Books With 10+ Words in Their Titles

Hello, and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) where we talk about books! Today we’re talking about books with really long titles. While I’m sure I can find books with longer titles, I decided to stick with books I’ve already read, and I figured 10 or more words was long enough. So… all of these are books I’ve read, and they all have 10 or more words. They’re all nonfiction–I think that there’s just something about nonfiction that makes authors want long titles. Or publishers, at least.

10 Words

Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History’s Greatest Buildings. Even though a book about buildings doesn’t sound like it’d be the most interesting, it actually was fascinating. Although it’s one of the shortest titles on today’s list, the alternate title of this book (from the 2015 edition) would be the longest, at 19 words: Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of Twenty Lost Buildings from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers.

The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. This is another book with a ten-word title, although it’s contents are a little more controversial than the previous book. I’d recommend Murray’s other book (coming in at 9 words), Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, which has more of the interesting parts, like how the wealthy have been segregating themselves into their own communities and don’t interact much with normal people, over this one.

12 Words

Hanger Management: Master Your Hunger and Improve Your Mood, Mind, and Relationships. I still need to review this book, which talks about how not getting the proper nutrition can have disastrous consequences on your state of mind.

Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History. This book discusses the search for all the Nazis that fled after World War II. It’s amazing how so many got away with murder for so many years.

Father Of Lions: One Man’s Remarkable Quest to Save the Mosul Zoo. Several of these books with really long titles are history books, and most of those deal with history that happened decades (or even centuries) ago. This book also deals with history, but it’s a very recent book. It talks about how ISIS took over and how one man tried to save some zoo animals, which happened less than a decade ago.

13 Words

The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself. I’ve read several of Boorstin’s books and they’ve all been fascinating. This one goes back to very early history all the way up to fairly recent times. I’ve reread this book, and might reread it again someday, even though it’s really long, just like its title.

Stop Missing Your Life: How to be Deeply Present in an Un-Present World. This is another book I should probably review someday. So many of us are distracted by various things. There’s so many different things to do, people are overworked, and our cell phones are a constant form of distraction. This book might help you learn to focus and pay more attention to the life going on around you. And it has a very long title.

14 Words

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. One of the things I’ve found interesting over the last year-ish is that there are several authors whose fiction seems to be influenced by nonfiction. In the author’s note of And I Darken, Kiersten White mentions this book as one of the books she found helpful to write about the Ottoman Empire. I also don’t find it coincidental that Marie Lu has been talking about Fallen Glory for the past year and all these ruins of old buildings show up in Skyhunter. This book was on my radar for years before I read And I Darken, but I did think it was pretty cool seeing some of this book that had leeched into the Dracula book.

15 Words

The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. I love these books. There are three of them, corresponding to the Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance times. I just wish Ms. Bauer had written a fourth one corresponding to modern times, like her Story of the World books, which were written for homeschool children. This book has one of the longest titles I could find.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. Eric Larson is another author who writes books with really long titles. Another book of his is called In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin. He’s also written The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America, which I haven’t read but sounds amazing (and has 18 words). This book gives more insight into World War II.

So those are ten books with some really long titles. Do you have books with longer titles? It’ll be interesting to see what other people come up with. Next week, we’re going to talk about books I read because someone recommended them to me.