Throughout history, books have disseminated the ideas and discoveries of the world’s most influential thinkers.
Now
a new survey has shown that half of the top 10 ‘most valuable’ books –
as voted by the British public – were written by eminent scientists.
The
poll by The Folio Society set out to select the most valuable works to
the human race and authors of those picked include Charles Darwin,
Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, as well as George Orwell and Harper
Lee.
Two
of the top three titles were written by scientists. Darwin’s The Origin
of Species gained 35 per cent, while Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History
of Time gained 17 per cent.
But the Bible was voted the most valuable text overall with 37 per cent of the votes.
Interestingly,
37 per cent of people living in the south of the UK voted for Charles
Darwin’s seminal scientific tome, but 41 per cent of northerners opted
for the Bible.
The
study, conducted by YouGov for the publisher, asked over 2,000 members
of the British public which three books from a list of 30 they
considered to be the most valuable.
The measure for selection was not by popularity or by the enjoyment experienced in reading the book.
Participants were asked to rate the influence and significance their selected books have had on the modern world.
Other
scientific works included: Relativity by Einstein with 15 per cent of
the vote and Principia Mathematica - a three-volume work on the
foundations of mathematics by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand
Russell – with 12 per cent of votes.
The
Double Helix, which is an autobiographical account of the discovery of
the structure of DNA written by James D. Watson, also made the cut in
tenth place.
Classic
works of fiction also made up the top 10, including George Orwell’s
dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which came in fifth place and
Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird at number seven.
THE TOP 10 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%)
A total of 78 per cent of people picked their most valuable books because they answer fundamental questions of human existence.
Some
64 per cent of people said titles ponder the meaning of life and
explore answers, while 56 per cent said they contain guidelines of how
to be a good person.
Tom
Walker, Editorial Director at The Folio Society, said: ‘The results of
the survey highlighted some interesting dynamics, with A Brief History
of Time on the list -surely one of the most under-read bestsellers ever
written, - relatively little on economics despite the financial climate
and only two overtly political, fiction titles in the list.
‘The
first question I had was whether the similar figures for Darwin and the
Bible does show a continuing polarisation between the realms of science
and religion, or whether in fact it reveals a more balanced approach to
ideas for the modern reader.
‘How
different might the survey have looked a hundred, or even thirty years
ago? How might it look in another thirty years – will Darwin have taken
over; will the worrying rise of Nineteen Eighty-Four’s relevance
continue; might the Qur’an continue to rise in significance in the UK;
or might advances in DNA technology mean that The Double Helix grows in
stature?
‘Is
it perhaps a list of which books are perceived as having influence or
giving understanding, rather than those which we personally read in
order to understand the world around us?
‘Given
the age of the majority of titles perhaps our greatest influence on how
we understand the world is nowadays as much through media as through
books.’
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