You Gotta Know
You Gotta Know These Non-Fiction Works
The following table lists the 50 most-frequently referenced works of non-fiction in NAQT questions as of November 1, 2007. While you really gotta know their creators, these are also some of the works about which more substantive questions are written, so teams should be prepared for questions on their key ideas, cultural context, and circumstances of creation.
This is an update of an earlier You Gotta Know article.
| Rank | Title | Genre | Creator | Date | Freq. |
| 1 | Bible | Religious | divinely inspired, many authors | varies | 751 |
| 2 | U.S. Constitution | Document | James Madison (chiefly) | 1787 | 465 |
| 3 | Qur'an | Religious | Mohammed (transcriber) Uthman (codifier) | 660 | 178 |
| 4 | Book of Genesis | Religious | Moses | 950-500 BC | 147 |
| 5 | The Gospel According to Matthew | Religious | Saint Matthew | 1st century | 137 |
| 6 | The Declaration of Independence | Document | Thomas Jefferson | 1776 | 122 |
| 7 | Federalist Papers | Politics | Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison | 1787 | 94 |
| 8 | Book of Exodus | Religious | Moses (attributed) | c. 900 - 500 BC | 94 |
| 9 | Book of Revelation | Religious | John of Patmos | c. 95 | 91 |
| 10 | Book of Psalms | Religious | David (traditionally) | various | 86 |
| 11 | Leviathan | Politics | Thomas Hobbes | 1651 | 81 |
| 12 | The Republic | Politics | Plato | 4th cent. BC | 73 |
| 13 | Magna Carta | Document | King John (signer) | 1215 | 71 |
| 14 | The Elements | Math | Euclid | c. 300 BC | 69 |
| 15 | The Prince | Politics | Niccoló Machiavelli | 1513 | 68 |
| 16 | The Gospel According to John | Religious | St. John the Apostle | c. 100 | 68 |
| 17 | The Social Contract | Politics | Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 1762 | 66 |
| 18 | Book of Numbers | Religious | Moses (traditionally) | 6th century BC | 65 |
| 19 | Ninety-Five Theses | Religious | Martin Luther | 1517 | 64 |
| 20 | Vedas | Religious | divinely inspired, author unknown | 1500 to 1000 BC | 59 |
| 21 | The Wealth of Nations | Economics | Adam Smith | 1776 | 58 |
| 22 | Acts of the Apostles | Religious | Luke (traditionally) | AD 70-90 | 57 |
| 23 | J'accuse | Open Letter | Émile(-Édouard-Charles-Antoine) Zola | 1898 | 57 |
| 24 | Pragmatism | Philosophy | William James | 1907 | 55 |
| 25 | Principia Mathematica | Physics | Isaac Newton | 1667 | 54 |
| 26 | Bill of Rights | Document | James Madison | 1789 | 54 |
| 27 | Book of Mormon | Religious | Joseph Smith (Jr.) (traditional translator) | 1830 | 54 |
| 28 | Book of Ecclesiastes | Religious | Solomon (traditionally) | 3rd century BC | 53 |
| 29 | Torah | Religious | Moses (traditionally) | 6th century BC | 52 |
| 30 | Talmud | Religious | divinely inspired, author unknown | c. 300 to 600 | 51 |
| 31 | Utilitarianism | Philosophy | John Stuart Mill | 1863 | 51 |
| 32 | Common Sense | Politics | Thomas Paine | 1776 | 51 |
| 33 | Coming of Age in Samoa | Anthropology | Margaret Mead | 1928 | 50 |
| 34 | The Communist Manifesto | Politics | Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels | 1848 | 49 |
| 35 | Rig Veda | Religious | divinely inspired, author unknown | c. 1500 BC | 49 |
| 36 | Critique of Pure Reason | Philosophy | Immanuel Kant | 1781 | 47 |
| 37 | Cross of Gold speech | Speech | William Jennings Bryan | 1896 | 47 |
| 38 | Meditations | Philosophy | Marcus Aurelius | c. 161-180 | 45 |
| 39 | On The Origin of Species | Biology | Charles Darwin | 1859 | 45 |
| 40 | Walden | Philosophy | Henry David Thoreau | 1854 | 45 |
| 41 | Deuteronomy | Religious | Moses (traditionally) | 950-500 BC | 44 |
| 42 | Book of Jeremiah | Religious | Jeremiah | c. 600 BC | 44 |
| 43 | An Essay Concerning Human Understanding | Philosophy | John Locke | 1690 | 44 |
| 44 | The Book of Judges | Religious | Samuel (traditionally) | c. 550 BC | 44 |
| 45 | On Liberty | Politics | John Stuart Mill | 1859 | 43 |
| 46 | King James Bible | Religious | 54 scholars on 6 committees | 1611 | 43 |
| 47 | Book of Leviticus | Religious | Moses (traditionally) | 7th century BC | 41 |
| 48 | Mishna | Religious | divinely inspired, author unknown | 3rd century | 40 |
| 49 | The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism | Sociology | Max Weber | 1904 | 40 |
| 50 | Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God | Religious | Jonathan Edwards | 1741 | 39 |
NAQT has complete lists of the works of literature, non-fiction, art, and music that have been mentioned in its questions, sorted by frequency, available for purchase by coaches or teams for use as study guides.
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