Murphy's Law is easily the world's most renowned and widely used maxim, yet we do not know for certain who Murphy was!

There are many theories including one that claims that the phrase was first used in 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base by Capt. Ed Murphy. Though, many people believe that there is no actual person named Murphy responsible for the law. Whether you choose to believe that the military was originally responsible, or that it was passed down through many generations of Murphys is up to you.

The basic law as stated above is, "If anything can go wrong, it will" or "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". There are dozens of different versions of Murphy's Law, and it has inspired hundreds of "laws" from other authors.

There are also dozens of books which blame Murphy's Law for everything from boating mishaps to legal blunders!

Beating Murphy's Law: The Amazing Science of Risk
Berger, Bob ~ 1994

Beating Murphy's Law: Secrets of a Contrarian Real estate Tycoon
Murphy, Stephen ~

Beyond Murphy's Law
Johnson, August ~ 1997

Boats, Planes & Murphy's Law
Leman , Arthur ~ 1999

Complete Murphy's Law
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1990,91

Day in the Life of Mrs. Murphy: Murphy's Law Ad Infinitum
Gonzalez-Parker, Zulma ~ 1989, 97

Error Management: How a Robot Can Bear Murphy's Law
Stigter, J. O. ~ 1994

Golf and Murphy's Law
Huston, Mervyn ~ 1981
[BF]

How to Settle a Trust Without a Lawyer: Murphy's Law on Settling Trusts
Stiner, James F. ~ 1997

How to Settle an Estate Without a Lawyer: Murphy's Law on Probate
Stiner, James F. ~ 1997

Keeping Murphy Out Of Your Aquarium
Burkhart, Alice / et al ~ 1997, 98

Life Isn't Fair: Murphy's Laws for Kids
Marsh, Carole ~ 1994

Mother Murphy's Law... And Other Perils of Parenthood
Lansky, Bruce ~ 1986

Mother Murphy's Laws of Births and Babies Laws of Births and Babies
Lansky, Bruce / Tripp, Christine ~

Mother Murphy's Second Law: Love, Sex, Marriage, and Other Disasters
Lansky, Bruce ~ 1986

Mother's Karmic Astrology: Murphy's Law at Work
Holliday, Claire ~ 1991

Mrs. Murphy's Laws: If Anything Can Go Wrong It Will . . . And It's Usually a Man's Fault
Cofield, Lisa/Dingerson, Debbie/Rush, Lea ~ 1995

Ms. Murphy's Law
Hines, Faith / Jolliffe, Gray(Illustrator) ~ 1998

Murphy Goes to Church
Dennie, Steve ~ 1993
This collection of humor and cartoons... shows how Murphy's Law is hilariously at work in the church.

Murphy Must Have Been a Mother (& Other Laws I Live By)
Bloomingdale, Teresa ~ 1982, 83

Murphy Strikes Again!: More Murphy's Laws in Cross-Stitch
Crowther, Jean D./Crowther, Duane S. ~ 1984, 87, 93

Murphy Was Wrong!: How Life Can Go Right!
Burkey, Richard D./Burkey, Dean/Burkey, John ~ 1996

Murphy's Law: Book Four
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1982
[BF]

Murphy's Law 2000 : What Else Can Go Wrong in the 21st Century
Arthur Bloch
Now on the verge of the new millennium, "Murphy's Law" is back to pay homage to a whole new world of things that can go wrong-from cable TV to the "Year 2000 Problem"--in a whole new collection of hilarious and undeniable rules, axioms, conundrums, and corollaries.

Murphy's Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1977

Murphy's Law and the Hunter
Ross, Curtis ~ 1997
[BF]

Murphy's Law Midi Book
Burger, Jeff ~ 1987

Murphy's Law of DOS: Getting the Best of Your Computer Before It Gets the Best of You
Russel, Charlie ~ 1993

Murphy's Law of Macs
Langer, Maria ~ 1993

Murphy's Law Page-a-Day Calendar, 1999
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1998
(Calendar)

Murphy's Law Pop-Up
[No Author Listed] ~ 1984

Murphy's Law
Hall, Derek/Harding, Rusty ~ Audio Cassette ~ 1998

Murphy's Law
Pappano, Marilyn ~ 1999

Murphy's Law: Book Three: And Other Reasons Why Things Continue to Go Wrong
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1982

Murphy's Law: Book Three: Wrong Reasons Why Things Go More!
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1982

Murphy's Law: Book Two: More Reason's Why Things Go Wrong
Bloch, Arthur ~ 1980

Murphy's Law: Commandments and Corollaries of Murphy's Original Law of Inevitable Disaster, Dedicated to the Dismalness of Human Nature and the Certainty of Cruel Fate
Russell, Jim ~ 1978

Murphy's Laws of Access
Tauber, Daniel A./Kienan, Brenda ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of Business: Posters for the Office
Werz, Edward W. ~

Murphy's Laws of DOS
Russel, Charlie ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of Excel: Getting the Best of Excel Before It Gets the Best of You
Jones, Gerald E./Jones, Gerald ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of Golf
West, Ed ~ 1986

Murphy's Laws of Golf (VHS)
West, Ed ~ 1986

Murphy's Laws on Marriage
Dennie, Steve ~ 1996, 99

Murphy's Laws of Parenting
Dennie, Steve ~ 1994, 99
From the "First Law of Sleep Deprivation" and the "Soap Aversion Postulate" to the "Deluxe Swingset Theory", Steve Dennie and Rob Suggs explain and illustrate the principles of hair-raising child-raising you'll ever need.

Murphy's Laws of PCs
Weisskopf, Gene ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of Windows
Russel, Charlie/Crawford, Sharon ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of Word for Windows
Crumlish, Christian ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of WordPerfect 6 for DOS
Crumlish, Christian ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws of WordPerfect 6 for Windows
Crumlish, Christian ~ 1993

Murphy's Laws: Philosophical Quips in Cross Stitch
Bradshaw, Annette/Franson, Gwyn ~ 1984, 93

New Murphy's Law, The: 10 Unconventional Rules for Making Everything Go Right in Your Life and Work
Murphy, Emmett C. ~ 1998
Replacing the pessimism of the downsizing era with an optimistic twist.

New Official Rules: The Book That Answers the Question "Whatever Happened to Murphy's Law?"
Dickson, Paul ~ 1990

Overcoming Murphy's Law
Waddell, William C. ~ 1981, 86

Programmer Productivity: Myths, Methods & Murphy's Law
Arthur, Lowell J. ~ 1984

Russell on Murphy's Law
Russell, Jim ~

(Sex) Life Isn't Fair!: Murphy's Sex Ed Laws for Kids
Marsh, Carole ~ 1999
Point-making humor on dating, parents, puberty, sex & more. Great ice-breaker for a new sex ed class.

St. Murphy's Commandments
Birk, Ron/Espurvoa, David ~ 1998
Of all the laws known to humankind, few are more famous than Murphy's classic observation--"If anything can go wrong--it will". St. Murphy's Commandments is a humorous and affectionate collection--in the same vein--about church life.

Unwritten Laws: The Unofficial Rules of Life as Handed Down by Murphy & Other Sages
Rawson, Hugh ~ 1997, 98