Do You Know Which Are The Most Read Books In The World?

All of us love to read a good book, but could you name the 10 most read books in the world? Over the last half century hundreds of thousands of books have been produced, but only a select few have become the most popular and most read books in the world. Here you will discover some of the greatest pieces of literary work by highly talented authors.

This is a list of the 10 most read books in the world over the last fifty years. The figures show the number of books printed and sold but does not take into account multiple readings of the same book.

There are a few book titles that have had more copies printed than some of these books, but a vast number of those books were not sold, which of course means that they did not get read.

Number Ten Most Read Book. ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank — 27 Million Copies

‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is the English version book that is based on the writings from a diary, which was written by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The book is now considered one of the key texts of the twentieth century.

Number Nine Most Read Book. ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill — 30 Million Copies

‘Think and Grow Rich’ is a motivational book written by Napoleon Hill. It is a personal development and self-improvement novel that was inspired by a suggestion that he received from the Scottish-American billionaire Andrew Carnegie.

Number Eight Most Read Book. ‘Gone With the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell — 33 Million Copies.

‘Gone with the Wind’, a romantic drama by Margaret Mitchell. It is set in Georgia during the American Civil War and follows the life of Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of an Irish immigrant plantation owner.

The novel won the coveted Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a film of the same name that won an Academy Award.

Number Seven Most Read Book. ‘Twilight’ — the saga by Stephenie Meyer — 43 Million Copies

‘Twilight’ is the first book in an extremely popular young adult series written by Stephenie Meyer. The story is about a young girl who falls in love with a vampire. This is a saga that is full of romance and action.

She says ‘First, he was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him’.

Number Six Most Read Book. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown — 57 Million Copies

‘The Da Vinci Code’ is a fiction novel written by American author Dan Brown. The story follows the investigations of Robert Langdon after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

He discovers an intriguing possibility that Jesus Christ may have been married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a child with her. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ has been made into a movie starring Tom Hanks.

Number Five Most Read Book. ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho — 65 Million Copies

‘The Alchemist’ was published in 1987 and became a Brazilian bestseller, it has gone on to sell 65 million copies world-wide, becoming one of the best-selling books in history. The Alchemist has been translated into more than 67 languages, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.

Paulo Coelho is not only one of the most widely read, but also one of the most influential authors writing today.

Number Four Most Read Book. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien — 103 Million Copies

‘The Lord of the Rings’ is an epic fantasy story written by the philologist J. R. R. Tolkien. The novel started out as a sequel to his earlier, far less complex children’s fantasy story ‘The Hobbit’, but evolved into a much larger work.

‘The Lord of the Rings’ has been made into a film trilogy that consists of three live action fantasy epic films; ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’.

Number Three Most Read Book. ‘Harry Potter’ by J. K. Rowling — 400 Million Copies

‘Harry Potter’ is a fantasy series of seven novels by British writer J. K. Rowling, the majority of which have been made into action packed movies.

Children and adults alike have been fascinated by this fiction character and cannot get enough of the young hero’s adventures.

Number Two Most Read Book. ‘Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung’ — 820 Million Copies

The quotations from the works of Mao Tse-tung, or as it was commonly called, the ‘Little Red Book’ of Mao Tse-tung, was a personal explanation to the people of China of the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.

Number One Most Read Book. ‘The Bible’ — 3.9 Billion Copies

‘The Bible’ still remains at the top as the most read book in the world.

‘The Bible’ is the account of God’s action in the world and his purpose with all creation. The writing of ‘The Bible’ was accomplished over sixteen centuries and is a quite amazing collection of sixty six books containing the messages of God.

