Product Description

Everyone interested in the world of books will be fascinated by this compilation of facts and information about the books and authors associated with one of our most enduring pop culture barometers, the New York Times bestseller list. Only 50 years old, it has become the single standard for success and a fascinating indicator of where popular tastes are heading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1419353 in Books
• Published on: 1992-12-01
• Released on: 1992-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 262 pages

Amazon.com Review
As John Bear notes in his Amazon.com Books interview, "most of my books have been ones that I wish someone else had done, but since they didn't, I had to step in and do it."

And Bear has written a comprehensive and fascinating catalog of every book that has hit #1 in the New York Times Bestseller's list. We've kept a copy here in the Amazon.com Editorial office for browsing and study. Full of surprises and quirky facts, and highly Recommended to anyone in the book business, or anyone interested in what makes books sell.

From Library Journal
For people in the book industry, reading this handy tome is a trip down memory lane. Bear offers more than an examination of 50 years of popular American culture. Briefly summarizing each fiction and nonfiction number one title week by week, he also details the total number of weeks each title stayed on top and graphs its activity and position on the best-sellers list. Bear includes reprints of relevant articles about best sellers and popular taste and also quotes from various authors about writing and statistics. Some of the statistics are just fun, such as the grouping of best-selling authors by zodiac signs (although this does make for a quick birthdate check). Other statistics, such as a list of authors who never made the list, a list of all-time best-selling books, and an examination of these books by the nine authors who appear on the list most frequently, make this a ready reference tool. Separate indexes by author and title are helpful.
- Denise Sticha, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

THE BIBLE
CAN YOU TRUST THE BIBLE?


Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no god. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim it, let him declare and set it forth before Me. Who has announced from old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a god apart from Me? There is no Rock; I know not any."
Isaiah 44:6-8

Does it matter what you believe, as long as you hold a religious belief? Of course it does! The key to Christian faith is not in the one believing but in the One believed. The key is not in the one trusting, it is in the One trusted. Regar truth, it is not how much faith you have in the Almighty, it is what you have faith in that may or may not give you power and life. The more you get to know Jesus and His word, the more you will trust Him.

Is the Bible trustworthy? The greatest book in English literature is the Bible. It outsells all other books and always has every since the time of Christ. It is pure ignorance to neglect it. The Bible stands alone, unique. It was written over a period of 1600 years (at least 60 generations) by more than 40 different contributing authors, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, from every walk of life (doctors, lawyers, kings, philosophers, historians, shepherds, military generals, tax collectors, cup bearers, and so on). Some wrote from dungeons, prisons, synagogues, near the Temple, on the beaches, on a hillside, on an island. Some wrote in times of peace, others in times of war; in different moods: in the depths of sorrow, in the heights of joy. It was written on three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was written in three languages: Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. The authors wrote on literally hundreds of controversial subjects, with absolute continuity and harmony from Genesis to Revelation. The Book is one unfolding story of God's history of redemption of mankind through the Messiah.

A man from the Encyclopedia Britannica, who was recruiting others to sell the Great Books Series of the Western World, was challenged to compare any other books or authors over a period of just ten years (not 60 generations), just ten authors (not 40 authors), just one place (not three continents), all from one walk of life (not from different walks of life). One time, one mood, one continent, one language, writing on just one controversial subject-putting these together-he was asked if they would agree. He said, "NO!" He said that you would have a conglomeration. Two days later he committed his life to Christ.

The Bible was the first book printed (Gutenburg Press). The Bible has been published more times and read by more people than any other book in history, and there is no close second. This shows that any intelligent man or woman who is seeking truth should certainly consider a book with these qualifications. Right now there are more than 5000 translators working on the Bible alone.

The Bible is unique in its survival through time. People assume today that we cannot fully trust the Bible since it was written mostly over 2000 years ago. They say, "Look at all the discrepancies." They repeatedly try to show some, but they still have yet to find any enduring one. This attitude is totally uneducated. There is more evidence, manuscript-wise (a manuscript is a hand written copy, not machine-printed), for the reliability of the Bible than for any other ten pieces of classical literature put together! If you were to ask any university professor if he believed that Julius Caesar fought the Gallic Wars, he would definitely agree that this is a proven historical fact. The only way we know that Caesar fought the Gallic Wars is that he was the one that wrote about it! The closest manuscript we have to that event was written 1000 years after he died!

