The Shelf Is an Argument

A bestseller list tells you what was bought. A used bookstore tells you what was finished, kept, moved twice, and finally given up on. Those are very different documents.

The canon is survivorship bias with a marketing budget.

— Overheard, second floor

Count the duplicates. Duplication is the honest metric. Six copies of the same paperback in one store means six households decided, independently, that the shelf space was worth more than the book.