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Culture, history and society

Culture, history and society

European best-sellers in 2002

29 Dec 2002 Matin Durrani

There is a rule of thumb that says that books written by British or US authors sell well in non-English speaking countries, but the flow in the opposite direction is almost non-existent.

These lists of the best-selling physics books for the year to the end of October at Amazon, the on-line bookstore, seem to confirm that rule. While the two Stephens -Hawking and Wolfram – are among the top sellers in France and Germany, few readers in Britain will probably have ever bought Devenez Sorciers Devenez Savants, which is the top seller in France. In the book Henri Broche and the Nobel-prize winning physicist Georges Charpak explain the truth behind people who claim they can walk on hot coals or snuff light-bulbs out at a distance.

Also apparent from the list at amazon.fr is the French love of fine cuisine. Second and fourth are two books by the physical chemist Hervé This. Casseroles et Éprouvettes (Casseroles and Test-tubes) sees This answer the old chestnut of whether a soufflé rises better if the egg white is beaten to — but not beyond — the firm white stage. Meanwhile, Traité Élémentaire de Cuisine examines, among other things, the molecular changes that take place when roasting a joint of meat.

Hawking snaps up the top three slots among German-speaking readers, with a translation of The Universe in a Nutshell at number one. Fourth in the list is another foreign-language book – an edited collection of answers to scientific conundrums that have appeared in New Scientist magazine. Known in the UK by the column of the same name, the German version of The Last Word goes under the strangely titled Why Sleeping Birds Don’t Fall from Trees.

Top five titles for 2002 in the UK at amazon.co.uk

1 The Universe in a Nutshell
Stephen Hawking (Bantam)

2 Conceptual Physics Package
Paul Hewitt(Addison Wesley)

3 The Universe Next Door
Marcus Chown (Headline Paperbacks)

4 Our Cosmic Habitat
Martin Rees (Weidenfeld and Nicholson)

5 The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
Lynne McTaggart (HarperCollins)

Top five titles for 2002 in Germany at amazon.de

1 Das Universum in der Nussschale
Stephen Hawking (Hoffmann & Campe)

2 Die Illustrierte Kurze Geschichte der Zeit
Stephen Hawking (Rowohlt)

3 Eine Kurze Geschichte der Zeit
Stephen Hawking (DTV)

4 Warum Fallen Schlafende Vögel Nicht vom Baum?
Mick O’Hare (Piper)

5 Die Aandere Bildung: Was Man von den Naturwissenschaften Wissen Sollte
Ernst Peter Fischer (Ullstein)

Top five titles for 2002 in France at amazon.fr

1 Devenez Sorciers Devenez Savants
Georges Charpak and Henri Broch (Odile Jacob)

2 Casseroles et Éprouvettes
Hervé This (Belin)

3 A New Kind of Science
Wolfram, Stephen (I B S Books)

4 Traité Élémentaire de Cuisine
Hervé This (Belin)

5 Une Brève Histoire du Temps: Du Big Bang Aux Trous Noirs
Stephen Hawking (J’ai lu)

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