No, I'm afraid nothing is what it seems. The author's wide grin, the Amazon #1 ratings, it is all designed to get us to consume. This is a very different thing than simply turning us on to a good book. The former is motivated by profit the later sharing useful information. The profit motive adversely perverts everything. There is nothing wrong with making money, but when it becomes the only goal things get twisted.
This is the reason Amazon is the only place the majority of us buy and learn about books, but importantly it is the reason why we don't even care.