How Many Books Are There?

I’m fascinated by statistics, so when I come across interesting data, I like to share — even though I’m well aware of the famous quote popularized by Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Recently, I stumbled upon a little statistical gem on the Official Google blog. Using an algorithm that combines information from multiple sources, Google had determined that there are 129,864,880 different books in the world.

As you may already know, Google is digitizing books. Last year, the search giant announced that it had already scanned more than ten million volumes. (The first known library to gather a serious collection of books from beyond its country's borders, the fabled Library at Alexandria probably housed no more than half a million texts.)

This truly is a “digital revolution”!


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