SCOTLAND values both Creation and Evolution, a new literary survey has found.
Scottish respondents to a new survey find The Bible is valued as much as On The Origin of the Species as a book "most valuable to the human race".
The survey, undertaken by YouGov for the Folio Society, publishers of editions of classic books, aimed to find what the public believes to be of most use to humanity.
In the overall UK poll, the books of most use to humanity were judged to be, in descending order, The Bible, On The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, the General Theory of Relativity by Albert Einstein and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four, which was written on the Scottish island of Jura.
Scottish respondents to the poll, published today, returned a slightly different response: The Bible and On The Origin of the Species are in joint first place, with 35 per cent of the vote.
In second place is The Wealth of Nations, with 13 per cent of the vote, by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith, with Orwell's dystopic classic in joint third place with Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell's Principia Mathematica, with 12 per cent. The Scottish respondents chose the Qur'an in joint fourth position with Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and Tolstoy's War and Peace is in fifth position.
The total sample size was 2,044 adults, with 178 in Scotland, with the online survey held in October. The study asked respondents which three books from a list of 30 they considered to be the most valuable.
The measure for selection was not by popularity or by the enjoyment, but rather respondents were asked to rate the "influence and significance their selected books have had on the modern world".
In England, southerners voted for Charles Darwin's seminal scientific tome, On The Origin of Species (37 per cent), as their most important book, but northerners opted for the Bible (41 per cent).
Tom Walker, editorial director at The Folio Society, said: "How different might the survey have looked a hundred, or even 30 years ago? How might it look in another 30 years - will Darwin have taken over; will the worrying rise of Nineteen Eighty-Four's relevance continue; might the Qur'an continue to rise in significance in the UK, or might advances in DNA technology mean that The Double Helix grows in stature?"
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