TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of January 15, 2006

FictionNonfiction
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OUR ENDANGERED VALUES
Jimmy Carter
Cover of OUR ENDANGERED VALUES

OUR ENDANGERED VALUES

by Jimmy Carter · Simon & Schuster

4 wks at #1 · 9 on list

Jimmy Carter has written importantly about his spiritual life and faith. Now he describes quite personally his own involvement and reactions to disturbing societal trends involving both the religious and political worlds as they become intertwined.

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TEAM OF RIVALS
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Cover of TEAM OF RIVALS

TEAM OF RIVALS

by Doris Kearns Goodwin · Simon & Schuster

10 wks on list

Presents an overview of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, explaining the genius of his political savvy, and describes the context in which he assigned a cadre of his fiercest rivals as his closest cabinet advisors.

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MARLEY & ME
John Grogan
Cover of MARLEY & ME

MARLEY & ME

by John Grogan · Morrow

11 wks on list

The story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.--From publisher description.

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TEACHER MAN
Frank McCourt
Cover of TEACHER MAN

TEACHER MAN

by Frank McCourt · Scribner

32 wks on list

Available at last in paperback is Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller about how his 30-year teaching career in the public schools of New York City shaped his second act as a writer.

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1776
David McCullough
Cover of 1776

1776

by David McCullough · Simon & Schuster

America's most acclaimed historian presents the intricate story of the year of the birth of the United States of America. 1776 tells two gripping stories: how a group of squabbling, disparate colonies became the United States, and how the British Empire tried to stop them. This book destroys many popular myths about the wars of independence and reveals in fact how many Americans wished to remain British, and how many British had profound doubts about a military solution to the revolt. It shows that many of those fighting knew those on the other side well, and as the great decisions and battles of 1776 unfolded and attitudes hardened, the truly fratricidal nature of the conflict became clear. A must read. This exhilarating book is one of the great peices of historical narrative.

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FREAKONOMICS
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Cover of FREAKONOMICS

FREAKONOMICS

by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner · Morrow

38 wks on list

The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling over four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world. Now, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with SuperFreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. Four years in the making, SuperFreakonomics asks not only the tough questions, but the unexpected ones: What's more dangerous, driving drunk or walking drunk? Why is chemotherapy prescribed so often if it's so ineffective? Can a sex change boost your salary? SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa? Why are doctors so bad at washing their hands? How much good do car seats do? What's the best way to catch a terrorist? Did TV cause a rise in crime? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Are people hard-wired for altruism or selfishness? Can eating kangaroo save the planet? Which adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor? Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else, whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is – good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky. Freakonomics has been imitated many times over – but only now, with SuperFreakonomics, has it met its match.

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BLINK
Malcolm Gladwell
Cover of BLINK

BLINK

by Malcolm Gladwell · Little, Brown

7 wks on list

Kennen Sie die kurzen Momente, in denen wir blitzartige Entscheidungen treffen - Momente, in denen wir denken, ohne zu denken?

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700 SUNDAYS
Billy Crystal
Cover of 700 SUNDAYS

700 SUNDAYS

by Billy Crystal · Warner

7 wks on list

A memoir based on the actor's Broadway play describes his experiences growing up in a family headed by a father who worked two jobs to support the family before succumbing to heart failure when Crystal was fifteen-years-old.

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THE TRUTH (WITH JOKES)
Al Franken
Cover of THE TRUTH (WITH JOKES)

THE TRUTH (WITH JOKES)

by Al Franken · Dutton

10 wks on list

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Senator Al Franken, author of Giant of the Senate Senator Al Franken’s landmark bestseller, Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, was praised as a “bitterly funny assault” (The New York Times) that rang “with the moral clarity of an angel’s trumpet” (The Associated Press). Now, this master of political humor strikes again with a powerful and provocative message for all of us. In these pages, Senator Franken reveals the alarming story of how: • Bush (barely) beat Kerry with his campaign of “fear, smear, and queers,” and then claimed a nonexistent mandate. • “Casino Jack” Abramoff, the Republicans’ nearest and dearest friend, made millions of dollars off of the unspeakable misery of the poor and the powerless. And, also, Native Americans. • The administration successfully implemented its strategy to destroy America’s credibility and goodwill around the world. Complete with new material for this paperback edition, The Truth (with jokes) is more than just entertaining, intelligent, and insightful. It is at once prescient in its analysis of right-wing mendacity and incompetence, and inspiring in its vision of a better tomorrow for all Americans (except Jack Abramoff).

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TALK TO THE HAND
Lynne Truss
Cover of TALK TO THE HAND

TALK TO THE HAND

by Lynne Truss · Gotham

2 wks on list

Sticklers, rejoice! Zero tolerance takes on modern manners... Home and Bolt the Door.' The scourge of bad punctuators everywhere returns with an analysis of etiquette and manners (or the lack of) in modern society. inconsiderate? It's a topic that's been simmering for years and Lynne Truss says that its now reached boiling point. Taking on the boorish behaviour that has become a point of pride for some, Talk to the Hand is a rallying cry for courtesy. neglected but vital subject of punctuation. When social histories come to be written of the first decade of the 21st century, people will note a turning point in 2003 when declining standards of punctuation were reversed. Linguists will record Lynne Truss as the saviour of the semi-colon and the avenging angel of the apostrophe. subject: manners.

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ARE MEN NECESSARY?
Maureen Dowd
Cover of ARE MEN NECESSARY?

ARE MEN NECESSARY?

by Maureen Dowd · Putnam

7 wks on list

Outspoken, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd tackles the hot-button topic of gender politics in this “funny, biting, and incisive take on women's place in American society today” (Library Journal). Are men afraid of smart, successful women? Why did feminism fizzle? Why are so many of today’s women freezing their faces and emotions in an orgy of plasticity? Is “having it all” just a cruel hoax? In this witty and wide-ranging book, Maureen Dowd looks at the state of the sexual union, raising bold questions and examining everything from economics and presidential politics to pop culture and the “why?” of the Y chromosome. In our ever-changing culture where locker room talk has become the talk of the town, Are Men Necessary? will intrigue Dowd's devoted readers—and anyone trying to sort out the chaos that occurs when sexes collide. THE INSPIRATION FOR WHITNEY CUMMINGS' FORTHCOMING HBO® COMEDY PILOT “A LOT”

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.