Good news! America’s second favorite book is an actual book.

More good news about the publishing industry.

In 1900, America’s second favorite book (after the Bible) was the Sears Roebuck Catalogue.

In the most recent Pew poll, America’s second favorite book (still trailing The Bible) was Gone with the Wind, followed by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter Series and Stephen King’s The Stand.

Note the absence of catalogs in the list

Every time I hear someone proclaim the death of the book, I will remind them that in 1900, America’s second favorite book was a catalog. For all the problems that the publishing industry has, at least our readers are naming actual books in these most recent polls.

We’ve come a long way since 1900.