There are two ways to assess "influential" books. the historian would look at Das Capital, Origin of the Species, What is to be Done, Mao's Little Red Book, Wealth of Nations etc. all seen in perspective.
If you are taking a poll of "the man on the street", you're going to get a sampling of folks who may not be widely read, but somebody has put something in their hands and they were impressed. You'll get "Dianetics", "Left Behind", and books by Tony Robbins, Donald Trump and Lee Iacocca. <s>
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Jeez. Stephen Hawkings' "A brief History of Time" sold around 10 million copies. >>
>>I replied to Tamar, my mistake...the poll reported that Atlas was the 2nd most influential....my (big) mistake.
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>>Having said that, the sale of over 1.5 million copies in the last 3 years, considering the size of the book and the content, is amazing.
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>But look at some of the books on the list:
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http://www.amazon.com/Library-Congress-Survey-Influential-Books/lm/133GLJVXVIBLN>
>Interesting books some of them, but the
most influential? Other than a couple (the 1st of course being one of them)I think not...
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
