Catholic Tradition Group Statistics

The Group Administrator of another group drew my attention to the fact that Group Admins have access to statistics about the groups they administer. Here are some of ours:

This group currently has 537 members, 63 people "watching" it, 451 topics and 12,640 messages.

The "most held" books by members of this group, held by 100 or more members, are:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (219 members),
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Saint Augustine (205),
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis (157),
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (141),
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (139),
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (132),
The Odyssey by Homer (125),
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (112),
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by John Paul II (112),
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (112),
The Iliad by Homer (111),
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (110),
The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul by St Therese of Lisieux (104),
The Screwtape Letters / Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis (104),
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (103),
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (103),
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (103),
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (102),
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (102),
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (100),
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (100),
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (100)

Great post, many thanks. I am pretty fortunate to say I have 14, mostly read quite thoroughly, and feel strongly motivated to try to understand what's kept me from getting the others.

Thanks. I think I also have (or at least have read) thirteen or fourteen of them. Interesting list.

Half a year later, this group now has 546 members (+9), 62 people "watching" it (-1), 458 topics (+7) and 12,986 messages (+346).

Books held by 100 or more members haven't changed dramatically.

Catechism of the Catholic Church by Catholic Church (220),
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Saint Augustine (206),
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis (159),
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (144),
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (143),
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (134),
The Odyssey by Homer (126),
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (115),
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by John Paul II (113),
The Iliad by Homer (112),
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (111),
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (111),
The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (107),
The Screwtape Letters / Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis (106),
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (105),
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (105),
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (105),
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (104),
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (103),
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (102),
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (102),
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (102),
Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales (100)

I'm a little disappointed but not surprised that the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church has less than a hundred takers.

Just over a year later, 22nd November 2022, this group has 567 members (+21), 67 watching it (+5), 478 topics (+20) and 14,789 messages (+1,803).

Books held by 100 or more members:

Catechism of the Catholic Church by Catholic Church (228)
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Saint Augustine (210)
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas : von Kempen (163)
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (151)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien (150)
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (140)
The Odyssey by Homer (131)
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (120)
The Iliad by Homer (118)
1984 by George Orwell (115)
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by Pope John Paul II (115)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (115)
The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (111)
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (110)
The Screwtape Letters / Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis (109)
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (109)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (108)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (107)
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (106)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (106)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (106)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (105)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (104)
Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales (103)
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (102)

Half a year or so later, 16th June 2023, we have 573 members (+6), 71 watching (+4), 488 topics (+10) and 15,229 messages (+440).

Books held by 100 or more members:

Catechism of the Catholic Church by US Conference of Catholic Bishops (233)
Confessions by Saint Augustine (217)
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis (171)
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (153)
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (153)
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (140)
The Odyssey by Homer (134)
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (120)
The Iliad by Homer (119)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (119)
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by John Paul II (119)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (117)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (117)
The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (115)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (113)
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (112)
The Screwtape Letters / Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis (111)
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (110)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (109),
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (109)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (108)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (107)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (107),
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (106)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (105)

Thanks again for great post. I would love to know:
1- Do you do this list manually or mechanically?
2-Can you display total members for each of these authors?
3-or for top 10-20 authors?

When I tried to print your latest list, I selected page 7 only, and got a strange list of the 20 authors in apparently random order. Would you know how to print the list?

Thanks for those two posts. I now have to try and remember how I did it! I do seem to recall that I made those lists manually. I'll revert when I rediscover the trick.

Edited to add: I've now found the group statistics page here, although I don't know if it is visible to people other than the Group Admin.

Currently (4th December 2023) we have 581 members (+8), 74 watching (+3), 491 topics (+3) and 15,429 messages (+200). I did those calculations manually. I won't bother listing the books held by 100 or more members, as they can be seen on that page and I don't think there are any great changes.

>9 John5918: I was able to follow your link (above-here), thanks very much. For others who may not have visited this summary, there is also another list in the summary called something like characteristic books owned by members of the group, and I think it will call each of us to keep reading.