Affiliate Disclosure: Links on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Read our affiliate policy
Non-Fiction Books in Order
Below you'll find the complete list of Non-Fiction books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: April 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the Non-Fiction series? Start with "Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages" (1959) and follow publication order through all 41 books.
The complete Non-Fiction reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order

Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages
1959

The Open Work
1962

Travels in Hyperreality
1973

How to Write a Thesis
1977

A Theory of Semiotics
1978

The Role of the Reader
1979

Postscript to the Name of the Rose
1983

The Sign of Three
1983

Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language
1984

The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas
1984

On The Medieval Theory Of Signs
1989

The Limits of Interpretation
1990

From the Tree to the Labyrinth
1990

Interpretation and Overinterpretation
1992

How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays (With: William Weaver)
1992

The Gnomes of Gnu
1992

The Search for the Perfect Language
1993

Apocalypse Postponed
1994

Faith in Fakes
1995

Belief or Non-Belief?
1996

Incontro
1996

Kant and the Platypus (With: Alastair McEwen)
1997

Five Moral Pieces
1997

Serendipities
1998

Talking of Joyce
1998

Experiences in Translation
2001

On Literature
2002

Mouse or Rat?
2003

History of Beauty (With: Alastair McEwen)
2004

On Beauty
2004

Turning Back the Clock
2006

On Ugliness
2007

The Infinity of Lists
2009

This is Not the End of the Book
2009

Confessions of a Young Novelist
2011

Inventing the Enemy
2011

The Book of Legendary Lands
2013

Chronicles of a Liquid Society
2015

Libraries: Candida Höfer
2019

On the Shoulders of Giants
2019

How to Spot a Fascist (With: Alastair McEwen,Richard Dixon)
2020
Affiliate Disclosure
As an Amazon Associate, Reading Order Books earns from qualifying purchases. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. This helps us maintain the site and continue providing reading order guides. Read our full disclosure