The World's Best Books Homer To Hemingway 3000 Books of 3000 Years, 1050 B.C. to 1950 A.D.

Selected on the Basis of a Consensus of Expert Opinion. But, as everyone knows, the world has changed enormously in thirty years. Public opinion and critical opinion have changed with it. 

The author still asks his readers to remember that "the world best in his title means selected on the basis of a consensus of expert opinion as most worthy of the attention of today's intelligent American readers who are equipped with at least a high school education or its equivalent".