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Unsuggester: Finding the Book You'll Never Want

Posted by Hemos on Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:20 AM
from the you-will-enjoy-l'amour-and-sartre dept.
Books Media
Selanit writes "Lots of socially-oriented sites provide suggestions for things you might like based on user-provided data. But how many can claim to offer you things you'll probably hate? LibraryThing, the social book-cataloging site, has used its database of personal libraries to create UnSuggester, which does exactly that. You type in a book you like, "It analyzes the seven million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the book you suggest." For example, apparently readers of Edward Said's "Orientalism" rarely purchase "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine. Who'd have thought? Quirky though it may be, the tool seems an interesting way to broaden your horizons. If you're a hidebound, crufty old fogey, I un-recommend it!"
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  • 'Tis the Season (Score:5, Funny)

    by wiz31337 (154231) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:21AM (#17099282)
    Just in time for the holiday shopping season!!! Revenge for all the ugly shirts, sweaters and every other "squishy' gift. [Evil laugh]

    • I'm not so sure about that... (Score:5, Funny)

      by KDR_11k (778916) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:32AM (#17099412)
      It kept recommending the Bible.
      • Yeah, I can't imagine too many bible readers own copies of "Satanic Goat Sacrifices for Dummies"
        • Oh come on, there has to be at least one republican senator into that kind of thing.

          I mean, they've been caught doing everything else.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by flyingsquid (813711)
          I typed in Joseph Heller's _Catch-22_, and kept getting stuff like _The first and second Epistles to the Thessalonians_, _When I don't desire God : how to fight for joy_, _The gagging of God : Christianity confronts pluralism_... makes sense considering all the shots the book takes at religion. There's a great bit where the Chaplain sees Yossarian naked in a tree at a funeral, and thinks that it's some sort of sign from God, but can't figure out what it is.

          Incidentally if you're looking for a good read, an

    • The perfect choise for all those dear ones who were going to receive another lump of coal this year.

  • I'm unique! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2006, @10:24AM (#17099320)
    Apparently, not enough people have read The Art of Fisting [amazon.com], so there are no "opposite" books to read.

  • What's next? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ninjaesque One (902204) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:26AM (#17099342) Journal
    . . ., the social book-cataloging site. . .


    What's next? Social misanthropy sites?
    • You mean Slashdot isn't a social minanthropy site?! Holy moly! I'll have to tell Mom the next time she opens the basement door.

  • I made that once. (Score:5, Funny)

    by KDR_11k (778916) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:28AM (#17099366)
    It was a static HTML page containing the bibliography of Dan Brown.

  • In reverse... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by fitten (521191) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:29AM (#17099382)
    Probably a better way to broaden your horizons is to enter a book that you read (or started to read) and knew you hated. Then it might tell you about some books you may like. It won't always work because it isn't tailored to your own tastes (your own likes/dislikes) so there aren't two poles in the general evaluation but at least it may give you some ideas and even open you up to some other genres of books.
    • Hey, some of us are eclectic enough to use it as is. After all, I've read and enjoyed both works listed in the blurb...

  • OK..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Creepy Crawler (680178) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:34AM (#17099444)
    Those of you who have bought will NOT like....

    Zen Buddhism --- War in 3 Easy Steps

    Idiots Guide to become a Stock Broker --- Honor and Ethics

    The Holy Bible --- Pedophiles in our World

    Guide to Windows Vista --- Kama Sutra
  • It might help if every Slashdotter wasn't typing in his favorite science fiction book (i.e., "The Joy of Sex"). The website is slower than a snail in heat.
    • From the site:
      Note: To deal with Slashdot, we've degraded the search capability, to titles only, and search for the beginning of the title, not the middle.

  • Lisp and Wuthering Heights? (Score:4, Funny)

    by martyros (588782) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:37AM (#17099518)
    The site has some example "opposites" on the front page. Some of the "opposites" made some sense -- like St. Augustine's "Confessions", and some romance novel called "Night Pleasures". But a book about Lisp and Wuthering Heights?

    Although, to tell the truth, although I've programmed in many languages, and read Wuthering Heights, I've never actually programmed in Lisp... may be there's something to this...

