Amazon.com Review
As John Bear notes in his Amazon.com Books interview, "most of my books have been ones that I wish someone else had done, but since they didn't, I had to step in and do it."
And Bear has written a comprehensive and fascinating catalog of every book that has hit #1 in the New York Times Bestseller's list. We've kept a copy here in the Amazon.com Editorial office for browsing and study. Full of surprises and quirky facts, and highly Recommended to anyone in the book business, or anyone interested in what makes books sell.
From Library Journal
For people in the book industry, reading this handy tome is a trip down memory lane. Bear offers more than an examination of 50 years of popular American culture. Briefly summarizing each fiction and nonfiction number one title week by week, he also details the total number of weeks each title stayed on top and graphs its activity and position on the best-sellers list. Bear includes reprints of relevant articles about best sellers and popular taste and also quotes from various authors about writing and statistics. Some of the statistics are just fun, such as the grouping of best-selling authors by zodiac signs (although this does make for a quick birthdate check). Other statistics, such as a list of authors who never made the list, a list of all-time best-selling books, and an examination of these books by the nine authors who appear on the list most frequently, make this a ready reference tool. Separate indexes by author and title are helpful.
- Denise Sticha, Carnegie Lib. of PittsburghCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.