Cultural Trends in Books

The word “God” peaked in usage in the world’s books about 1830. That's according to Harvard researchers from a survey of Google's 5.2 million digitized book library. Preachers wrote a greater percentage of books in the early 1800s which may explain why “God” peaked that year, when it represented 12.5 of every 10,000 words. By the year 2000, its prevalence had dropped to just 2.6 times out of 10,000 words. Details are in the journal Science where the researchers conclude, "'God’ is not dead, but needs a new publicist."