book references come from?
They are sourced from Capital Volume I, his letters to Engels, his 1841 doctoral thesis, his 1865 "Confessions," and Paul Lafargue's "Reminiscences of Marx" rather than from any interview or curated list.
Did Karl Marx admire Darwin's work?
Yes. In an 1860 letter to Engels he described On the Origin of Species as "the book that contains the basis in natural history for our view," linking Darwin's account of nature to his own theory of history.
Has Karl Marx written any books?
Yes. His authored works include Capital: Volume 1, The Communist Manifesto, Grundrisse, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Critique of the Gotha Program, and The German Ideology.