The Bible: Number one selling book of all time?

Elsewhere

Morrisamb's post made me start thinking...

I have heard many Fundi-Christians say that the bible is the number one published / selling book in history... So why is it not at the top of Amazon's book list?

Any "Bible" on Amazon would be one edition of one modern translation in one language among many. What Christian fundies brag about is a cumulative figure (and I really don't know how they calculate it).

Gordy

Its not just fundemental Christians who say so all Christian groups do.

How do they calculate the it. Same way they do for any book, they check with publishers, Bible societies etc.

Check the Guiness Book of Records.

kwintestal

Because God told them so.

Kwin

Carmel

Probably the most "given away" too! I see them in garage sales all the time.

carmel

gumby

I guess all those fiction story #1 Best Seller books are all lying then that their book is #1?

Gumby

Stephanus

Oh, Puhleeeeeeeeease! Let's remember, the Bible has been printed and sold since Gutenberg and pretty well every European (I include North America in this) family has had at least one copy since then. So that's 20 generations - and the figure of Bibles sold must be in the hundreds of millions, if not billions. So, next time Michael Moore has one of his "gripping revelations" books topping the fiction charts, and says that it's the best selling book of all times, tell him from me, he's wrong!

blondie

Remember these days?

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g75 1/8 p. 13 A Unique Family That Serves Others ***

In fact, the hardbound book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, released in 1968, has a printing of 74 million copies in 91 languages, about three times as many as the next all-time best-selling book in the Western world, aside from the Bible.

Mary

Actually Blondie, I remember reading several years ago (about 10 years ago I think) in the Guiness World Book of Records, that the Truth books did in fact top the list for best non-fiction seller outside of the bible.............wasn't it published just a few years before '75?? That'd be the only reason they sold so many. We were going around to everyone saying "hey, how'd you like your car and mortgage to be all paid up and never have to worry about a dental or doctor's bill again?

Anyway, I think Harry Potter's got the Troof book beat hands down........haven't they sold something like 250 million copies???

Uzzah

According to the 2000 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records the Bible is first with an estimated 3.88 billion copies being distributed from 1815-1999.

Uzzah