i was perusing the books section of the new york times when the bestseller lists caught my eye. i don’t generally care what anyone else reads so they aren’t the kind of article i look at. but look at the categories: hardback and paperback, fiction and non fiction, yep just as it should be; children’s books listed separately, that makes sense too; advice? this must be some kind of advice for bookbuyers i think and click through to see what pearls of wisdom they have for me - nope, the new york times has separate bestseller categories for advice books! i’m flabbergasted. why did they decide to list these books in a bestseller list by themselves? did they take over the non fiction and had to be expunged or what? who decides when non fiction turns into advice?

the times just have the four basic categories combining fiction and non-fiction with hard and paperbacks.