But this book succeeds most when it warns of rapids ahead.

These books succeed because the idea of sharing one's life with such a creature is, at some deep level, very appealing.

But as a portrait of a lively and exciting business, the book does not succeed.

Ms. Good believes, however, that the books have succeeded at least in part because people connect to them emotionally.

What makes a book succeed in one place and not another is a question that publishers grapple with all the time.

The work prints in particular give insight into what made the book succeed.

But can crowds predict whether a book will succeed?

To make such a book succeed, the event must lend itself to a strong fictionlike narrative.

For the reader wishing a little bit of everything, this book therefore succeeds.

What his book succeeds in doing is bring the dots together again.