What is the most shoplifted book in the USA?
Asked by: Prof. Reanna Larkin | Last update: February 26, 2026Score: 4.3/5 (68 votes)
The Bible is widely reported as the most shoplifted book in the USA, due to its high demand, pocket-sized editions, and constant presence in hotels, making it a frequent target for theft, sometimes for resale but often for personal reasons, despite its sacred status. Other frequently stolen titles often involve works by authors like Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs, particularly in independent bookstores.
What is the most shoplifted book in the United States?
The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the USA.
What is the most stolen book?
The Guinness Book of Records records its own issues as the most stolen book from public libraries in the United States. It is followed in the ranking by the Christian Bible in its different languages and editions.
What's the most banned book in the US?
Frequently banned (all time)
- 1984, George Orwell.
- Alice (series), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
- Beloved, Toni Morrison.
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou.
- Lord of the Flies, William Golding.
- Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck.
- One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey.
What is the #1 most sold book?
The #1 best-selling book of all time is The Bible, with billions of copies sold and distributed, followed by religious texts like the Qur'an and political works such as Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (the "Little Red Book"), though precise figures vary and tracking religious/political texts is difficult. For secular fiction, Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes is often cited as the best-selling novel, with estimates around 500 million copies.
Know which book is most shoplifted?💡It has survived many attempts to destroy it #bestsellers #steal
Why do books have 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1?
The numbers 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on a book's copyright page form a "printer's key," showing the print run; the lowest number indicates the printing (e.g., '1' means first printing), allowing publishers to track printings and make corrections without re-typesetting the entire page by simply removing the lowest number for each new run, a system dating from traditional printing presses.
What is the #2 selling book of all time?
25 Best-Selling Books of All-Time
- #1 – Don Quixote (500 million copies sold) ...
- #2 – A Tale of Two Cities (200 million copies sold) ...
- #3 – The Lord of the Rings (150 million copies sold) ...
- #4 – The Little Prince (142 million copies sold) ...
- #5 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (107 million copies sold)
What is the most unreadable book of all time?
Many call the fifteenth-century codex, commonly known as the “Voynich Manuscript,” the world's most mysterious book. Written in an unknown script by an unknown author, the manuscript has no clearer purpose now than when it was rediscovered in 1912 by rare books dealer Wilfrid Voynich.
What is the most controversial book of all time?
The Most Challenged and Banned Books
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. ...
- His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (HBO Tie-In Edition) ...
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. ...
- Skippyjon Jones. ...
- Looking for Alaska. ...
- Blood and Chocolate. by Annette Curtis Klause. ...
- Out of Darkness. by Ashley Hope Pérez. ...
- Hair Love. by Matthew A.
Why is The Wizard of Oz a banned book?
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been challenged and banned for various reasons, primarily for its portrayal of strong female leaders (Dorothy, Glinda, Ozma) seen as anti-male and ungodly, its "supernaturalism" with good witches, and even for perceived political allegories (Populism/Socialism), with specific instances in Detroit (1950s) and Tennessee (1980s) citing lack of value, negativism, and conflicting religious views on witchcraft.
What's the rarest book ever?
The rarest books are often unique, like Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester (one of a kind) or the Voynich Manuscript (undeciphered), while others are extremely limited, such as John James Audubon's Birds of America or Shakespeare's First Folio (only ~50 surviving), with famous examples also including the Gutenberg Bible and the Bay Psalm Book, making them priceless artifacts held by museums, private collectors, or sold for millions at auction.
What item is stolen the most?
The most commonly stolen items depend on where the theft happens—such as stores, homes, or cars—but they usually share two traits: they are valuable and easy to resell. These include electronics, jewelry, designer clothing, and perfumes.
What is the most copied book of all time?
The Bible:
The Bible is one of the oldest and most widely read books in human history, with an estimated 5 billion copies printed over its lifetime. It has been translated into hundreds of languages and it remains the most print book of all time.
What name was mentioned 7000 times in the Bible?
The name mentioned around 7,000 times in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is Yahweh, the personal name of God, represented by the Hebrew consonants YHWH (the Tetragrammaton). While English Bibles often substitute it with titles like "LORD" or "God," some translations, like the New World Translation and Divine Name KJV, restore "Jehovah" (a vocalization of YHWH) to reflect its frequent appearance in the original texts.
What is the number one shoplifted item?
There isn't one single "most shoplifted" item, but top contenders consistently include razor blades, cosmetics/perfumes, baby formula, meat/cheese, and alcohol, often due to high resale value, small size, and high demand; electronics like smartphones and high-end fashion items are also frequently targeted. Items that are small, expensive, and easy to conceal or resell on the black market are prime targets.
What is the most overdue library book in history?
As of January 2025, the Guinness World Record for "most overdue library book" is held by a 1609 German book about the Archbishop of Bremen, which was borrowed from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge by Colonel Robert Walpole in 1667–68 and found by Professor John H.
What book took 28 years to read?
The book that took a Los Angeles-based book club 28 years to finish reading is James Joyce's notoriously dense and difficult novel, Finnegans Wake. The club, founded in 1995, met for decades to decipher the book's complex language, puns, and allusions, eventually completing it in late 2023 and planning to start over due to the novel's cyclical nature.
What is the most banned book in America?
Most Commonly Banned Books
- 1984 by George Orwell. ...
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Performed by); Emory Elliott. ...
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. ...
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker. ...
- The Great Gatsby by F. ...
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
What author was rejected 23 times?
The author famously rejected 23 times for a single work is Frank Herbert, whose science fiction epic Dune faced 23 rejections before being published by Chilton Books, a publisher known more for car manuals than novels. Despite its initial struggles, Dune became a massive success, selling millions of copies and becoming a landmark in science fiction.
Is there a book no one can read?
Since its rediscovery in 1912—including a brief period on display at Chicago's Art Institute—the Voynich Manuscript or, as it is also known, the Voynich Codex, has defied all attempts to decipher its unknown script and unusual color illustrations.
What is the 5 finger rule for books?
The Five Finger Rule is a simple strategy for choosing a "just right" book by checking its difficulty level: pick a page, read it, and hold up a finger for each unknown word; 2-3 fingers means it's a good fit, 0-1 means too easy, and 4-5 means too hard for independent reading, suggesting it's better to find a different book or read it with help.
What is the #1 book in the world?
The "number one book in the world" depends on the criteria, but The Bible is universally recognized as the best-selling and most widely distributed book ever, with billions of copies sold/distributed, followed by religious texts like the Qur'an and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book). For single-volume fiction, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Cervantes' Don Quixote are top contenders for best-selling.
What is the longest book ever written?
The longest book recognized by Guinness World Records is Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past), a multi-volume novel with over 1.2 million words and nearly 9.6 million characters, though some sources list longer unpublished works or single-volume manga collections like One Piece. Other contenders include Madeleine de Scudéry's unpublished Artamène and Mark Leach's English novel Marienbad My Love.
Has any book sold a billion copies?
According to Wikipedia, there are nine books that have sold more than 100 million copies. Actually, the Bible, the Qu'ran, and Chairman Mao's Little Red Book are all over a billion copies, but I can't think of any way that including those three books is going to work out well for me, so we're sticking with these.
What is the best book ever written?
There's no single "best book ever," as it's subjective, but titles consistently praised include Tolstoy's War and Peace, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Joyce's Ulysses, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (NYT reader's pick), and Shakespeare's works. Other top contenders often cited are Don Quixote, Anna Karenina, The Lord of the Rings, and One Hundred Years of Solitude, reflecting diverse literary tastes across different eras and cultures.