The Bible tops 'most influential' book survey

Blackleaf

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The Bible has been named the world's most influential book in a nationwide survey for the Folio Society.

The YouGov poll asked people to rank books from a list of 30 works chosen by The Folio Society, according to their significance in today's world.

The Bible topped the poll, with 37% of the vote - ahead of Charles Darwin's 1859 work On the Origin of Species, with 35%.

Stephen Hawking's popular 1988 book A Brief History of Time; Einstein's Relativity; and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four complete the top five.

Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica is sixth and Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations is ninth. The Qu'ran is eighth and James Watson's The Double Helix is tenth.

Women favour the Bible, which they argued contains the "guidelines to be a good person", whilst men favour On the Origin of Species, claiming that it answers "the fundamental questions of human existence".

Half of the ten most influential books of all time are British.


The Bible tops 'most influential' book survey


13 November 2014
BBC News


The Bible was chosen from a list of 30 books selected by The Folio Society

The Bible has been named the world's most influential book in a nationwide survey for the Folio Society.

The YouGov poll asked people to rank books from a list of 30 works chosen by The Folio Society, according to their significance in today's world.

The Bible topped the poll, with 37% of the vote - ahead of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, with 35%.

Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time; Einstein's Relativity; and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four complete the top five.

The Folio Society's survey of 2,044 British adults asked those polled to make their selection based, not on enjoyment or popularity, but for their influence on humanity.

There was some disparity among men and women, with men choosing On the Origin of Species as their number one most influential book, claiming that it answers "the fundamental questions of human existence".

Women favoured the Bible, which they argued contains the "guidelines to be a good person".

Respondents also cited Catch 22, Lord of the Rings, the Highway Code and the Oxford English Dictionary among the books they felt had had a profound effect on humanity.

The ten books voted most valuable to humanity

1) The Bible (37%)
2) The Origin of Species (35%)
3) A Brief History of Time (17%)
4) Relativity (15%)
5) Nineteen Eighty-Four (14%)
6) Principia Mathematica (12%)
7) To Kill a Mockingbird (10%)
8 ) The Qur'an (9%)
9) The Wealth of Nations (7%)
10) The Double Helix (6%)

BBC News - The Bible tops 'most influential' book survey
 
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MHz

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Proof being my post will be the only one the thread gets, lol. Where is that MasterCard, this is priceless
 
Dexter Sinister

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I wonder what the results would be if they asked 2044 Chinese adults, or Indian adults, or any group of educated adults whose native language isn't English.
 
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Sal

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Frankly these two surprise me more:

5) Nineteen Eighty-Four (14%)

7) To Kill a Mockingbird (10%)
 
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Sal

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Tecumsehsbones said:
It's interesting that so many people continue to quote 1984, despite the fact that its predictions have turned out to be completely wrong.
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30 years of proof aren't enough I guess , I would have thought the novelty would have worn off by now...it hasn't apparently

the other one we were discussing last week that just keeps on going and going is The Great Gatsby, it is still on school curriculums ...it's good but there sure as hell are better books out there...and three movies made from it, puuuuuleeze

if I have to see Daisy in one more actors face ... lord, lord
 
Twila

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Tecumsehsbones said:
It's interesting that so many people continue to quote 1984, despite the fact that its predictions have turned out to be completely wrong.
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People quote the bible despite the bad things it's promotes...so maybe not interesting so much as typical?
 
MHz

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Even with the preselected group it is still a paperweight for the most part and that is with all the extra books that is on the subject of Christianity. Adam and Eve sinned as soon as they were told not to. Get a book of quotes so you don't 'ad-lib' and mess up the message and that is the first thing that fall by the side of the road. It isn't so much a verse gets tampered with compared to the rest of the passage it comes from is not reviewed as it will have a few verses that add some info onto another subject.

Twila said:
People quote the bible despite the bad things it's promotes...so maybe not interesting so much as typical?
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That is a topic that probably deserves something longer than one sentence. The ones God killed in the flood are given back their lives when the sea gives up her dead at the GWT event. You can't get any more lost than being a 6 fingered person when God has exterminated all your relatives for the sins of their fathers, the 'sons of God' before the flood, because their mothers were daughters of Eve God can save them also as members who live outside the City in the New Earth, just like all the others that are made alive at the GWT.

How would you write something that has everybody experience death before the end of the book arrives? Try reading just Ge:1-3 and Re:20-22. Gives a summation of who God is and where we came from and where we are going to end up. The rest of the book deals with the two bruises from Ge:3:15 and a bruise is going to hurt or it isn't a bruise.

BTW, nice burka in your avatar, when did you convert?
 
Twila

Twila

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MHz said:
BTW, nice burka in your avatar, when did you convert?
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Well I guess that proves it. People see what they want to see.

It's not a burka. It's not my eye. It's an eye with a zipper opening up to allow the eye to see.
 
MHz

MHz

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At least you have one more working eye that most around here. Those 6 chapters would take you less than 30 minutes to read and you would not have one question about 'it'. Knowing there is a plan is all you need to know, as far as the 'details go you should cover them all or none at all, it gives you a slant that was not part of the 'program'. No big deal if you don't fix it and yes it is a defect as it slows down you rate of knowledge intake.
 
Corduroy

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Blackleaf said:
The Folio Society's survey of 2,044 British adults asked those polled to make their selection based, not on enjoyment or popularity, but for their influence on humanity.
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It's an interesting question that cannot be answered because people will refuse to follow this simple rule.
 
MHz

MHz

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Would the last 1,000 years be the base for (influence on humanity)? All 'we' proved is we can't follow simple instructions ourselves, I can see and Indian reservation off to my left and right if I drive the speed limit for just one hour. I'm still looking for any verse that puts that as being the Christian thing to do. The Church gets to claim saints and sinners so in that respect we fully qualify, that doesn't mean we should be running the planet, we are to wave white flags for people that need help with the effects of being poor of ill. (rather than holding a court to see if they deserve our help, most died during that sorting process. Those qualities make us good citizens if the leaders stay with the rules also.
 
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