Thought

The number is the librarian’s score, out of ten, from Claude, an AI. Readers’ scores appear beside it once five people have rated. Claude has not heard the albums: their scores come from what is documented about them.

1. 1 Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way and Its Virtue道德經 Laozi 300 BCE 9.7
2. 2 The Analects: Books 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9論語（學而、爲政、里仁、述而、子罕） Confucius and his disciples 400 BCE 9.6
3. 3 Zhuangzi: Free and Easy Wandering莊子·逍遙遊 Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou) c. 300 BCE 9.6
4. 4 Apology: The Oracle, and the Examined Life (20c–23c, 37e–38b) Plato 390 BCE 9.5
5. 5 Zhuangzi: The Secret of Caring for Life莊子·養生主 Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou) c. 300 BCE 9.4
6. 6 Meditations Marcus Aurelius c. 175 9.4
7. 7 Discourse on the Method René Descartes 1637 9.3
8. 8 Ethics: The Free Man (Part IV, Propositions 67–73; Part V, Proposition 42) Baruch Spinoza 1677 9.3
9. 9 The Fragments of Heraclitus Heraclitus c. 500 BCE 9.2
10. 10 Zhuangzi: Autumn Floods (excerpt)莊子·秋水（節選） Zhuangzi and his school c. 280 BCE 9.2
11. 11 Pensées: The Two Kinds of Mind, and the Thinking Reed Blaise Pascal 1670 9.2
12. 12 Phaedrus: On Writing (274b–279c) Plato c. 370 BCE 9.1
13. 13 Mencius: Gaozi I (selections)孟子·告子上（選） Mencius (Meng Ke) c. 300 BCE 9.1
14. 14 Xunzi: An Exhortation to Learning荀子·勸學 Xunzi (Xun Kuang) c. 250 BCE 9.0
15. 15 Areopagitica John Milton 1644 9.0
16. 16 On Liberty: Knowing Both SidesOn Liberty, Chapter II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion (from) John Stuart Mill 1859 9.0
17. 17 The Enchiridion Epictetus 125 8.9
18. 18 The Western and Eastern Inscriptions西銘·東銘 Zhang Zai c. 1075 8.9
19. 19 On the Shortness of Life Seneca c. 49 8.8
20. 20 Of Studies Francis Bacon 1625 8.8
21. 21 The Record of Learning (from the Book of Rites)禮記·學記 Anonymous Confucian scholars c. 200 BCE 8.7
22. 22 To the Reader Michel de Montaigne 1580 8.7
23. 23 Of Books Michel de Montaigne 1580 8.7
24. 24 An Explanation of Progress in Learning進學解 Han Yu 813 8.6
25. 25 Of Truth Francis Bacon 1625 8.6
26. 26 Self-Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 8.6
27. 27 Family Instructions of the Yan Clan: Encouragement to Learning (excerpts)顏氏家訓·勉學（節選） Yan Zhitui c. 589 8.5
28. 28 On Teachers師說 Han Yu c. 802 8.5
29. 29 As Ships Through the Vast Seas of Time: From The Advancement of LearningOf the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Book I (the closing argument) Francis Bacon 1605 8.5
30. 30 The American Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson 1837 8.5
31. 31 The Business of Those Who Come After: Seneca's Eighth Letter to LuciliusEpistulae morales ad Lucilium, VIII Seneca c. 63 8.4
32. 32 Of Friendship Francis Bacon 1625 8.4
33. 33 Walking Henry David Thoreau 1862 8.4
34. 34 He Plants His Trees to Serve a Race to Come: From On Old Age Cicero 44 BCE 8.3
35. 35 The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains (Liezi)列子·湯問·愚公移山 Liezi (attributed) 300 8.3
36. 36 Of Idleness Michel de Montaigne 1580 8.3
37. 37 On the Calling of Philosophers and Artists論哲學家與美術家之天職 Wang Guowei 1905 8.2
38. 38 On Thinking for Oneself Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 8.1
39. 39 The Analects (Legge’s translation, selection) Confucius 400 BCE 8.0
40. 40 On Listening to Lectures (chapters 1–4, 17–18) Plutarch 100 7.8
41. 41 Of Kings’ Treasuries (the passage on books)Of Kings’ Treasuries John Ruskin 1865 7.8
42. 42 Tao Te Ching (Legge’s translation) Laozi 400 BCE 7.5