Check out the NY Times Bestseller List, Hardcover Nonfiction, for the week prior to Christmas. While no one would suggest that presence on this list is any indicator of a book's objective value (there have been some real stinkers here), it does indicate the sorts of things Americans are reading and thinking about. I find this particular list quite encouraging.

1
THE NO SPIN ZONE, by Bill O'Reilly.
(Broadway, $24.95.) More political opinions
from the host of the cable news program "The
O'Reilly Factor."

2
JOHN ADAMS, by David McCullough. (Simon
& Schuster, $35.) A biography of the country's
first vice president and second president.

3
THEODORE REX, by Edmund Morris.
(Random House, $35.) A sequel to "The Rise of
Theodore Roosevelt," describing Roosevelt's
years in the White House (1901-9).

4
JACK: Straight From the Gut, by Jack Welch
with John A. Byrne. (Warner Business, $29.95.)
The recently retired chairman and chief executive
of General Electric tells his story as well as G.E.'s.

5
THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL, by
Stephen Hawking. (Bantam, $35.) A copiously
illustrated book in which the physicist explains
breakthroughs that have occurred since he wrote
"A Brief History of Time."

6
BIAS, by Bernard Goldberg. (Regnery, $27.95.)
A television journalist who worked at CBS for
many years reports on "how the media distort the
news."

7
*THE FINAL DAYS, by Barbara Olson.
(Regnery, $27.95.) The conservative
commentator, who died aboard a hijacked jetliner
on Sept. 11, discusses "the last, desperate
abuses of power" in the Clinton White House.

8
ONE NATION, by the editors of Life magazine.
(Little, Brown, $29.95.) Photographs and essays
dealing with the events of Sept. 11.

9
CHRISTMAS IN PLAINS, by Jimmy Carter.
(Simon & Schuster, $20.) The former president
remembers his many Christmases in Georgia.

10
AMERICA'S HEROES. (SP, L.L.C., $29.95.)
A profusely illustrated account of "courage,
sacrifice and patriotism" on Sept. 11.

11
THE WILD BLUE, by Stephen E. Ambrose.
(Simon & Schuster, $26.) A history of the young
Americans who flew B-24's over Germany in
World War II.
12
WHEN CHARACTER WAS KING, by
Peggy Noonan. (Viking, $24.95.) Reflections on
Ronald Reagan by the former White House
speechwriter.

13
CROSSING OVER, by John Edward. (Jodere,
$23.95.) A "psychic television host" discusses his
work and recounts conversations with those who
crossed the bar.

14
GHOST SOLDIERS, by Hampton Sides.
(Doubleday, $24.95.) The story of a United
States Army plan to rescue prisoners of war
(including survivors of the Bataan death march) in
the Philippines in early 1945.

15
THE DARWIN AWARDS II, by Wendy
Northcutt. (Dutton, $18.95.) Further
misadventures of people whose spectacularly
stupid behavior served to "improve our gene
pool" by removing them from it.
3
16
*CHURCHILL, by Roy Jenkins. (Farrar, Straus
& Giroux, $40.) The life and times of the British
statesman (1874-1965).