"most popular" book ever?

[VermontLeft]

Conservatives are always saying that the Bible is the "most popular" book ever written and that its "sold more copies" than anything else.

...is that acutally true? :unsure: i mean has anyone actually measured or counted and how far back are we going? cause like a couple hundred years ago people pretty much had to own a bible so that cant count...

anyway any help is appreciated. :)

[bezdomni]

The Da Vinci Code is the most popular book of all time. Everybody knows that.

^^

The bible goes "way back"...so it isn't surprising that it has sold a lot of copies. Today, I am sure more copies of Memoirs of a Geisha (or whatever is trendy) is selling a hundred times what the bible is selling...because everybody who wants one already has one.

[redstar2000]

Good question!

There's really no way of knowing "which book" has sold the largest number of copies or has had the most copies printed or really anything of that sort.

There's no "central body" that keeps track of that or ever has.

It may be technically true that more copies of the Bible have been printed than any other book; but keep in mind that printing itself was largely confined to the Christian countries until the 20th century.

If I ran into that claim myself, I would retort: is the value of a book measured by its place on the New York Times "Best Seller List"? :lol:

An extremely doubtful proposition, to say the least. :D

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/223.gif

[LSD]

Its rather difficult, if not outright impossible, to determine what book has been printed the most. For most of the past few hundred years, no ones been keeping records of such things.

Besides, I doubt that number of printings really constitutes "popularity" anyways. After all, the implication behind a statement like "most popular book of all time" is not merely that it has been reprinted numerous times, but rather that lots of people wanted it to be.

And since I rather doubt that anyone today really cares about what 17th century individuals liked to read, let's have a look at the current "popularity" of the Bible.

Well, the latest evidence is not good for the Bible fans, as it would appear that the Ikea Catalog has overwhelmingly overtaken the Bible (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/homes/articles/1261423).

So while the Bible may have been "all the rage" in 1550. As Redstar points out, it hasn't exactly appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List in quite a whiel.

Incidently, its worth noting that the emergence of this line of Biblical "defense" is rather telling about the direction that religion has taken in the first world. Christian apologists are no longer defending their religion based on "faith" or "deeds", but market penetration! :lol:

Capitalism has become so dominant a social force at this point, that even the truly religious view "sales" as a fair way to judge a "holy scripture's" "value". After all, the inevitable extension of their argument is that if the Bible fails to sell, it signfies a lack of "popular" and hence a lack of inherent "value".

Now, we're still quite a ways away from the Bible not selling at all, but that capitalism is now begining to surpass "faith" as the central modern value, even among the "faithful", is a clear indication that the death knell of religion has rung.

Capitalism may have few redeeming social uses, but it does tend to be quite effective at "clearing away" the old dirt that's gotten stuck under the wheels of history. The bourgeoisie may not be anti-religion, but capitalism is, and, in the end, it will destroy it.

Revolution or no revolution, the age of religion is over.

[CCCPneubauten]

I second the idea that sales don't judge much, I may own a Bible or a Qur'an even, yet it doesn't mean I agree with the things said in there. I own a copy os Albert Speers autobiography, doesn't mean I enjoy what the man has done or agree with some of his statements.

[kurt]

Yeah, best selling fiction novel to date ;)

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

It wouldn’t surprise me at all.

I had a trivial pursuit question which was like “who is the most common historical figured portrayed in film" yup, you guessed it, its J.C lol.

Also, years ago in middle school when some Christians were giving an assembly talk they gave us all little bibles, and said it’s a sin to sell bibles.

I still turn to that book, every time I run out of filters.

[foreverfaded]

Yeah, best selling fiction novel to date
haha

i think the proper question would be, what is the most popular/most printed book of the 20th Century. Im sure there is an answer somewhere about that.

[Eleutherios]

"We're told the damn Bible's an important guide to live by, and the same folks say it's the best-selling book of all time. And yet it never seems to crack the Amazon Top 100 list. When you count everything, starting from Gutenberg (Johannes not Steve), it's a best-seller. Thank you Jesus! Of course, all time best-seller #2 is Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. And #10 is Valley of the Dolls, so you can decide how much stock you want to put in best-sellers.” —Penn Jillette

[Oh-Dae-Su]

guys it's been around for 2000 years, copied and recopied and reprinted for 2000 years, trust me anyone with half a brain can infer that this is the most widely sold and most popular book of all times i mean DUHH!!!!

[violencia.Proletariat]

Popularity? They have to GIVE the things away :lol:

[Comrade-Z]

My guess would be that Mao's "Little Red Book of Communism" easily beats the Bible, simply because there are so many people in China. Think about it: there are maybe half a billion Christians in the world, not all of whom own a Bible, probably. Let's say 50%. Then there were a billion Chinese during Mao's time in office. Let's say 75% of the Chinese population was forced to obtain a copy of the little red book and read it.

[Free Left]

My guess would be that Mao's "Little Red Book of Communism" easily beats the Bible, simply because there are so many people in China. Think about it: there are maybe half a billion Christians in the world, not all of whom own a Bible, probably. Let's say 50%. Then there were a billion Chinese during Mao's time in office. Let's say 75% of the Chinese population was forced to obtain a copy of the little red book and read it.

There were more christians then Chinese at that time. Look it up.
Amd there are 2 billion christians in the world at the moment, and during the time of Mao, it was probably 1 billion and the population of China only boomed in the 60s 70s 80s.

[Free Palestine]

Actually, it's not. Collectively, all the versions together are in fact the most sold book of all time, true, but in and of itself it's not the most distributed and sold book. It has not held a spot in the Bestseller's list, and because of the new revisions printed almost daily, it probably never will. There's simply too many interpretations of the same text.

Now Harry Potter on the other hand is an excellent Christian book. No...really..Ok Ok it's evil. But perhaps you can pick up a copy of "The Satanic Verses" which , ironically enough, has been on the bestseller's list numerable times.

[Iroquois Xavier]

Originally posted by [email protected] 21 2006, 12:17 AM
Yeah, best selling fiction novel to date ;)
after Harry Potter... :D

[Black Dagger]

guys it's been around for 2000 years, copied and recopied and reprinted for 2000 years, trust me anyone with half a brain can infer that this is the most widely sold and most popular book of all times i mean DUHH!!!!

The bible was being copied, recopied and reprinted when 'jesus' was like 9 years old?