I admit it, I failed the “Presidential Physics Quiz.” Too bad, since I obviously need the contest’s prize, a copy of Physics for Future Presidents by Richard Muller.

The quiz, featured on the NYT science blog, TierneyLab, was created by Dr. Muller, author of the book and teacher of a popular course with the same title at the U. of Cal., Berkley. The book is described in the blog as,

a marvelously readable and level-headed explanation of basic science principles and how they relate to issues like terrorism, energy policy, global warming, nuclear weapons and the space program.

There’s a wide range of ordering for this book; some have it on order in relatively large quantities (one large midwest library has 26 copies on order), others in small quantities, with holds, while a few others haven’t ordered it.

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines  

Richard A. Muller

• Hardcover: $26.95
• Publisher: W. W. Norton (August 4, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0393066274
• ISBN-13: 978-0393066272

The Gargoyle appears at #14 (tied with #13) on the 8/24 NYT Fiction Bestseller list, joining the other debut fiction titles that have enjoyed pre-pub media attention this summer:

• #3 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, rising from #5 after two weeks on the list
• #6 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, down from #4 last week, its first dip after rising steadily up the list for the last nine weeks
• #7 The Lace Reader, its second week at #7
• #14 The Gargoyle, its first week on the list

The New York Times Book Review lets Princeton English professor Sophie Gee have at The Gargoyle in the 8/15 issue. She has a fine time picking apart the book’s inconsistencies and literary pretensions, but is less eloquent about the book’s appeal, 

As straight-up entertainment,The Gargoyle is so-so. It’s not exactly unputdownable, but it has enough unexplained details to remain interesting. Could it be true that Marianne lived in the 14th century, and how did she get to the present? Why does she now compulsively carve stone gargoyles in the basement of her house, and what have these grotesque physical forms to do with the hero’s own disfiguring burn scars? All fine questions, which build to a moderately satisfying conclusion.

After Andrew Bacevich appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal on PBS this Friday, his newest book, The Limits of Power, leaped up the Amazon bestseller list to #1, where it remains this morning. In addition, all his previous titles increased in sales; most significantly The New American Miliatarism rose to #53.

Bacevich is a retired Army Colonel, Boston University professor, critic of American militarism and author of several books. Limits of Power is owned by less than half the libraries I checked. Most own at least one of his previous titles.

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
Andrew Bacevich

• Hardcover: $24.00
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0805088156
• ISBN-13: 978-0805088151

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War 

Andrew J. Bacevich

• Paperback: $15.95
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 7, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0195311981
• ISBN-13: 978-0195311983

According to Baker and Taylor’s “Fast Facts,” the junior edition of a bestselling diet book will be featured on the 8/25 Today Show. Eat This Not That! for Kids will be pubbed by Rodale next week.

The earlier title, Eat This Not That! has been on the USA Today bestseller list since the end of December. It doesn’t show up on any of the New York Times lists, because they consider it a calorie counting book, which they do not track.

Most libraries I checked own the first book, but don’t have the second one on order. 

Eat This Not That! For Kids

David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding

• Paperback: $19.95
• Publisher: Rodale Books (August 19, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 160529943X
• ISBN-13: 978-1605299433

The press coverage of Obama Nation makes repeated references to the book debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, but other lists show a different story.

On the Wall Street Journal nonfiction list, it is a distant second to The Last Lecture (which doesn’t appear on the Times nonfiction list because it’s categorized as “Hardcover Advice.” It’s at number one on that list).

The WSJ’s sales index shows Obama Nation is selling at less than 1/3 the rate of The Last Lecture. Comparing it to the number one fiction title, Obama Nation is selling at a bit more than 10% the rate of Breaking Dawn.

The USA Today list shows all titles in one ranking, regardless of age level or category. On that list, Obama Nation is at #12 (it was at #25 last week), after the paperback of Debbie Macomber’s The Manning Brides.

The Amazon list is updated hourly and therefore responds quickly to media attention. On that list, Obama Nation rose from #10 two days ago to #1 today, above Breaking Dawn.

Obama Nation, at #1 on the 8/17 New York Times bestseller list (it’s on the list with a dagger, which  “indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders.” In a NYT story on Tuesday, these were characterized as “a large volume of bulk sales”), has come under scrutiny from various sources.

The Obama campaign itself has just issued a rebuttal as a 40-page PDF, called “Unfit for Publication,” (download it here). The third page of the pamphlet links to commentary on the book in the NY Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time magazine, the New Republic and Politico.com.

More rebuttals appeared last night and today: 

Washington Post editorial, “Par for Mr. Corsi; An expert at misrepresentation takes on Barack Obama” says the book “is rife with inaccuracies and innuendo.”

Washington Post, “Obama Faces the Smear Machine,” Eugene Robinson

Rachel Maddow on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” last night said the book “stretches the credulity of its being classified as ‘nonfiction’”

In addition, John Kerry has set up a Web site, Truth Fights Back

USA Today’s Books Buzz column declares “Guernsey is a Literary Hit.” Of course, we knew that already, based on library hold patterns. Last week, the four libraries we checked had a total of 590 reserves on all formats of the book; this week, it’s up to 852.

Nancy Pearl, also a fan, reviews it this week on her KUOW show.

Our audio contributor, Robin Whitten, Editor and Founder of AudioFile, tells us she’s enjoying the audio version and promises a review in the next few days.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

• Hardcover: $22.00
• Publisher: The Dial Press (July 29, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0385340990
• ISBN-13: 978-0385340991

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $80.00
• Publisher: Books on Tape; (Aug 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1-4159-5440-2
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4159-5440-9

• Audio CD: Abridged, $22.00
• Publisher: Random House Audio; (July 29, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0739368435
• ISBN-13: 978-0739368435

• Hardcover, Large Type: $34.95
• Publisher: Center Point Large Print; (September 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1602852693
• ISBN-13: 978-1602852693

Since yesterday, Ron Suskind’s book, Way of the World has received much more media attention, including an appearance on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The book is now at #15 on Amazon.

Today’s Salon has an actual review of the book, beginning, 

Diligent, linear-minded readers will have to ford through 370 pages of his alternately incisive and gauzy book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism,” to reach the accusation that has set the nation’s blogs abuzz.

Several libraries do not show the book on their catalog. For those that do, reserves are building, but reserve to copy ratios are still comfortable.

• Hardcover: $27.95
• Publisher: Harper (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061430625
• ISBN-13: 978-0061430626

An excerpt from the book was the cover story of the NYT Magazine on 7/20. The author is a NY Times journalist (the Bloomberg review begins, “I try never to miss a story under David Carr’s byline. The New York Times’s media reporter is talented, aggressive and witty”), so his unusual approach to writing a memoir may have come naturally; he reports his own story, by interviewing the people who witnessed it. This has excited some speculation that he is trying to overcome the James Frey effect. 

Ron Suskind’s embargoed book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, releases today with a 500,000 first printing and media attention. So far, however, it’s not translating into demand in libraries. 

Suskind appeared on the Today Show this morning. According to the story online, the hot news is Suskind’s charge that Bush ordered the “CIA to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.” In the book, Suskind calls this “one of the greatest lies in modern American political history.” 

The embargo was not air tight; Politico got the book last night and leaked the story. However, since no major news source picked up on it, there seemed to be no major affect on the Today Show appearance. For a behind-the-scenes look at the tensions that surround an embargo, check The New York Observer’s story.

Four of nine libraries I checked do not have the book on their catalogs. One library shows that the book is in processing; the rest show it on order.

• Hardcover: $27.95
• Publisher: Harper (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061430625
• ISBN-13: 978-0061430626