The impact of a " Purpose Driven Life"

We're finding out more about what finally convinced the Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols to give up. Investigators say one of America's best-selling books convinced Nichols to surrender.

Tuesday, March 15th 2005, 10:04 am

By: News On 6

We're finding out more about what finally convinced the Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols to give up. Investigators say one of America's best-selling books convinced Nichols to surrender.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood says Nichols' hostage, Ashley Smith says after she convinced him to untie her, she read to him from Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life."

He stopped her while she was reading and asked her to repeat the beginning of the book.

"The Purpose Driven Life" has been in bookstores for more than two-and-a-half years, but has never been more popular. More than 22-million copies have been sold worldwide. It's "Amazon.com's" best selling book in print and the number one seller at Tulsa's Mardel bookstore.

Several local churches have used the book in bible studies. Pastor Mark McAdow from Asbury United Methodist says more than 3,000 people participated in his church's recent study of the book. He says the book doesn't say anything new, it just says it in a way people can understand. "It gets very personal with people as they read it, and they see themselves on the pages, and maybe they see who they'd like to be."