The New York Times Best Sellers - October 19, 2025 (Nonfiction)
The NYT Best Sellers - 19 October 2025 (Nonfiction)
01. 107 DAYS by Kamala Harris
02. POEMS & PRAYERS by Matthew McConaughey
03. TRULY by Lionel Richie
04. BORN LUCKY by Leland Vittert
05. CONFRONTING EVIL by Bill O'Reilly
06. AWAKE by Jen Hatmak
07. WE THE PEOPLE by Jill Lepore
08. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt
09. CHASING EVIL by John Edward
10. ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER by Elizabeth Gilbert
11. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk
12. ASSATA by Assata Shakur
13. THE BOOK OF SHEEN by Charlie Sheen
14. HISTORY MATTERS by David McCullough
15. NEVER STOP by Dan Hurley
New this week:
03. TRULY by Lionel Richie
Truly is an intimate, candid memoir chronicling Lionel Richie's improbable rise from a painfully shy late bloomer in Tuskegee, Alabama—amid the Civil Rights era on a university campus—to global superstar, revisiting hilarious and harrowing moments that shaped his journey as a storyteller whose love songs became the soundtrack of generations. Richie recounts raucous adventures with The Commodores in 1960s Harlem and on the French Riviera, the culture shock of signing with Motown, his meteoric solo career including an Olympics performance for 2 billion viewers, co-writing "We Are the World," and his role as an American Idol judge, all while navigating turbulence, loss, and near-calamity to emphasize love's power in elevating lives. With three eight-page photo inserts, the book delivers funny, warm, insightful reflections to inspire those doubting their dreams or feeling insignificant, reminding readers that true legacy endures as long as someone speaks a name.
04. BORN LUCKY by Leland Vittert
Born Lucky is an inspiring memoir detailing journalist Leland Vittert's lifelong journey with autism, from his early diagnosis and the despair it brought his parents to his eventual success as a NewsNation host and international reporter, crediting his father's unwavering dedication who quit his job to provide intensive support and push him to adapt to the world rather than expect accommodations. Vittert recounts the bullying, rejections, and social struggles of his school years, contrasted with his father's strategy of fostering resilience, hard work, and character to overcome labels, offering hope to families facing autism, ADHD, anxiety, or similar challenges by emphasizing that a diagnosis need not define one's future.
12. ASSATA by Assata Shakur
Assata: An Autobiography chronicles Assata Shakur's life from her childhood in Queens, New York, and summers in North Carolina, through her radicalization during the Civil Rights era, involvement with the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, and the 1973 New Jersey Turnpike shootout that left her wounded and led to her controversial conviction for the murder of a state trooper on flimsy evidence. Written from exile in Cuba after her 1979 prison escape and granting of political asylum, the book alternates between her hospitalization, trials, pregnancy in prison, and activism, critiquing systemic racism, police brutality, and government infiltration of Black nationalist groups while including her recorded statement "To My People" denouncing media distortions and calling for Black liberation.
15. NEVER STOP by Dan Hurley
Never Stop chronicles Dan Hurley's intense journey from a shy son of a legendary high school coach and brother to a Duke basketball star, grappling with anxiety, depression, ridicule as a player, and early coaching setbacks that nearly broke him, including suicidal thoughts, before channeling Jersey City grit into success at St. Benedict's Prep, Wagner, Rhode Island, and ultimately UConn, where he led back-to-back NCAA championships with fiery passion and legendary outbursts.