books: Bestsellers

Although Shadow Child (the second highest new entry on the fiction list) is a tale of "love and loss", the arrival of Patricia Cornwell's latest Kay Scarpetta mystery, Black Notice, and this year's Dick Francis, Second Wind, signal that thrillers are set to oust romantic novels as the dominant genre this autumn. Puzzles are also the order of the day at the top of the science list. IoS columnist Simon Singh's The Code Book has gone straight in at number one, just ahead of Almost Like a Whale - Steve Jone's updated version of Darwin's Origin of Species.

Compiled on sales over seven days to 11 September.

Bookwatch Ltd, 1999

SCIENCE

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 The Code Book Simon Singh (4th Estate) 1,879 pounds 16.99

2 Almost Like a Whale Steve Jones (Doubleday) 593 pounds 20

3 Clock This Trevor Baylis (Headline) 406 pounds 18.99

4 A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking (Bantam) 354 pounds 7.99

5 The Calendar David Ewing Duncan (4th Estate) 339 pounds 6.99

6 Cod Mark Kurlansky (Vintage) 224 pounds 7.99

7 Fermat's Last Theorem Simon Singh (4th Estate) 221 pounds 6.99

8 A Fish Caught in Time Samantha Weinberg (4th Estate) 201 pounds 13.99

9 Genome Matthew Ridley (4th Estate) 176 pounds 18.99

10 Full Moon Michael Light (Cape) 149 pounds 35

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 Managing My Life Alex Ferguson (Hodder) 7,452 pounds 18.99

2 Driving Over Lemons Chris Stewart (Sort of Books) 3,261 pounds 6.99

3 Men are from Mars... John Gray (Thorsons) 1,885 pounds 8.99

4 Between Extremes B Keenan & J McCarthy (Bantam) 1,880 pounds 16.99

5 The Code Book Simon Singh (4th Estate) 1,879 pounds 16.99

6 Parcel Arrived Safely... Michael Crawford (Century) 1,608 pounds 16.99

7 The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver (M Joseph) 1,416 pounds 18.99

8 The Western Front Richard Holmes (BBC) 969 pounds 17.99

9 Devil's Advocate John Humphrys (Hutchinson) 960 pounds 16.99

10 The Little Book of Feng Shui Lillian Too (Element) 952 pounds 1.99

ORIGINAL FICTION

TITLE AUTHOR/PUBLISHER WEEKLY PRICE

SALES

1 Second Wind Dick Francis (M Joseph) 6,442 pounds 16.99

2 Harry Potter and... J K Rowling (Bloomsbury) 5,535 pounds 10.99

3 Black Notice Patricia Cornwell (Little, Brown) 5,345 pounds 16.99

4 Shadow Child Judith Lennox (Corgi) 5,078 pounds 5.99

5 The Kissing Garden Charlotte Bingham (Bantam) 4,559 pounds 5.99

6 Mr Maybe Jane Green (Penguin) 4,215 pounds 6.99

7 The Making of Minty Malone Isabel Wolff (HarperCollins) 3,902 pounds 5.99

8 Hannibal Thomas Harris (Heinemann) 3,380 pounds 16.99

9 Op-Centre 6... Tom Clancy (HarperCollins) 2,541 pounds 6.99

10 A Star Called Henry Roddy Doyle (Cape) 2,743 pounds 16.99