How It Looks	This is a paperback / hard covered / pocket book / illustrated book. It was published in … with a circulation of … copies.
Genre Short Description Audience	This is a … about … who… It is targeting at…
Characters Language	The main characters of the book are… They are well-drawn / round / true-to-life. The dialogues are really good. The writer’s language is stylistically diverse / simple / cliché-ridden
Setting (Time/Place)	The story is set in… It takes place in…
Plot	At the beginning … but then/later… …meanwhile… Eventually… In the last part we can see…
Special Details	The book focuses our attention on… What strikes me about the book is the fact that… The book reminds me of… I’m fascinated with…

General Impression of the Book It’s my belief / I am convinced that…
Positive	Neutral	Negative
Broadens outlook, develops taste, gives relaxation, evokes thoughts, has an impact on…, it is a true observation of life, of peculiar interest to those who…	Ordinary, leaves you aside, slow.	Incomprehensible, full of contradictions, it’s beneath criticism.
A remarkable book, charming, charis­matic, enjoyable, moving, sensitive, intriguing, original, thought-provoking, gripping.	Predictable, usual, casual plot.	Boring, tiresome, weak, static, uninteresting, out­dated, cliché-ridden, obso­lete.
Out of common! I could not put it down! You’ll be thrilled with it!	I’m in two minds about it. I’m ambivalent about...	It’s not my cup of tea. I’m not keen on this genre.

17. MASS MEDIA: THE PRESS

Task 1. Read the text to review the vocabulary.

Traditionally mass media were subdivided into press, radio and television, in the recent years the humanity added electronic mass media to this list. So today mass media includes all the ‘tools’ we have for communicating with large numbers of people: television, radio, film, online services, magazines and newspapers. All messages that reach masses of people are known as interpersonal media.

The press includes newspapers and magazines. A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. A tabloid is a newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form, usually with illustrated, often sensational material. Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, or by pre-paid magazine subscriptions. They are published weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.

Task 2. Fill in the gaps with the italicized words.

Ads, articles, captions, comics, copies, cover, daily, died, editorial, games, horoscope, in brief, media, newsagent, newspaper, opinion, popular, readership, reviews, sections, sentimental, small, subscribe, television, weather, weekly, world.

The radio, the television and the press constitute the (1) _______________.

In England newspapers fall into two categories: the (2) _______________ Papers (Tabloids) interested in scandals and the Quality Papers interested in more serious topics. A newspaper is different from a magazine.

‘The Independent’ is a British (3) _______________. It’s published every day, it’s called a (4) ________________. ‘Time Magazine’ is an American magazine; it’s printed every week, it’s called a (5) _______________.

‘Newsweek’ is another famous magazine which sells more than 3 million (6) ______________; it has a very large circulation. In fact, the number of people who actually read it — its (7) _______________ — is superior to this number.

Many people buy their papers from a (8) _______________, but others prefer to receive it at home, that’s why they (9) _______________ to their favourite paper.

The front page is covered with big headlines while the (10) _______________ of a magazine is often a colour photograph.

A magazine is divided into several (11) _______________: politics, sports, business, etc. It includes various things such as: a leader or (12) _______________ written by an editorial writer, international or (13) _______________ news to know what’s going on in the world, news items or news (14) _______________ about less serious topics (15) _______________ and stories about famous people, politicians, the fashion, etc., advertisements or adverts or (16) _______________ for various products or services, wanted ads or (17) _______________ ads for people who are looking for a job or people who want to buy/sell things, the (18) _______________ report or weather forecast for people who want to know whether tomorrow will be a rainy day, TV listings to know what’s on (19) _______________, film or book (20) _______________ to know about the latest movie to see or the latest book to read, the readers’ mail or letters to the editor, the obituary column with the names of celebrities who have just (21) _______________, (22) _______________ for children or for adults too, the (23) _______________ or the stars for superstitious people, the agony column or the lonely heart column for people who have problems in their (24) _______________ lives, crosswords and (25) _______________ to pass the time when travelling on buses or trains, surveys and (26) _______________ polls to discover what a majority of people think, many photos with (27) _______________ underneath to report on events, etc.

Electronic media include a blog (a contraction of the term ‘Web log’) and a Web site. A Web site is taken by one newspaper and usually contains the features of the printed version — the same sections, which are archived. Additionally, it may contain electronic polls, video reports to the articles and broader material on the article. A blog is a Web site usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network.

Task 3. Word Chains. Fill in the table to make a word chain. Explain the meaning of its ‘links’. Explain the difference between the following occupations.

Verb	Job	Product	Sphere of Work
		edition/editorial	editor-in-chief
—		column	political columnist or a sports columnist
		report	political reporter or a sports reporter
		blog	blogosphere

Task 4. Review the types of the newspaper stories and talk about the newspaper article using the table.