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Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of January 18, 2015

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YES PLEASE
Amy Poehler
Cover of YES PLEASE

YES PLEASE

by Amy Poehler · Dey St./Morrow

3 wks at #1 · 10 on list

The New York Times number one bestseller from the Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star. In Amy Poehler's highly anticipated memoir, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much). Powered by Amy's charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.

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KILLING PATTON
Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Cover of KILLING PATTON

KILLING PATTON

by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard · Holt

15 wks on list

Readers around the world have thrilled to Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, and Killing Jesus—riveting works of nonfiction that journey into the heart of the most famous murders in history. Now from Bill O’Reilly, anchor of The O’Reilly Factor, comes the most epic book of all in this multimillion-selling series: Killing Patton. General George S. Patton, Jr. died under mysterious circumstances in the months following the end of World War II. For almost seventy years, there has been suspicion that his death was not an accident—and may very well have been an act of assassination. Killing Patton takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton’s tragic demise, naming names of the many powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.

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WHAT IF?
Randall Munroe
Cover of WHAT IF?

WHAT IF?

by Randall Munroe · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

18 wks on list

From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have an enormous, dedicated following, as do his deeply researched answers to his fans' strangest questions. The queries he receives range from merely odd to downright diabolical: - What if I took a swim in a spent-nuclear-fuel pool? - Could you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns? - What if a Richter 15 earthquake hit New York City? - Are fire tornadoes possible? His responses are masterpieces of clarity and wit, gleefully and accurately explaining everything from the relativistic effects of a baseball pitched at near the speed of light to the many horrible ways you could die while building a periodic table out of all the actual elements. The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? is an informative feast for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.

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BEING MORTAL
Atul Gawande
Cover of BEING MORTAL

BEING MORTAL

by Atul Gawande · Metropolitan/ Holt

8 wks on list

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 'A GOOD READ' THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'GAWANDE'S MOST POWERFUL, AND MOVING, BOOK' MALCOLM GLADWELL 'BEING MORTAL IS NOT ONLY WISE AND DEEPLY MOVING; IT IS AN ESSENTIAL AND INSIGHTFUL BOOK FOR OUR TIMES' OLIVER SACKS For most of human history, death was a common, ever-present possibility. It didn't matter whether you were five or fifty - every day was a roll of the dice. But now, as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become increasingly detached from the reality of being mortal. So here is a book about the modern experience of mortality - about what it's like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn't, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. With his trademark mix of perceptiveness and sensitivity, Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do. Never before has aging been such an important topic. The systems that we have put in place to manage our mortality are manifestly failing; but, as Gawande reveals, it doesn't have to be this way. The ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death, but a good life - all the way to the very end.

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41
George W. Bush
Cover of 41

41

by George W. Bush · Crown

Forty-three men have served as President of the United States. Countless books have been written about them. But never before has a President told the story of his father, another President, through his own eyes and in his own words. A unique and intimate biography, the book covers the entire scope of the elder President Bush’s life and career, including his service in the Pacific during World War II, his pioneering work in the Texas oil business, and his political rise as a Congressman, U.S. Representative to China and the United Nations, CIA Director, Vice President, and President. The book shines new light on both the accomplished statesman and the warm, decent man known best by his family. In addition, George W. Bush discusses his father’s influence on him throughout his own life, from his childhood in West Texas to his early campaign trips with his father, and from his decision to go into politics to his own two-term Presidency.

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NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL
Lena Dunham
Cover of NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL

by Lena Dunham · Random House

14 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Includes two new essays! NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMES • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL For readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays establishes Lena Dunham—the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’s Girls—as one of the most original young talents writing today. In Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told. “Take My Virginity (No Really, Take It)” is the account of Dunham’s first time, and how her expectations of sex didn’t quite live up to the actual event (“No floodgate had been opened, no vault of true womanhood unlocked”); “Girls & Jerks” explores her former attraction to less-than-nice guys—guys who had perfected the “dynamic of disrespect” she found so intriguing; “Is This Even Real?” is a meditation on her lifelong obsession with death and dying—what she calls her “genetically predestined morbidity.” And in “I Didn’t F*** Them, but They Yelled at Me,” she imagines the tell-all she will write when she is eighty and past caring, able to reflect honestly on the sexism and condescension she has encountered in Hollywood, where women are “treated like the paper thingies that protect glasses in hotel bathrooms—necessary but infinitely disposable.” Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not That Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. “I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you,” Dunham writes. “But if I can take what I’ve learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile.” Praise for Not That Kind of Girl “The gifted Ms. Dunham not only writes with observant precision, but also brings a measure of perspective, nostalgia and an older person’s sort of wisdom to her portrait of her (not all that much) younger self and her world. . . . As acute and heartfelt as it is funny.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “It’s not Lena Dunham’s candor that makes me gasp. Rather, it’s her writing—which is full of surprises where you least expect them. A fine, subversive book.”—David Sedaris “This book should be required reading for anyone who thinks they understand the experience of being a young woman in our culture. I thought I knew the author rather well, and I found many (not altogether welcome) surprises.”—Carroll Dunham “Witty, illuminating, maddening, bracingly bleak . . . [Dunham] is a genuine artist, and a disturber of the order.”—The Atlantic

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DEEP DOWN DARK
Héctor Tobar
Cover of DEEP DOWN DARK

DEEP DOWN DARK

by Héctor Tobar · Farrar, Straus & Giroux

3 wks on list

Deep Down Dark is the novel that inspired the film The 33 starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Cote de Pablo and Antonio Banderas. When the San José mine collapsed outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. After the disaster, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar received exclusive access to the miners and their tales, and in Deep Down Dark, he brings them to haunting, visceral life. We learn what it was like to be imprisoned inside a mountain, understand the horror of being slowly consumed by hunger, and experience the awe of working in such a place-underground passages filled with danger and that often felt alive. A masterwork of narrative journalism and a stirring testament to the power of the human spirit, The 33: Deep Down Dark captures the profound ways in which the lives of everyone involved in the catastrophe were forever changed. A Finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award A Finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize A New York Times Book Review Notable Book Selected for NPR's Morning Edition Book Club

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DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T GIVE IN
Louis Zamperini and David Rensin
Cover of DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T GIVE IN

DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T GIVE IN

by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin · Dey Street/Morrow

1 wks on list

'IF YOU CAN TAKE IT, YOU CAN MAKE IT' Louis Zamperini lived one of the most amazing lives imaginable. As a young boy he was a troublemaker but his will to succeed drove him on to become an Olympian at the 1936 Games. With the outbreak of war, Louis volunteered for the army and was thrust into the violent combat of the Second World War as a B-24 bombardier. While on a rescue mission Louis's plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean, leaving him stranded and drifting 2000 miles in a small raft for 47 days. Against all the odds he survived. His struggle was just beginning: captured by the Japanese, Louis courageously endured torture in a series of prisoner-of-war camps for over two years. Not only did he survive this ordeal but he went on to spend the rest of his life helping others. Completed just days before Louis's death at age 97, Don't Give Up, Don't Give In contains a lifetime of wisdom and humour. Louis shares the wonderful lessons he has learned during his life, previously untold stories, and inspirational insights on how he overcame adversity and found the courage to never give up and never give in. Louis's story has touched millions and will forever be one of the most inspiring examples of the great resilience of the human spirit.

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HUMANS OF NEW YORK
Brandon Stanton
Cover of HUMANS OF NEW YORK

HUMANS OF NEW YORK

by Brandon Stanton · St. Martin's

27 wks on list

Based on the blog with more than four million loyal fans, a beautiful, heartfelt, funny, and inspiring collection of photographs and stories capturing the spirit of a city Now an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, Humans of New York began in the summer of 2010, when photographer Brandon Stanton set out to create a photographic census of New York City. Armed with his camera, he began crisscrossing the city, covering thousands of miles on foot, all in an attempt to capture New Yorkers and their stories. The result of these efforts was a vibrant blog he called "Humans of New York," in which his photos were featured alongside quotes and anecdotes. The blog has steadily grown, now boasting millions of devoted followers. Humans of New York is the book inspired by the blog. With four hundred color photos, including exclusive portraits and all-new stories, Humans of New York is a stunning collection of images that showcases the outsized personalities of New York. Surprising and moving, Humans of New York is a celebration of individuality and a tribute to the spirit of the city.

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SMALL VICTORIES
Anne Lamott
Cover of SMALL VICTORIES

SMALL VICTORIES

by Anne Lamott · Riverhead

8 wks on list

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Help, Thanks, Wow, Hallelujah Anyway, Almost Everything, and Dusk, Night, Dawn. Lamott's long-awaited collection of new and selected essays on hope, joy, and grace. Anne Lamott writes about faith, family, and community in essays that are both wise and irreverent. It’s an approach that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott offers a new message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives. Our victories over hardship and pain may seem small, she writes, but they change us—our perceptions, our perspectives, and our lives. Lamott writes of forgiveness, restoration, and transformation, how we can turn toward love even in the most hopeless situations, how we find the joy in getting lost and our amazement in finally being found. Profound and hilarious, honest and unexpected, the stories in Small Victories are proof that the human spirit is irrepressible.

