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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
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