Using the Library | Catalog/Account | Research |
 Services | Events | About Us
New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers
September 21, 2014
1. What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall Munroe

Scientific (but often humorous) answers to hypothetical questions, based in part on the author's website, xkcd.com.
2. UnPHILtered: The Way I See It
by Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach

What the Duck Commander (from the A&E show "Duck Dynasty") really thinks about various topics.
3. One Nation: What We Can Do to Save America's Future
by Ben Carson with Candy Carson

Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, now a Fox News contributor, offers solutions to problems.
4. Diary of a Mad Diva
by Joan Rivers

Humorous reflections about life, pop culture and celebrities.
5. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
by Hampton Sides

An 1879 polar voyage gone terribly wrong.
6. America: Imagine a World Without Her
by Dinesh D'Souza

A defense of America against the view that its power in the world should be diminished; also a documentary film.
7. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
by Daniel J. Levitin

A professor draws on research in neuroscience to explain how organization can help us manage information in our lives.
8. The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession
by Dana Goldstein

A journalist surveys the history of public school teaching and finds that it sheds light on current controversies.
9. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand

An Olympic runner's story of survival as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.
10. Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

How to solve problems creatively, from the authors of Freakonomics.
11. The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea
by Paul Ryan

The Wisconsin representative and 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee tells his personal story and describes plans to make government "simpler, smaller, smarter."
12. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
by Malcolm Gladwell

How disadvantages can work in our favor.
13. Capital in the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Piketty; translated by Arthur Goldhammer

A French economist predicts worsening inequality and proposes solutions.
14. The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents
by Ronald Kessler

A reporter divulges details from Secret Service agents about the lives of presidents, ex-presidents and candidates, as well as about the service's failings.
15. Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
by William Deresiewicz

A former professor denounces anxious, hoop-jumping students on a track from elite universities to Wall Street. 
16. A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
by Ben Macintyre

An account of the British Cold War spy Kim Philby focuses on the two close friends whose trust he betrayed.
 © 2014 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 September 21, 2014 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending September 6, 2014.


Subscribe to other newsletters | View newsletter archives | Readers' Club on library website