A Glimpse Into America’s Psyche on Amazon
Tuesday, 1/8/2008 By Melissa Segrest
Sometimes, it is possible to glimpse the angst of America with the simple click of a mouse. That would be a click that takes you here, to the page on Amazon.com where you can find the New York Times list of top 10 best-selling self-help books. Certainly, it is the time of year when many are soul-searching, casting about for answers to our burning questions. So why not start at the top of the list with The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn and Hal Iggulden? The book was a huge hit in Britain in 2006, and has been Americanized. It offers both nostalgia and guidance for renewing a “sense of adventure” in dads and their sons (like how to tie knots, write in invisible ink, revisit great adventures of the past and even how to “tan a skin” – try explaining that one to Mom). No surprise, then, that the Daring Book for Girls by Miriam Peskowitz is No. 4 on the list. It offers tales of great female heroes as well as the art of passing a note without getting caught. It seems that Americans feel we’ve failed to pass on timeless words of wisdom to our children (such as how to turn the perfect cartwheel). Number 2 on the list falls under the category of “searching for eternal youth” – You Staying Young – The Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty. The book, by Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz (the latter a beloved and frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s show.) Their book explains how to “reprogram” our bodies and biological processes to stay younger longer, and even offers a 14-day plan to do just that. But perhaps the most telling of all is, at No. 6, Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad for Life – Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). The host of CNBC’s Mad Money program offers pearls of wisdom about investing at any age, how to save, how to spend and information on everything from college tuition to mortgages. After all, how American would this list be without a book on how to get rich?
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment