Bestsellers

Scoring system: 10 points for first place down to 1 for 10th on the lists of the American Booksellers Association (independent, sometimes highbrow stores), The New York Times (4,000 bookstores, plus wholesalers), Publishers Weekly (general bookstores), and Amazon.com (Web purchases). 1 Jack Jack Welch

29 points (ABA: 6th; NYT: 3rd; PW: 5th; Amazon.com: 1st)

GIST 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.

28 points (ABA: 3rd; NYT: 1st; PW: 1st; Amazon.com: not listed)

GIST 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.

26 points (ABA: 1st; NYT: 5th; PW: 8th; Amazon.com: 4th)

GIST 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.

23 points (ABA: 2nd; NYT: 4th; PW: 4th: Amazon.com: not listed)

GIST 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.

19 points (ABA: 4th; NYT: 7th; PW: not listed; Amazon.com: 3rd)

GIST 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.

College seniors submerged under a pile of college applications often look for ways to judge between the hype and the reality of various universities. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Choosing the Right College is one of the best guides. The book's main selling point is that it offers its critique from a conservative perspective. It judges the 110 competitive colleges on the basis of how far they have strayed from a traditional liberal-arts education into political correctness. The guide points out the irony that as colleges gain in reputation it is often because they have become more politically correct. The guide goes into specific detail about questionable curriculum offerings such as Duke's "Marxism and Society" program. It also recommends praiseworthy departments and professors by name. College choosers should not decide on the basis of this book alone, but it is a good place to start.