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MIRACLES
Eric Metaxas
Cover of MIRACLES

MIRACLES

by Eric Metaxas · Dutton

2 wks on list

What are miracles, and why do we believe in them? Is it for comfort, to explain the inexplicable, or do we simply long for a connection with something larger than ourselves? And why do some people dismiss them out of hand, as if they can never happen? What Heaven is for Real did for neardeath experiences, Miracles does for the miraculous-provides undeniably compelling evidence that there's something real to be reckoned with, whatever one has thought of this topic before. It provides a wide range of real stories of the miraculous and will engage the reader in the serious discussion that this fascinating and rich subject deserves. Miracles is in some ways a more personal, anecdotal, and updated version of C. S. Lewis's 1947 book on the subject. Metaxas's Miracles is an exploration and an exhortation to view miracles as not only possible, but as far more widespread than most of us had ever imagined. Eric Metaxas says it is not a question of whether miracles happen-the evidence that they do is overwhelming in this book alone-but rather, what exactly are miracles, why do they happen, and how can we to understand them in our own lives?

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THE ANDY COHEN DIARIES
Andy Cohen
Cover of THE ANDY COHEN DIARIES

THE ANDY COHEN DIARIES

by Andy Cohen · Holt

8 wks on list

A New York Times bestseller, The Andy Cohen Diaries chronicles a year in the whirlwind life of the beloved pop icon, in his own cheeky, candid, and irreverent words. As a TV Producer and host of the smash late night show Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen has a front row seat to an exciting world not many get to see. In this dishy, detailed diary of one year in his life, Andy goes out on the town, drops names, hosts a ton of shows, becomes codependent with Real Housewives, makes trouble, calls his mom, drops some more names, and, while searching for love, finds it with a dog. We learn everything from which celebrity peed in her WWHL dressing room to which Housewives are causing trouble and how. Nothing is off limits – including dating. We see Andy at home and with close friends and family (including his beloved and unforgettable mom). Throughout, Andy tells us not only what goes down, but exactly what he thinks about it. Inspired by the diaries of another celebrity-obsessed Andy (Warhol), this honest, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny book is a one-of-a-kind account of the whos and whats of pop culture in the 21st century.

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AS YOU WISH
Cary Elwes with Joe Layden
Cover of AS YOU WISH

AS YOU WISH

by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden · Touchstone/Simon & Schuster

11 wks on list

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes the New York Times bestselling account of the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner. The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come. Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets and backstage stories. With a foreword by Rob Reiner and a limited edition original poster by acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film.

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I AM MALALA
Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb
Cover of I AM MALALA

I AM MALALA

by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb · Little, Brown

41 wks on list

*Winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize* 'Malala is an inspiration to girls and women all over the world' J K Rowling 'Inspirational and powerful' GRAZIA 'For sheer inspiration read I Am Malala' SUNDAY TIMES 'A tale of immense courage and conviction' INDEPENDENT 'She has the heart and courage of a lioness and is a true inspiration' Lorraine Kelly, THE SUN When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price when she was shot in the head at point-blank range. Malala Yousafzai's extraordinary journey has taken her from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations. She has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and is the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world. ***** 'Malala is an inspiration to girls and women all over the world' JK Rowling 'Moving and illuminating' Observer 'Inspirational and powerful' Grazia 'Her story is astonishing' Spectator

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THE INNOVATORS
Walter Isaacson
Cover of THE INNOVATORS

THE INNOVATORS

by Walter Isaacson · Simon & Schuster

12 wks on list

Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson's biographical story of the pioneers of the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and a guide to how innovation really works. The computer and the Internet are among the most important inventions of our era, but few people know who created them. They were not conjured up in a garret or garage by solo inventors. Instead, most innovations of the digital age were made collaboratively. There were a lot of fascinating people involved, some ingenious and a few even geniuses. This is the story of these pioneers, hackers, and entrepreneurs-how their minds worked and what made them so creative. It's also a narrative of how their ability to work as teams made them even more creative. In his exciting saga, Isaacson begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter, who described a general-purpose computer and software programming in the 1840s. The Innovators is filled with fascinating personalities-from early pioneers such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, and Gordon Moore, to Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak and Larry Page. The central digital innovations, Isaacson shows, have come from those who, like Ada, have connected the humanities to technology and the arts to the sciences.

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