Thursday, April 27, 2006

What some Jewish communities buy on Amazon

Amazon has an interesting feature called purchase circles, which lists the top selling books from Amazon based on geographical area.

Here are some interesting results, while recognizing that these communities are to some degree diverse and not this only represents people who buy books on Amazon:

Cedarhurst:

1. Kosher by Design Kids in the Kitchen
by Susie Fishbein, John Uher (Photographer)

2. Teacher Man : A Memoir
by Frank McCourt

3. Kosher by Design: Picture Perfect Food for the Holidays & Every Day
by Susie Fishbein

4. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared Diamond

5. The Areas of My Expertise
by John Hodgman

6. Let's Review Math B
by Lawrence S. Leff

7. The Official SAT Study Guide
by College Board

8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich

9. Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

10. Now I Can Die in Peace : How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation, with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank, and the 2004 Red Sox by Bill Simmons

Far Rockaway:

1. Infertility in the Bible: How The Matriarchs Changed Their Fate; How You Can Too by Jessie Fischbein

2. Kosher by Design Kids in the Kitchen
by Susie Fishbein, John Uher (Photographer)

3. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter

4. Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
by Joel Osteen

5. What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition
by Heidi Murkoff, et al

6. Mary, Mary (Alex Cross Novels)
by James Patterson

7. Night (Oprah's Book Club)
by Elie Wiesel

8. A Million Little Pieces
by James Frey

Lawrence:

1. Am I My Mother's Daughter?: A Search For Identity
by Julie Stern Joseph

2. Unchosen : The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels
by Hella Winston

3. Off the Derech: Why Observant Jews Leave Judaism; How to Respond to the Challenge
by Faranak Margolese

4. Maimonides (Jewish Encounters)
by Sherwin B. Nuland

5. Hedgehogging
by Barton Biggs

6. The Little Book That Beats the Market
by Andrew Tobias (Foreword), Joel Greenblatt

7. The Camel Club
by David Baldacci

8. Mary, Mary (Alex Cross Novels)
by James Patterson

Lakewood:

1. Paradigm College Accounting Chapters 1-12
by Robert L. Dansby (Author), et al

2. Aphasia and Its Therapy (Medicine)
by Anna Basso

3. Cost Accounting : Traditions & Innovations
by Jesse T. Barfield, et al

4. The Irwin Guide to Using the Wall Street Journal (Irwin Guide to Using the Wall Street Journal)
by Michael B. Lehmann

5. Off the Derech: Why Observant Jews Leave Judaism; How to Respond to the Challenge
by Faranak Margolese

6. Including Students With Special Needs : A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers (4th Edition)
by Marilyn Friend, William Bursuck

7. Unchosen : The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels
by Hella Winston

8. The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714, Tintin and the Picaros (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 7)
by Herg?

9. A Mind at a Time
by Mel Levine

Monsey:

1. Off the Derech: Why Observant Jews Leave Judaism; How to Respond to the Challenge
by Faranak Margolese

2. Unchosen : The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels
by Hella Winston

3. Kosher by Design: Picture Perfect Food for the Holidays & Every Day
by Susie Fishbein

4. Kosher by Design Kids in the Kitchen
by Susie Fishbein, John Uher (Photographer)

5. Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care about Has Borderline Personality Disorder
by Paul T. Mason, Randi Kreger

6. The 5th Horseman (Women's Murder Club)
by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

7. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
by Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish

8. The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss
by Arthur Agatston

9. Deception Point
by Dan Brown

10. How to Win Friends & Influence People
by Dale Carnegie

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Obviously it is impossible to interpret this data in any meaningful way. A lot of people in Lakewood don't use the internet, and no one is going to tell me that people in Lakewood don't buy a lot of kosher cookbooks. Far Rockaway also has a large African-American population, which I should think accounts for the best selling status of a Joel Osteen book more so than its Orthodox Jewish population. Midwood, Boro Park and some other communities are lucky enough to be subsumed under "Brooklyn" in Amazon's purchase circle, so no relevent stats to show.

All in all--interesting data points.

Hat tip: Mis-nagid.

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