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Welch interweaves the story of his long GE career with his personal and management philosophies. He portrays himself as an arrogant, abrasive figure who bucked the bureaucracy while advancing through it. He credits his mother for instilling in him the self-confidence, drive, and focus needed to succeed and reshape one of America's oldest companies.

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O'Reilly portrays himself as a tough interviewer on a relentless search for truth, daring to ask the hard questions of his celebrity guests that the average guy wants asked. He takes on controversial topics, using excerpts of interviews with well-known guests to present the opposing sides.

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McCullough's sympathy for the second president shines through this fascinating book, which had an initial printing of 250,000 and has now sold close to 1 million copies. One of Bill Clinton's legacies may be that John Adams, faithful husband and honorable man, is gaining in reputation as historians appreciate the place character plays in public life.

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A highly readable, sober look at the history of bio-weapons, the reasons for the ban on their use, the attempts to develop defenses against them, and their past use by cults. Judith Miller, one of the authors, has been in the news since receiving a suspicious letter containing a powdery substance at The New York Times.

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Armstrong tells liberal readers what they want to hear: Islam is a peaceful, democratic religion; Christians invented anti-Semitism and ruthlessly attacked Islam; Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction to European colonialism; all religious fundamentalism is aggressive, rooted in fear and lacking compassion; spirituality is good, doctrine is bad.