The bestseller (changxiao shu) is a relatively new phenomenon in contemporary Chinese society. Although there had been titles with high print runs before the reform period started in 1978, commercial money-spinners were rather frowned upon in the...

Beta blockers are medicines that affect the body's response to certain nerve impulses. This, in turn, decreases the force and rate of the heart's contractions, which lowers blood pressure and reduces the heart's demand for oxygen. The main use of beta...

As a group bestsellers conjure an image of lowbrow literature, of escapist fiction—bodice rippers, multi-generation epics, courtroom melodramas, and beach novels. Although books of all sorts, including nonfiction, cartoon anthologies, and...

A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and booktrade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists...

Federal regulators on Friday charged best-selling author and infomercial star Kevin Trudeau with misrepresenting the contents of his latest book, "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About."The Federal Trade Commission, which has tangled with Trudeau several times before, said he "deceptively...

Bestselling presidential historian Michael Beschloss, most recently the author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How they Changed America, has left Simon & Schuster to sign a deal with Crown, a division of Random House, according to several publishing sources.Mr. Beschloss' last book for...

On July 15, the daily Publisher's Lunch e-mail offered a startling piece of nonfiction sales news: "Another recent big release, Bob Woodward's THE SECRET MAN, is reported to have moved 17,900 copies in its opening week on sale, following an announced first printing of 850,000...