The first guest was former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, discussing The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century.

[5] For the tenth anniversary of Booknotes in 1999, Brian Lamb compiled and edited an anthology of stories on 78 people who influenced American history from the 18th century to 1999.

[3] Lamb's guest was Mark Edmundson, author of Why Read?, professor of English at the University of Virginia and a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine.

"[13] Notable guests appearing on Booknotes to discuss their published writings have included Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchanan, Colin Powell, Frank McCourt, Dixy Lee Ray and David Crosby.

[5] While the majority of Booknotes subjects have been authors of books on history, politics or public policy, exceptions included the violinist Isaac Stern, who discussed his memoir, My First 79 Years, on the program on January 23, 2000.

[7] Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas is a compilation of short monologues taken from the transcripts of Brian Lamb’s best interviews.