U.K. Paperback Nonfiction

As they usually do in early January, diet books are dominating the nonfiction sector in the U.K. Food guru Gillian McKeith tops this week's paperback nonfiction chart with her TV tie-in You Are What You Eat, sales there of which are now nearing 800,000. At No. 5 on that list is I Can Make You Thin , by popular motivational-hypnotist Paul McKenna.

At Nos. 2 and 3 on the chart are memoirs from Julie Gregory and Torey Hayden, respectively, of their troubled childhoods. Joining them at No. 4 is Bill Bryson's science book A Short History of Nearly Everything, which has also now passed the 800,000 mark.

As New Year resolutions live or die, diet and self-help books are so far keeping the U.K. market buoyant. Sales through BookScan's Total Consumer Market to last Saturday (Jan. 15) were nearly 12% up over the same week last year, continuing a strong start for 2005.

1. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, Gillian McKeith (Penguin, 0718147650)
1. SICKENED, Julie Gregory (Arrow, 0099466295)
1. ONE CHILD, Torey Hayden (Element, 0007199058)
1. A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, Bill Bryson (Black Swan,
0552997048)
1. I CAN MAKE YOU THIN, Paul McKenna (Bantam Press, 0593050541)