It is undeniable that the books in the Great Ideas series shook civilization, but which one really rocked the world? Penguin authors weigh in:
 

Alain de Botton on Arthur Schopenhauer's On the Suffering of the World
Alain de Botton is the author of many internationally bestselling books, including How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Art of Travel, and Status Anxiety. He has also made television documentaries based on his work. Currently, he is at work on a new book and an accompanying TV series about architecture. His lives in London.

Caitlin Sweet on Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own
Caitlin Sweet is the author of A Telling of Stars, and its prequel, The Silences of Home. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their two daughters.

Lyn Hamilton on Charles Darwin's On Natural Selection
Lyn Hamilton is author of The Xibalba Murders, nominated by the Crime Writers of Canada Association for the Arthur Ellis Award: Best First Novel, and The Maltese Goddess, her second archaeological mystery featuring antiques dealer Lara McClintoch.
 
 

Judy Rebick on Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto
Judy Rebick is the publisher of Canada's irreverent web magazine www.rabble.ca, author of Imagine Democracy, and the CAW Sam Gindin Chair in social justice and democracy at Ryerson University. She appears frequently on radio and television across Canada and writes for CBC Online and other magazines and newspapers. She lives in Toronto.