Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

terra-nullius t1_iy8eigv wrote

Reply to comment by Futueteipsum7 in What’s up with Goodreads recommendations? by kevsfamouschili

So what is everyone’s opinion on the best goodreads-type site that isn’t spy or influence ware? You know, the “light side”/not evil of book recommendation/review sites…

I stick with Libby and Reddit mostly.

6

mycleverusername t1_iy8hm85 wrote

People are fear mongering. Goodreads is fine, but algorithm output is only as strong as the input. You aren't going to get good recommendations unless you are curating your shelves to your tastes. Sure, Amazon is trying to sell books, but they really don't give a shit if you buy Colleen Hoover or if you buy Philip K Dick.

The recommendations don't count ratings, just books. So create shelves based on your favorites or genres and they will recommend better books. It's not perfect, but you'll find some interesting stuff.

11

FlyingPasta t1_iy97san wrote

It's not necessarily insidious but it's not fear-mongering either. Substantial reason many apps exist is to scrape data and sell it. It is a constant invasion of any data they can get their hands on, and only recently have there been efforts (by Apple mostly) to fight back against it by giving you notices when apps are tracking location, adding "ask app not to track" popups (for tracking data across other apps !!), etc

At one point a friend of mine looked up his google data, it could literally tell when you lay down, when you lay down and are on your phone, location history, etc. Right now it's all commercial and I do admit I don't much care, but our phones are basically little spy implants.

Kind of a tangential rant. I also use GR just for keeping tracks of books, TBR and such.

7

terra-nullius t1_iy8zs6p wrote

True that. And all good points. And I think most people probably aren’t too worried about the spy aspect. Personally, I’d rather support my local library, and have access to things that may not be on Amazon, such is out of print, or super independent.

I would be curious if GR actually suggest such items.

2

Cornflake1981 t1_iy9aooi wrote

I have hundreds of books read and on my to read list and still the most basis recommendations on rince and repeat, so I'd argue otherwise.

1

gandalf45435 t1_iy8jpvi wrote

Libby is such an insane app

The UI has no business being as good as it is and it's free.

8

terra-nullius t1_iy8zga4 wrote

I honestly used to find it pretty confusing up until a month or two ago. Between updates and finally getting the hang of it, I like it sooooo much more!

2

Killerbeetle846 t1_iy8yhbn wrote

Your local public library. Mine gives recommendations. You submit your criteria and anything you're not okay with and they will give you a list of books they think might work for you. It's fantastic.

2

terra-nullius t1_iy8zczh wrote

Yep! Indeed- and as far as I know, that’s how Libby “curates”; by passing on local library recommendations. Like November was indigenous people month, for instance.

3