The Book of Books, By Melvyn Bragg

The 400th anniversary of the King James Bible has spawned a shelf of celebrations. Many have relished the evergreen words that the 1611 translators –and their forerunners, above all William Tyndale – brought into our speech and writing.

Naturally, Bragg pays eloquent homage to the literary grandeur of the scriptures that shaped his own outlook.

But this heartfelt and far-reaching tribute makes its special mark in tracing the links between the KJB and revolutions in science, politics and society, from the savants of the Royal Society to Abolitionists and Martin Luther King.

Even many reformers hostile to organised religion (such as Tom Paine) drew inspiration from a "transforming force" whose words have made "our world a better place".