TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of November 16, 2008

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DEWEY
Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
Cover of DEWEY

DEWEY

by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter · Grand Central

2 wks at #1 · 7 on list

Traces the author's discovery of a half-frozen kitten in the drop-box of her small-community Iowa library and the feline's development into an affable library mascot whose intuitive nature prompted hundreds of abiding friendships, in a tale told against a backdrop of the town's struggles with the 1980s farm crisis.

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AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE
James Patterson and Hal Friedman
Cover of AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE

AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE

by James Patterson and Hal Friedman · Little, Brown

2 wks on list

Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller.

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THE SNOWBALL
Alice Schroeder
Cover of THE SNOWBALL

THE SNOWBALL

by Alice Schroeder · Bantam

5 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The most authoritative portrait of one of the most important American investors of our time.”—Los Angeles Times “Even people who don’t care a whit about business will be intrigued. . . . A side of the Oracle of Omaha that has rarely been seen.”—Time (Five Best Nonfiction Books of the Year) A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post; People; Financial Times; Businessweek; Janet Maslin, The New York Times; Publishers Weekly Warren Buffett is one of the most respected men in the world. But the legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir or offered a glimpse into his intensely private life. Here, at last, he gives unprecedented access to his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. This complete biography of the man known everywhere as “the Oracle of Omaha” was written by highly respected former financial analyst and business writer Alice Schroeder with the cooperation of Buffett himself, who gave her thousands of hours of his own time as well as complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates—and his files. The result is the fullest exploration of his philosophy of life we will ever have. Here are the principles and ideas that made Buffett astoundingly wealthy, enriched the lives (and bank accounts) of those who adopted them, and created the most fascinating American success story of our time.

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HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED
Thomas L. Friedman
Cover of HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED

HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED

by Thomas L. Friedman · Farrar, Straus & Giroux

8 wks on list

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy, which he calls 'Code-Green', is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating - it is what we need to make us all healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

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MY STROKE OF INSIGHT
Jill Bolte Taylor
Cover of MY STROKE OF INSIGHT

MY STROKE OF INSIGHT

by Jill Bolte Taylor · Viking Press

12 wks on list

"Transformative...[Taylor's] experience...will shatter [your] own perception of the world."—ABC News The astonishing New York Times bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to enlightenment On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to fully recover. For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a revelation. It taught her that by "stepping to the right" of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by "brain chatter." Reaching wide audiences through her talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and her appearance on Oprah's online Soul Series, Taylor provides a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone.

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LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER
Maya Angelou
Cover of LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER

LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER

by Maya Angelou · Random House

5 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Maya Angelou shares her path to living well and with meaning in this absorbing book of personal essays. Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight. Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son. Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,” or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family. Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share. “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”—from Letter to My Daughter

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MULTIPLE BLESSINGS
Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson
Cover of MULTIPLE BLESSINGS

MULTIPLE BLESSINGS

by Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson · Zondervan

3 wks on list

Eight children in three years? Impossible!Kate and Jon Gosselin have learned that, through God, all things are possible—though sometimes slightly improbable.Just three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon learned they were pregnant again—with sextuplets. In Multiple Blessings, Kate candidly chronicles the emotional and exhausting challenges she and Jon faced from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives.This amazing story of faith provides a heartening lesson in what it means to trust the faithful hand of God to provide the strength and courage to make it through life’s seemingly impossible situations.

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THE LONGEST TRIP HOME
John Grogan
Cover of THE LONGEST TRIP HOME

THE LONGEST TRIP HOME

by John Grogan · Morrow

2 wks on list

The story of a son in the making--a universal journey of love, faith, and family that explores what it means to break away and find the way home once again.

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JOHN LENNON
Philip Norman

JOHN LENNON

by Philip Norman · Ecco

1 wks on list

The final word on music's greatest legend, in which Philip Norman reveals a John Lennon the world has never seen. With ground-breaking insight into the pain, beauty and frustration that shaped the genius of modern music, John Lennon: The Definitive Biography redefines a legend.

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BUYOLOGY
Martin Lindstrom
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FLEECED
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

FLEECED

by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann · Harper

16 wks on list

In their "New York Times" bestseller "Outrage," Morris and McGann turned their spotlight on the American government's most egregious abuses. The authors return with a fresh list of government exploitation and corporate malfeasance just in time for the 2008 elections.

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HERE’S THE STORY
Maureen McCormick
Cover of HERE’S THE STORY

HERE’S THE STORY

by Maureen McCormick · Morrow

3 wks on list

The actress best known for her portrayal of Marcia Brady describes the painful disparity between her onscreen persona and her real life, recounting her relationship with her mother and siblings and her struggles with depression, addiction, and eating disorders.

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THE WORDY SHIPMATES
Sarah Vowell
Cover of THE WORDY SHIPMATES

THE WORDY SHIPMATES

by Sarah Vowell · Riverhead

4 wks on list

From the author of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times bestselling author Sarah Vowell's exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop's "city upon a hill," a shining example, a "city that cannot be hid." To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means? and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and- corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance. Along the way she asks: *Was Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop a communitarian, a Christlike Christian, or conformity?s tyrannical enforcer? Answer: Yes! *Was Rhode Island?s architect, Roger Williams, America?s founding freak or the father of the First Amendment? Same difference. *What does it take to get that jezebel Anne Hutchinson to shut up? A hatchet. *What was the Puritans? pet name for the Pope? The Great Whore of Babylon. Sarah Vowell?s special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where ?righteousness? is rhymed with ?wilderness,? to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America?s most celebrated voices. Thou shalt enjoy it.

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TRIED BY WAR
James M. McPherson
Cover of TRIED BY WAR

TRIED BY WAR

by James M. McPherson · Penguin Press

4 wks on list

"James M. McPherson’s Tried by War is a perfect primer . . . for anyone who wishes to under­stand the evolution of the president’s role as commander in chief. Few histo­rians write as well as McPherson, and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity." —The New York Times Book Review The Pulitzer Prize–winning author reveals how Lincoln won the Civil War and invented the role of commander in chief as we know it As we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this study by preeminent, bestselling Civil War historian James M. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history. Tried by War offers a revelatory (and timely) portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of commander in chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.

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INFLUENCE
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen

INFLUENCE

by Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen · Razorbill

1 wks on list

INFLUENCEincludes interviews with- Peter Beard Alexandre de Betak Bob Colacello David Collins George Condo Francisco Costa Diane von Furstenberg John Galliano Lauren Hutton Karl Lagerfeld Peter Lindbergh Christian Louboutin Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez Margherita Missoni Robert Lee Morris Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen Jack Pierson Richard Prince Terry Richardson Giambattista Valli Evan Yurman Mary-Kate Olsen, actress, designer, and entrepreneur, currently co-designs Elizabeth and James with her sister and business partner, Ashley. The Hollywood Reporternamed Mary-Kate one of the 'most powerful women in Hollywood,' and the New York Timescalled her role in The Wacknessthe 'breakout performance of the year.' Ashley Olsen, designer, entrepreneur, actress and style icon, is one of the most influential young women in the fashion and entertainment industries. Ashley founded her luxury brand, The Row, in 2006, and co-designs Elizabeth and James with Mary-Kate. Marie Clairemagazine called Ashley 'a remarkably clear and focused executive doing brilliant work.'

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