    • I liked Wuthering Heights.
      Don't really care for Lisp (more of a PROLOG kinda guy).

    • My favorite was the "My Life: Bill Clinton" contrasted with "Don't Waste Your Life". So, did Bill Clinton waste his life, or is the reading of his book a waste of our own? :-)

  • King vs Pratchett (Score:4, Interesting)

    by XenoPhage (242134) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:40AM (#17099566) Homepage
    I tossed Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" in there to see what I might not like to read and to my surprise the result was a great deal of Terry Pratchett.. Of course, like many others, I love Pratchett and I've read most of the Discworld series...

    I was going to toss Pratchett in there and see if King was the result, but with the slashdotting of the site, I think that will have to wait..

    I must remind myself to never get listed on the frontpage of slashdot...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by radtea (464814)
      I was going to toss Pratchett in there and see if King was the result, but with the slashdotting of the site, I think that will have to wait..

      Wyrd Sisters results in a bunch of Christian evangelicalish stuff, some of which is not totally dissimilar to some of what's on my shelves (I have an interest in ecclesiastical history.)

      While this is a kinda clever marketing idea--see what you hate!--I'm doubtful about the underlying logic. For one, some of us are really ecelectic: I own works ranging from de Sade t

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by XenoPhage (242134)
        The logic is likely similar to the Amazon "people who bought this item also bought..." logic.. it's statistically correct since they're using real numbers, but just proves that statistics aren't always accurate..

  • I'd rather see a system based on ratings... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jimstapleton (999106) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:52AM (#17099710) Journal
    not purchases.

    I've purchased many books it turned out I didn't like, and I didn't recommend.

    I'd rather see a "You liked these books, which indicate the following books may also be for you, and the other books here won't be as interesting, based on reviews of other users."

    Rather than a "Users who bought this book also bought that book!"

    I dunno, say something that takes your oppinion on a book, such as:
    "Book A", 8 of 10

    and then comes up with:
    The top three books for people who gave "Book A" an 8 of 10 are:
    "Book B"
    "Book C"
    "Book D"
    The bottom three are:
    "Book E"
    "Book F"
    "Book G"

    The top three books for people who gave "Book A" greater than 5 out of 10 are:
    "Book B"
    "Book H"
    "Book I"

    hmm... slashdotters unite! We could make this!

  • that explains all the email I get :-D (Score:4, Funny)

    by swschrad (312009) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:55AM (#17099750) Homepage Journal
    obviously, prior art exists, no patent forrrr you. the spammers have been using this engine for years.

  • How about... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MojoRilla (591502) on Monday December 04 2006, @10:58AM (#17099794)
    A site which suggests which Slashdot stories I won't like, including dupes?

  • It's all the other way around: the Da Vinci Code (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tgv (254536) on Monday December 04 2006, @11:15AM (#17099990) Journal
    You're all missing the good thing: type in a book you loath and it will come up with a good one instead! Perfect for changing Christmas gifts!

    I typed in "Da vinci code" and it came back with (amongst others) two Lisp books and Knuth's Art of Programming (3 volumes). If that isn't a good alternative to world famous besteller author Dan Brown's biggest cash cow...

  • "Books you don't need in a place you can't find" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dpbsmith (263124) on Monday December 04 2006, @11:31AM (#17100182) Homepage
    Reminds me the Book Mill [wikipedia.org] in Montague, Massachusetts, whose slogan is "Books you don't need in a place you can't find." The Bookmill is a good place to look for books you didn't know you wanted.

    Another good place is the New England Mobile Book Fair. [nebookfair.com] The fact that the "mobile book fair" is a huge, stationary building tips you off that there's something quirky here. This huge bookstore in Newton, Massachusetts is only good for two things: finding one specific title, or pursuing utter serendipity.

    Its slogan should be "Books you can't find in a place that has them all." OK, it doesn't have all of them, but your chances of finding a specific title there are way higher than at Barnes and Noble.

    You see, for unknown reasons--I assume the bulk of their business must be supplying schools or something--their books are organized, first by binding (paper or hardbound); then, by publisher; and, within publisher, by title. You don't realize how bizarre this is until you experience it. After all, even if you know the title you often don't know the publisher, so the first step in finding any specific book is to look it up in their electronic copy of Books In Print.

