What do weight loss, evil emperors and tales of redemption have in common?

We readers have many dirty little secrets—and our bestselling books are spilling them all. We can't resist conspiratorial crooks or the number 7. We have bought millions of books about cheese. And over a million of us read more than 50 nearly identical books every single year.

In Why We Read What We Read, Lisa Adams and John Heath take an insightful and often hilarious tour through nearly 200 bestselling books, ferreting out their persistent themes and determining what those say about what we believe and how we relate to one another.

Some of our favorite (and revealing) topics include:

—Repeating the Obvious:

Diet, Wealth, and Inspiration

—Black and White and Read All Over:

Good and Evil in Bestselling Adventure Novels and Political Nonfiction

—Soul Train:

Religion and Spirituality

—Hopefully Ever After:

Love, Romance and Relationships

—Reading for Redemption:

Trials and Triumphs in Literary Fiction and Nonfiction

—Controversy and Conspiracy in The Da Vinci Code

Explore the nature of what and how we read—and what it means for our psyches, our society and our future.