New York Times Bestsellers - Hardcover Non-Fiction

September 5, 2010

New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Best-seller List

This Week Last Week Weeks on List

1 SH*T MY DAD SAYS, by Justin Halpern
(It Books/HarperCollins, $15.99.) A coming-of-age memoir organized around the musings, purveyed on Twitter, of the author’s father. 1 16

2 COMMITTED, by Elizabeth Gilbert
(Viking, $26.95.) The author of “Eat, Pray, Love” wrestles with, and overcomes, her ambivalence about marriage. 10 11

3 OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell
(Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunity — from the author of “Blink.” 6 91

4* EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by S. C. Gwynne
(Scribner, $27.50.) The story of Quanah Parker, the last and greatest chief of the Comanches. 4 9

5 THE OBAMA DIARIES, by Laura Ingraham
(Threshold Editions, $25.) A satirical fictional journal with commentary, by the conservative political commentator. 2 6

6* THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis
(Norton, $27.95.) The people who saw the real estate crash coming and made billions from their foresight. 3 23

7 CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, by Chelsea Handler
(Grand Central, $25.99.) More humorous personal essays. 5 24

8 PACKING FOR MARS, by Mary Roach
(Norton, $25.95.) A humorous investigation of life without gravity in the space program, by the author of “Stiff” and “Bonk.” 8 3

9 THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot
(Crown, $26.) Race, poverty and science intertwine in the story of the woman whose cancer cells were cultured without her permission in 1951 and have supported a mountain of research undertaken since then. 15 26

10 ANGELINA, by Andrew Morton
(St. Martin’s, $26.99.) A biography of Angelina Jolie, actress and humanitarian. 7 3

11 SLIDING INTO HOME, by Kendra Wilkinson with Jon Warech
(Gallery, $26.) The life of the reality TV star and former Playboy cover model. 9 7

12 THE MURDER ROOM, by Michael Capuzzo
(Gotham, $26.) The story of the Vidoq Society, a Philadelphia-based organization dedicated to reopening cold cases. 11 2

13 BORN TO RUN, by Christopher McDougall
(Knopf, $24.95.) Secrets of distance running from a Mexican Indian tribe. 25

14* MEDIUM RAW, by Anthony Bourdain
(Ecco/HarperCollins, $26.99.) The author of "Kitchen Confidential" looks critically at changes in the food and restaurant cultures during the past 10 years. 13 11

15 MUSTAINE, by Dave Mustaine with Joe Layden
(It Books/HarperCollins, $25.99.) A memoir by the guitarist, songwriter and founder of the bands Metallica and Megadeth. 2

This Week		Last Week	Weeks on List
1	*SHT MY DAD SAYS**, by Justin Halpern (It Books/HarperCollins, $15.99.) A coming-of-age memoir organized around the musings, purveyed on Twitter, of the author’s father.	1	16
2	COMMITTED, by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking, $26.95.) The author of “Eat, Pray, Love” wrestles with, and overcomes, her ambivalence about marriage.	10	11
3	OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunity — from the author of “Blink.”	6	91
4*	EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by S. C. Gwynne (Scribner, $27.50.) The story of Quanah Parker, the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.	4	9
5	THE OBAMA DIARIES, by Laura Ingraham (Threshold Editions, $25.) A satirical fictional journal with commentary, by the conservative political commentator.	2	6
6*	THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis (Norton, $27.95.) The people who saw the real estate crash coming and made billions from their foresight.	3	23
7	CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, by Chelsea Handler (Grand Central, $25.99.) More humorous personal essays.	5	24
8	PACKING FOR MARS, by Mary Roach (Norton, $25.95.) A humorous investigation of life without gravity in the space program, by the author of “Stiff” and “Bonk.”	8	3
9	THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26.) Race, poverty and science intertwine in the story of the woman whose cancer cells were cultured without her permission in 1951 and have supported a mountain of research undertaken since then.	15	26
10	ANGELINA, by Andrew Morton (St. Martin’s, $26.99.) A biography of Angelina Jolie, actress and humanitarian.	7	3
11	SLIDING INTO HOME, by Kendra Wilkinson with Jon Warech (Gallery, $26.) The life of the reality TV star and former Playboy cover model.	9	7
12	THE MURDER ROOM, by Michael Capuzzo (Gotham, $26.) The story of the Vidoq Society, a Philadelphia-based organization dedicated to reopening cold cases.	11	2
13	BORN TO RUN, by Christopher McDougall (Knopf, $24.95.) Secrets of distance running from a Mexican Indian tribe.		25
14*	MEDIUM RAW, by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco/HarperCollins, $26.99.) The author of "Kitchen Confidential" looks critically at changes in the food and restaurant cultures during the past 10 years.	13	11
15	MUSTAINE, by Dave Mustaine with Joe Layden (It Books/HarperCollins, $25.99.) A memoir by the guitarist, songwriter and founder of the bands Metallica and Megadeth.		2

Rankings reflect sales, for the week ending August 21, 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. These lists are an expanded version of those appearing in the September 5 print edition of the Book Review.

List and descriptions from the New York Times web site at
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html