Look at Plato (500 B.C.). From the time he lived to the earliest manuscript of his works is 1200 years: Tacitus, 1000 years; Thucydides, 1300 years; Herodotus, 1300 years; Sophocles, 1400 years; Aristotle, 1240 years; Euripides, 1600 years. We have manuscripts of the New Testament within 100 years after Christ, and many others within the First Century! We have copies of almost the entire Old and New Testaments (the entire Bible) within 350 years after Christ.

What about the number of manuscripts? The more manuscripts that are available, the more certain we are about the reliability of the writings. There are only ten manuscripts about the life of Julius Caesar in the entire world, dating 1000 years after his death. Of Plato, seven manuscripts; Herodotus, eight; Sophocles, one hundred; Lucretius, two; Aristotle, five of his poetics; of the New Testament, five thousand in Greek, eight thousand in Latin, and one thousand early versions! Total: more than 14,000 manuscripts. The ancient writing that comes in second in number of manuscripts is the Iliad, which has only 643 copies. If you destroyed all the Bibles in the world today, we could reconstruct everything in the New Testament except 11 verses from within 150 years of Christ's resurrection. Sir Fredrick Kenyon, former director and head librarian of the British Museum, said concerning the accuracy of the New Testament, "In no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the books and the date of the earliest manuscripts so short as in the New Testament."

There is presently only one New Testament text for all religions and translations. All New Testament Greek scholars now agree that we have the original words as written by the New Testament authors. That is a scientific miracle! Sure, there are plenty of translations that differ in their wording, but for the scholars there is only one Greek text for the New Testament. When people say that there are so many interpretations which contradict, the neglect to see that these contradictions are not in the text, not in the wording of the Bible, but in the presuppositions and assumptions in the mind of the readers. If someone who does not believe in God reads the Bible and tries to interpret, he will have a very different understanding from what the writer was trying to say! (See my paper on the Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics.) Aborigines do not have a problem in understanding the Bible, but educated people have great difficulties in clearing their minds of their prejudices as they read.

The Bible is unique in its survival of literary criticism. Literary critics have tried to destroy the Bible repeatedly. Thanks to their extreme efforts, they have in effect made the Bible more trustworthy now than ever before. It is still taught in universities that the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were written by several authors other than Moses (the Bible claims Moses as their author), basically because universities have not been revising their textbooks dealing with this subject since 1890! The basis for this outmoded theory was that there was no written language during the time of Moses. Archaeology has long since proven that writing existed before the time of Abraham (2000 BC), and has shown that there were at least five written languages during the time of Abraham.

Were the writers of the New Testament liars? They could not have been liars because they signed their testimony with their lives and with their blood. Not only did they go their own separate ways to the ends of the known world after the resurrection of Christ, but secular history has recorded that they all (except John) died horrible deaths willingly for an empty tomb. It is not at all logical to say that they were liars. If they simply wanted to bring peace to the world, they could have chosen a story that was much more easily believed than that of the New Testament!

What about archaeology and history; have they disproved the Bible? Let's go to the best sources. Dr. Nelson Glueck, generally acknowledged as the leading Palestinian archaeologist of our times, has said, "As a matter of fact, however, it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible." Dr. William F. Albright, universally acknowledged as the world's leading authority on the archaeology of the Near East, said concerning the list of Biblical nations found in Genesis, chapters 10-11:

It stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without a remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework. The Table of Nations remains an astonishingly accurate document.

Most important of all, the Bible stands unique in its prophecies. God instructed His people to listen only to those who were sent in His Name when it came to the future or religious truth. God instructed Israel to kill any prophet who presumed to speak in God's place when He did not send him. They would know a true prophet from a false prophet by what he did and said. If he did not follow God's word in his or her life, that person was a liar. If he predicted the future and it did not come to pass, he was false (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:1-22). God, therefore, condemns anyone who does not listen to His words (John 12:48), and He rules out the false prophets who are not 100% correct in their predictions. This includes Jean Dixon, Edgar Cayce, Joseph Smith, astrologers, mediums, tarot cards, ouiji boards, the Vedas, Upanishads, Koran, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Egyptian Book of the Dead, I Ching, clairvoyants, the Necronomican, 6th and 7th Books of Moses, Buddha, and many others. God has left only one way to know the future and that is through His word. One quarter of all the verses in the Old Testament are prophetic and one third of the New Testament verses are prophetic; so God has a great deal to say about the future. Literally thousands of prophecies have come true in great detail. Thousands are going to take place in this present generation when Christ returns (see my paper on "Will Christ Return in Our Generation?"). No one can hold a dim match to the great light the Bible sheds upon the future.

