The books in the non-fiction bestseller list at any point tend to be a reflection of some of the issues that the American readership is grappling with. This is partly due to the practice adopted by the compilers of these lists who do not include standard bestselling books such as the Bible, dictionaries, encyclopedias, cookbooks etc. Thus the bestseller lists include only those books which have been published in the last one year or so. This makes them a good mirror of society itself.

Many non-fiction best-sellers are successful either because they address a theme which is very relevant to their audience or because they have a well-known author. The latter is especially true in the case of memoirs and autobiographies. In recent times, books by Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Bob Dylan are amongst the many by famous authors that achieved bestseller status.

Some of the most popular non-fiction bestsellers of recent times have included books on relationships like “Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars”, books on dieting such as “Atkins for Life”, books on business philosophies like “Who Moved my Cheese” and “Fish”, memoirs like “A Long Walk to Freedom” and political commentary like “Men in Black”.

The non-fiction bestseller lists include many sub-genres such as biographies and autobiographies, advice and self-help books, books on science, historical accounts and business books. Of these advice and self-help books and business books are rising in popularity to the extent that The New York Times has a separate bestseller list for self-help books. The other distinction that is made is between paperback bestsellers and hardcover bestsellers. Most non-fiction books are first published as hardcovers. Only very rarely, like in the case of the 9/11 Commission Report, is the first edition itself a paperback.