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The UnSuggester 7/11/2008 9:02:12 AM
Finding stuff you probably won't enjoy.
Most folks in the literary know are aware of LibraryThing. I'm a HUGE fan of this site – one where you can catalogue your personal library online, allowing others to see what books you might have in common, what diverse selection you might like to read, etc. You can find me on LT here - http://www.librarything.com/profile/writergirl
So, LT has a recommendation function. If you like X, you might like Y. Fair enough. This is great. But it also has the UnSuggester.
This is a unique computer algorithm that searches through its member database and suggests books least likely to be in the libraries of other people who own a particular book.
So here's what happened today when I put the UnSuggester to work on my library.
The UnSuggester says I would most likely NOT own or read
I Gave Dating a Chance: A Biblical Perspective to Balance the Extremes by Jeramy Clark
based on my ownership of:
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Hmmm.
Also, I probably wouldn't be likely to own How To Dry Foods by Deanna Delong because I have Chocolat by Joanne Harris and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
Agreed. These books and authors will likely never meet on a shelf unless the sequel Like Water for Beef Jerky, is released.
Evidently I wouldn't care to read A History of Strategic Bombing by Lee B. Kennett because I enjoyed Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Some interesting philosophical contrasts there about war and violence, huh?
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella wouldn't interest a student of
The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino, once again proving you are a shopper or a seller, but probably not both.
Apparently, fans of Peggy Layton's Cookin' With Home Storage are too busy on their Hero's journey : Joseph Campbell on his life and work by Joseph Campbell to bother making homemade ketchup or rehydrating foods.
And I didn't even know that CDs were listed on LT, but apparently fans of N'SYNC's Greatest Hits CD would not share anything on common with readers of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace.
Now, that's just wrong. I like simple lyrics (Bye, Bye, Bye) to contrast against Nobel Prize winning literature anyday.
