I pose a stupid question. Would it be safe to say that the collective psyche of a group of people could be realistically analyzed by simply looking at their "Best Seller" book list? We've all used the expression, "You ARE what you eat". What about, "You are what you READ" ...at least on your own time?

If my assertion is correct ... and I believe it is ... then in the past ten or twenty years, Americans have gone from needing (buying) books on "self-help" ... to a thirst for knowing how other people live (and have lived). In other words, WE don't need help anymore (or, we've given up), so let's just see how the other guy did.

I don't have the exact list, but I'll bet that 20 years ago, the New York Times non-fiction best seller list included mostly books on "How To Be A Better ME", to "How To Make Your Dog Happier". Self-help books ranged from job and financial matters to medical and health/diet issues to just plain "How To Succeed" type offerings. Heck, I made a mint reducing some of these to audio cassette.

But checking this past weekend's NYT List, I don't find that type of book. Instead, and as CBS Producer Don Hewitt so aptly puts it, Americans seem to have a great hunger for nostalgia ... a hunger for another time, and how other people live ... and lived. For heaven sake, number seven on the list is a book about Alexander Hamilton.

Then, there are the vignette type top-sellers by the likes of David Sedaris' "Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim" (ranked #1), to the tales of two brothers, and their experiences traveling around the world.

To further support my assertion that we are what we read, are the militaristic top-sellers, like "Plan of Attack", "Battle Ready", and, of all things, "The Pentagon's New Map" - an analytical piece on the prospects of war (and, strangely, peace).

Come to think of it, maybe these last offerings ARE the self-help books of the 21st Century. Go figure.