A listing of the 15 best selling books of all time:

1 – The Bible (of course, with a long history and over a billion believers)

2 – Quotations from Chairman Mao (The Little Red Book)

Put together by the People’s Liberation Army in 1964 and has sold over 800 million copies worldwide.

3 – The Qur’an has sold over 800 million copies

4 – Xinhua Dictionary (primary editor: Wei Jiangong)

A 1957 dictionary of Chinese simplified characters with English translations of each has sold over 400 million copies.

5 – The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein has sold 150 million copies.

6 – The Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith, Jr. was first published in 1830 and has sold over 120 million copies.

7 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 107 million copies since it was first published in 1997.

8 – And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie has sold over 100 million copies since 1939.

9 – The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown has sold over 80 million copies.

10 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling has sold 65 million copies since 2005.

11 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 60 million copies.

12 – The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger has sold over 60 million copies.

13 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 55 million copies.

14 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

15 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

16 – Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace has sold 50 million copies since it was published in 1880. (I decided to go to number 16 so we wouldn’t end with Harry Potter!)

Has anything surprised you about this list?

.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:14 pm A listing of the 15 best selling books of all time:

1 – The Bible (of course, with a long history and over a billion believers)

2 – Quotations from Chairman Mao (The Little Red Book)

Put together by the People’s Liberation Army in 1964 and has sold over 800 million copies worldwide.

3 – The Qur’an has sold over 800 million copies

4 – Xinhua Dictionary (primary editor: Wei Jiangong)

A 1957 dictionary of Chinese simplified characters with English translations of each has sold over 400 million copies.

5 – The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein has sold 150 million copies.

6 – The Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith, Jr. was first published in 1830 and has sold over 120 million copies.

7 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 107 million copies since it was first published in 1997.

8 – And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie has sold over 100 million copies since 1939.

9 – The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown has sold over 80 million copies.

10 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling has sold 65 million copies since 2005.

11 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 60 million copies.

12 – The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger has sold over 60 million copies.

13 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 55 million copies.

14 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

15 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

16 – Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace has sold 50 million copies since it was published in 1880. (I decided to go to number 16 so we wouldn’t end with Harry Potter!)

Has anything surprised you about this list?

.

Yes,

1. Chairman Mao's book is as popular and as read as Muhammad's Koran, but is under 100 years old.

2. J.R.R. Tolkein is wider read than The Book of Mormon.

Most of the titles are works of fiction. Stories about Gods, wizards and evil.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:14 pm A listing of the 15 best selling books of all time:

1 – The Bible (of course, with a long history and over a billion believers)

2 – Quotations from Chairman Mao (The Little Red Book)

Put together by the People’s Liberation Army in 1964 and has sold over 800 million copies worldwide.

3 – The Qur’an has sold over 800 million copies

4 – Xinhua Dictionary (primary editor: Wei Jiangong)

A 1957 dictionary of Chinese simplified characters with English translations of each has sold over 400 million copies.

5 – The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein has sold 150 million copies.

6 – The Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith, Jr. was first published in 1830 and has sold over 120 million copies.

7 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 107 million copies since it was first published in 1997.

8 – And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie has sold over 100 million copies since 1939.

9 – The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown has sold over 80 million copies.

10 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling has sold 65 million copies since 2005.

11 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 60 million copies.

12 – The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger has sold over 60 million copies.

13 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling has sold over 55 million copies.

14 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

15 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling has sold 55 million copies.

16 – Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace has sold 50 million copies since it was published in 1880. (I decided to go to number 16 so we wouldn’t end with Harry Potter!)

Has anything surprised you about this list?

.

The Book of Mormon surprised me. The Harry Potter stuff ranks 4th if you add them all up. The Chinese books don't surprise. There's a lot of Chinese people and they tend to read what they're told, or used to. The Da Vinci code is arguably the most recent book on the list (if you call the Potter series one book), so it has time to catch the Bible as a 'religious' tome, certainly The Book of Morman anyway, to which it compares favorably. Nothing else surprises. What surprises you?

The Dictionary is what surprised me, other then that there all works of fiction.

River

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:14 pm A listing of the 15 best selling books of all time:

1 – The Bible

16 – Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace has sold 50 million copies since it was published in 1880. (I decided to go to number 16 so we wouldn’t end with Harry Potter!)

Has anything surprised you about this list?

.

Consider who, Lew Wallace was !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Wallace

How the governor of New Mexico at the time of Billy the Kid could produce such a piece of literature.

I learned stuff from the Wiki link too.

? Inspired writing example ?

Moi

Mao's Little Red Book and the Agatha Christie surprised me. I didn't expect those two to be on this list.

Frodo kicked Harry's ass!

I didn't think that the Book Of Mormon would be on the list. I didn't think there were too many Mormon's in the world.

I am also surprised about The Catcher In The Rye, but pleasantly so. It is a wonderful book. It has a lot of interesting points about human behaviour, emotions, growing up (puberty), etc.

All students in China are required to study English. That probably explains the sales of the dictionary, as well as the Quotations.

The Mormons are aggressive proselyetizers. All young Mormons are required to spend one year trying to convert non-Mormons. That may explain the sales of the Book of Mormon. Their church continually buys copies to distribute among the infidels.

Agatha Christie remains hugely popular. She was the J.K. Rowling of her day.

It's sad to see how big a business religion still is.