Using the Library | Catalog/Account | eContent |  Research | Services | Events | About Us New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers August 23, 2015 1. Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future by Mark R. Levin The talk-radio host urges young Americans to resist the statist masterminds who, he says, are burdening them with debt and inferior education. 2. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates A meditation on race in America as well as a personal story by the national correspondent of The Atlantic, framed as a letter to his teenage son. 3. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough The story of the bicycle mechanics from Ohio who ushered in the age of flight.   4. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari with Eric Klineberg The comedian enlists a sociologist to help him understand today's dating scene. 5. My Fight/Your Fight by Ronda Rousey with Maria Burns Ortiz The U.F.C women's bantamweight champion and Olympic judo medalist describes her struggles to succeed. 6. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande The surgeon and New Yorker writer considers how doctors fail patients at the end of life and how they can do better. 7. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson The last voyage of the Lusitania, the passenger liner sunk by a German torpedo in 1915. 8. Down the Rabbit Hole: The Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison Life inside the Playboy Mansion, by a former bunny and girlfriend of Hugh Hefner.  9. The Road to Character by David Brooks The Times columnist extols personal virtues like kindness and honesty in a materialistic age. 10. Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow Thirty years' worth of the filmmaker's interviews with comedians. 11. The Oregon Trail: An American Journey by Rinker Buck The author and his brother travel 2,000 miles by mule and wagon from Missouri to Oregon. 12. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan This surfing chronicle and memoir by a New Yorker writer celebrates a lifelong obsession. 13. Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey The study of dolphins: the research on their brains, their cultural significance and the current threats against them. 14. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance Musk's life from his difficult South African childhood to his involvement in Internet start-ups like SpaceX. 15. Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola A memoir of alcohol addiction and recovery. 16. ¡Adios, America! The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole by Ann Coulter The political commentator denounces immigrants and their liberal supporters.  © 2015 All rights reserved by New York Times Syndication Sales Corp. This material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.   A version of this list appears in the August 23, 2015 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending August 8, 2015. Subscribe to other newsletters | View newsletter archives | Readers' Club on library website