USA Today is running a series on the top 25... trends, quotes, books, etc.
The list of books can be seen here:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/top25-books.htm and at the top of the list is Harry Potter. This list only covers the last 25 years of publishing but if we go a bit further back you have to include the Bible and other books considering:
1. It is a book
2. People are willing to kill over their interpretation of what is in it
3. It is the most published book ever (besides the Ikea catalog) and it is the #1 seller ever (although the Harry Potter SERIES has outsold it).
I think the big thing there is that people are willing to kill over the Bible, I've yet to hear someone start yelling about Voldamont as they shoot people with their magic wands. (I am sure I spelled his name wrong but the good news is I don't really care).
I think my 25 list would be a bit different:
The bible (sure I'm not religious and if I was I really would not select this option) certainly deserves to be on ANY list of books that effect people. As does the Qur'an and every other religious text (Jewish texts would probably out number them all if there had not been the wholesale slaughter of Jews for just about the entire history of mankind).
Books from guys like
Salman Rushdie (UPDATE: Rushdie is on the list), Shakespeare, and I might even include the Harry Potter books should be on the list because they certainly caused a stir. Hell, millions of people wanted to kill Rushdie.
How about the
Anarchist Cookbook?
Dr. Seuss?
Tom Sawyer, Of Mice and Men, the Iliad...
Dan Brown might deserve a spot on the list but it would be much lower, historically things like the Roman code of laws would have to far outrank his writing (which overall really is not all that good he just chose a hot subject).
Now, I'll admit that Oprah has had a huge effect on getting people to read but the books she selects don't really change the nation or effect us in one way or another. The same can be said about the
9/11 Report. The event affected us but the book, while pointing out the mistakes we made, didn't really move the country (except to be upset when they found out they paid for a book you can get for
free).
Here is a much better list of the
top 10 most influential books of all-time. Although I am sure there are arguments to be made with this list as well you at least have to respect the choices for what they are, books that have influenced people's actions or reactions...
At least the list of quotes is a little more respectable (if not amusing):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/top25-quotes.htm
