It’s notoriously difficult to predict whether a book will succeed. The ingredients that go into a bestseller are hazy at best, and everything from celebrity endorsements to a great cover design to sheer luck can have grand (or disappointingly little) influence. And of course, whenever a film adaptation of a book hits theaters, sales of the original text tend to get a little bump. But what about current events? Sales of George Orwell’s 1984 have skyrocketed following the NSA data collection scandal — despite Obama’s protests that this is not a Big Brother situation (or perhaps in part because he made that reference). Intrigued, Flavorwire hunted down a few more instances when news affected sales of a book. … Read More