    Once you've found the book, even if you are curious about other books by the same author and are correct in suppose they're published by the same publisher, you still can't find them because they're not alphabetized by title.

    Oh, and did I mention that they double-shelve their books, so even if you know the binding, publisher, title and they have it, it may not be visible on the shelf?
  • Every time I enter something from my large, diverse personal library, all I get in return are various books by Jon Katz.

  • I tried to do something similar in concept the other day, clicking around last.fm [www.last.fm] in search of someone with whom I did not share a single common artist.

    The closest I got was one MrLag, with whom the only commonality was U2 and Dido :-)

    (Of course, my "musical opposite" should have listened to about the same number of artists/tracks for this to be interesting)

  • When I entered Atlas Shrugged, it gave me Vogue Knitting on the Go.

    I don't think it takes a computer to make than connection.....

  • I like some of their "mismatches" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by grappler (14976) on Monday December 04 2006, @12:37PM (#17101216) Homepage
    The #1 unsuggestion for "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" (a great book) is "The Devil Wears Prada", which I thought was pretty good. Just because not many people are likely to own both doesn't mean you can expect an active dislike the way you would between, say, an Ann Coulter book and a Michael Moore book.
  • huh...i guess amazon would not be moving to this any time soon ;-)

    btw, not that great: i typed in lord of the rings, and it came back with this load of books by mary higgins clark..another one of my fav authors...

    but get this: number 50 on the list was.........The hobbit!!

    hehe...someone messed with the unsuggesters head..../me thinks the frost posters got to it...another one bites the dust!! long live the slashdot troll coalition!

    i will go now...

  • It *must* be broken (Score:3, Informative)

    by TheWoozle (984500) on Monday December 04 2006, @02:28PM (#17102912)
    It doesn't work. I have proof [librarything.com]

  • Find the Best Unsuggested Library (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wsanders (114993) on Monday December 04 2006, @02:31PM (#17102982) Homepage
    A colleague points out that current sport among search mavens is to find the "the
    perfectly evil book which causes the Unsuggester to generate a great library. The best try so far was "Who Moved My Cheese? For Kids", but not enough people own it."

    The very fact that there is a WMMC for kids gives me greater despair then knowing GWB will be President for two more years.

    Although the WMMC regular ed. unsuggestions are pretty good, good enough to keep my book club busy for a few years:

    http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester/12799 [librarything.com]

  • Yay (Score:3, Funny)

    by Bluesman (104513) on Monday December 04 2006, @07:03PM (#17107068) Homepage
    Let's type in Oprah's book list to find some books worth reading.

    • Re:It probably works! (Score:5, Funny)

      by shudde (915065) on Monday December 04 2006, @11:41AM (#17100318)

      You may be on to something there.

      Given a choice, I'd much rather read 'Knitting on the Road' then suffer through Tolkien again.

      ---

      While knitting on the road on her journey to Gandalung, wending solemnly through the treachorous passes of Orkdell, Nancy espied a riotous figure approaching from the shadowy North, wherein dwelt the Elves of Glimmersill.

      "Greetings Knitting Lady of the Road", addressed the stout and sturdy figure, "allow me the honour of addressing you and giving you an 800 page recitation of my lineage."

    • You know, it's not just the "Hitchiker's Guide". All kinds of books come up with tons of Christian references. "Guns Germs and Steel", I might see, but "Watership Down"?

      There's probably something a little deeper here, that a social scientist could track down. Given what the list says, "Expected N, found M", it seems that they're taking the overall popularity of a certain book (N) and comparing it to the popularity of people who bought the book in question (M). Christianity may come up a lot because it

      • Either that, or the algorithm is secretly trying to push Christianity... :-)

        Hrmmm... is that why my collection on LibraryThing now has a 'Burn' icon next to all the fantasy books?

    • Easy, put in a Bible-related [librarything.com] book and receive some great reads! Three of which I've already read. I really would be interested to know how this site works!

      Monkeyboi :D

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