Oct
23
2009
This Week's Bestsellers
I am still new at this task and am still learning how bestsellers make their way onto the list. I am beginning to see that there is a lag between the time that books hit the store shelves and when they can actually appear on the list of bestsellers. For example, this week saw the release of the long-awaited sequel to Freakonomics titled not-too-imaginatively SuperFreakonomics. I’m sure it is destined to appear on the list and yet this week it was missing. So too was Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw. While granting that this book is not an original work like his previous books, the idea of a Gladwell book not appearing on the list is harder to believe than the idea of my book making an appearance. You heard it here first: both books will be there next week! I can’t imagine it any other way.
This week saw two new titles added to the list. Debuting at the #3 spot is Highest Duty by Chesley Sullenberger, the airline pilot who landed his Airbus on the Hudson earlier this year. You knew a book was going to follow that deed and sure enough, here it is. It is subtitled My Search for What Really Matters and is described as an “inspirational autobiography.” I am always interested in aircraft and, strangely enough, airline disasters, so this ought to prove interesting. I’ll be surprised if it is actually very inspirational, but I’m prepared to be inspired!
Coming in at #11 is America for Sale by Jerome Corsi who authored Unfit for Command, the book that was instrumental in undoing the presidential campaign of John Kerry. The book’s subtitle probably says it all: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty. I’m guessing Corsi doesn’t like Obama any more than he liked Kerry! Interestingly, the book is marked with a dagger (†) on the New York Times list indicating that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders. In other words, it may be that someone is buying the book in bulk quantities and at the retail price in order to push it onto the list of bestsellers. I have not been able to track down a copy of this book so I will add it to the list, along with last week’s Read My Pins, of bestsellers I will read as soon as I can find a copy.