Rankings reflect sales, for the week ending Jan. 19, at many thousands of venues where a wide range of general interest books are sold nationwide. These include hundreds of independent book retailers (statistically weighted to represent all such outlets); national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; university, gift, supermarket, discount department stores and newsstands. An asterisk (*) indicates that a book's sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A dagger (†) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders. Among those categories not actively tracked are: perennial sellers; required classroom reading; text, reference and test preparation guides; journals and workbooks; calorie counters; shopping guides; comics and crossword puzzles. Expanded rankings are available on the Web: nytimes.com/books.
| Weeks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This | Last | On | |
| Week | Week | List | BEST SELLERS: NONFICTION |
| 1 | 1 | TOM CRUISE, by Andrew Morton. (St. Martin's, $25.95.) An unauthorized biography. |
|
| 2 | 1 | 3 | IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, by Michael Pollan. (Penguin Press, $21.95.) A manifesto urges us to ''Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'' |
| 3 | 10 | 2 | LIBERAL FASCISM, by Jonah Goldberg. (Doubleday, $27.95.) This ''alternative history of American liberalism ... reveals its roots in, and commonalities with, classical fascism.'' |
| 4 | 3 | 9 | AN INCONVENIENT BOOK, by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe. (Threshold Editions, $26.) Beck's solutions to problems including global warming and political correctness. |
| 5 | 2 | 15 | I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!), by Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Allison Silverman et al. (Grand Central, $26.99.) The wit and wisdom of the mock pundit of Comedy Central's ''Colbert
Report.'' |
| 6 | 1 | REAL CHANGE, by Newt Gingrich with Vince Haley and Rick Tyler. (Regnery, $27.95.) How to build a better America, from the former speaker of the House. |
|
| 7 | 6 | 28 | QUIET STRENGTH, by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker. (Tyndale, $26.99.) A memoir by the first black coach to win a Super Bowl (with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007). |
| 8 | 7 | 3 | FREE LUNCH, by David Cay Johnston. (Portfolio, $24.95.) How lobbyists and lawyers have wangled government subsidies for the wealthy. |
| 9* | 8 | 2 | GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, by Eric Weiner. (Twelve, $25.99.) A writer explores to what degree an individual's happiness is intertwined with a shared geography and culture. |
| 10 | 14 | 2 | STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES, by Richard M. Cohen. (Harper, $24.95.) A journalist profiles five people who live with chronic illness. |
| 11 | 1 | HER LAST DEATH, by Susanna Sonnenberg. (Scribner, $24.) Growing up with a manipulative, narcissistic mother. |
|
| 12 | 4 | 2 | MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECT, by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward. (Harper, $26.95.) A former secretary of state suggests how to restore America's credibility. |
| 13 | 9 | 15 | THE NINE, by Jeffrey Toobin. (Doubleday, $27.95.) A portrait of the Supreme Court since the Reagan administration focuses on the influence of its moderates. |
| 14* | 5 | 9 | BORN STANDING UP, by Steve Martin. (Scribner, $25.) Martin, now a writer and actor, recalls his years as a stand-up comedian, from the early 1960s to 1981. |
| 15 | 12 | 30 | LONE SURVIVOR, by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. (Little, Brown, $24.99.) The only survivor of a Navy Seals operation in northern Afghanistan describes the battle, his comrades and his courageous
escape. |
| 16* | 1 | THE MIDDLE PLACE, by Kelly Corrigan. (Hyperion, $23.95.) A woman and her father both receive diagnoses of late-stage cancer. |
|