Let's look at a few prophecies which only deal with Christ's first coming from the Old Testament:
The Messiah (Christ) comes from the family of Shem: Genesis 9:18, 27; Luke 3:36.
Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Genesis 12:1-3, 17:18-19; 18:17-18; 21:12; 22:1-22; 26:1-4; 28:1-14; Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 49:3-6; Matthew 1:1-2; Luke 3:34; Hebrews 2:16.
He comes from the tribe of Judah: Genesis 49:9-11; I Chronicles 5:2; Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:3-6; Luke 3:33; Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5.
He comes from the royal line of David: II Samuel 7:12-17; Psalms 89:3-4; Matthew 1:1.
He is born of a virgin: Isaiah 7:13-14; Matthew 1:18-25.
He is born in Bethlehem: Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-11.
He comes first as the King of Peace: Zechariah 9:9-10; Matthew 21:1-9.
He is betrayed by His disciples: Psalms 41:9.
The betrayer receives 30 pieces of silver: Zechariah 11:12-13; Matthew 27:3-10.
The Savior's followers forsake Him in His trouble: Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31.
He is whipped, mocked, and abused: Isaiah 50:6; John 19:1; Mark 14:65; Matthew 27:27-31.
He suffers in silence: Isaiah 53:4-7; Mark 15:2-5.
He is crucified: Psalm 22:16; Luke 23:33; Zechariah 12:10; 13:6; Acts 2:22-23, 37.
He is given wine and vinegar to drink: Psalms 69:20-21; Matthew 27:33-34.
His executioners divided His garments: Psalms 22:18; John 19:23-24.
He endures the death of the cross (a form of execution not known or used until Rome used it 900 years later): Psalm 22:1-21; Luke 24:25-27.
The Messiah dies: Isaiah 53:8.
In His death He is with both the wicked and the rich: Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:38, 57-60.
The Savior and Messiah is raised from the dead: Psalms 16:10; 17:15; Matthew 12:39-40; John 2:19-22.
The non-Jewish nations are included in God's salvation through the Messiah: Isaiah 11:10; 49:6.
On the day Christ died, more than 50 specific prophecies were fulfilled. Just as the wise men were instructed by those who knew the Scriptures as to where Christ was to be born, so should we listen when God speaks of our future: we dare not ignore His warnings!

The most amazing prophecy in the Bible is found in Daniel 9 where God gives the year, even the exact day, Messiah would come into Jerusalem and be killed, as the peaceful King, more than 600 years before the fact (Sixty nine weeks = 7s, are determined upon thy people [the Jews] and upon thy holy city [Jerusalem]). This prophecy is traced, even through non-Biblical sources. The decree to restore and to build Jerusalem is found in Nehemiah 2:1-8 (20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus), the first day of the month Nisan (March 14, 445 BC). BC 445 to AD 32 = 476 years; BC 1 to AD 1 = 1 year. 476 X 365 = 173,740 days; add for leap years 116 days (119-3 in 400 years). Add March 14 to April 6 = 24 days (inclusive) = 173, 880 days. The coming of the Prince, Messiah = April 6, 32 AD (Luke 19:28-40; Zechariah 9:9). 69 times 7 times 360 (Jewish lunar years) = 173,880 days. March 14, 445 BC plus 173,880 days equals April 6, 32 AD!

Adam and Eve fell into sin simply because they doubted God's word (Genesis 3:1-6). There is no other book or god who is able to show the future and always without error. Christ says in John 8:47, "He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." And verses 31-32, "If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Jesus says in Matthew 5:18, "For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota (smallest Greek letter), not a dot, will pass away from the law until all is accomplished." In Luke 21:33 Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." He also says in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

Peter says in I Peter 1:23-25, "You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever.' That word is the good news [gospel] which was preached to you."