Philip Ward (1938-) is a librarian, scholar, editor and author of more than 50 books. His A Lifetime's Reading: The World's 500 Greatest Books provides an ambitious plan to guide reader's through the great books. He explains his purpose in writing the book as follows: " Like most professional librarians, I have at one time or another glanced across a library to see a man or woman of eighteen to twenty daunted - even bewildered - by the sheer richness of the library treasures that are waiting to be enjoyed, the great minds to be understood, the poet's voices to be heard, the characters of fiction to be encountered. My heart has been touched by the magnitude of their choice. I long to offer them the plays of Euripides and the stories of Isaac Babel, the love songs of Dante and the wisdom of Mencius. But I know help must be given only when sought. A maturity that is bullied into life is not worth having."

"So I have written this book - fruit of a lifetime's reading happily not quite over - in the hope that it will serve as a literary guide to readers looking forward to many thousands of hours of pleasure."

The book is divided into fifty chapters, or 'years' to provide a discipline for the reader, but Philip Ward notes that the books can be read in any order. In the following tables we use the yearly groupings, but have, of necessity, abbreviated the rich bibliographic information that the author provides. For each title cited, the author has provided a brief but consistently insightful  description of the book. All serious readers should consult the book and enjoy Philip Ward's exceptional scholarship.