Being #1

Friends,

I’m going to expose myself today in a way I’m not particularly comfortable doing. I hope you’ll forgive me.

Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been fascinated by the bestseller list of The New York Times Sunday book review, especially nonfiction.

I wondered how certain books and their topics got to be high on the list. I was particularly interested in the books that got to be #1 bestsellers. I thought that their authors and ideas provided tiny windows into the American mind at those particular moments in time.

For the last 43 years, I’ve also felt a personal stake. My first book was published in 1982. It didn’t make anywhere near the bestseller list.

One day I was at a friend’s house and noticed it on a bookshelf in his living room. I told him how flattered I was that he had bought it. He looked a bit sheepish and suggested I pull the book out and look inside.

When I opened the cover, I found that the entire inside had been hollowed out. It had been sold to him for safe-keeping. It was where he stored valuable jewelry from his grandmother. He assumed no one would ever find it because no one would ever pull out my book.

Years went by, and I wrote 17 more books. I wrote them as well as I could, but to be perfectly candid with you, I don’t think readers found them especially exciting. They were about economics, politics, and philosophy.

As I recall, only one made the Times bestseller list, and it was #6 for about a minute. I’ve contented myself with the thought that my books have contributed to public understanding, notwithstanding.

I used to joke that my books were the kind that once you put them down, you couldn’t pick them up.

So when a friend phoned recently to tell me that my new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, was #1 on the Times nonfiction bestseller list (it’s actually right there at the top in this Sunday’s print edition!) I couldn’t believe it. Being the sentimental slob I am, my eyes welled up.

It’s been a lifetime dream, yet I’ve been worried about sharing the news. Bragging about a personal achievement seems so, well, Trumpian.

Yet here I am sharing the news with you. Somehow I thought you’d want to know.

Note: Coming Up Short can be found wherever you buy books. But if possible, please support your local independent bookstores. They are vital parts of our community. If you have a favorite bookstore please put it in the comments. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org.

Share