Charlottesville Words

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Amazon knows what you like. Or at least it thinks it does. Like a lot of online booksellers, Amazon keeps track of what you buy and suggests other items it thinks you might enjoy. The goal, of course, is to lure you into spending more money.

Now a new online service, the Unsuggester, has turned that idea on its head. Type in the name of a book you like, and the Unsuggester spits out a list of books you probably won’t like at all. If you’re a big fan of Middlemarch, George Eliot’s masterpiece, then odds are a paranormal romance novel called You Slay Me will leave you cold. If you loved David McCullough’s biography of Harry S. Truman, then Harry Potter may not be your cup of tea.

It’s far from scientific, but it is kind of fun. Several of us here at The Chronicle recently experimented with the Unsuggester. (You, too, can while away an afternoon by going to http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester).

Let’s give it a whirl!

If I liked Ulysses, I won’t like: Revolution in world missions by K. P. Yohannan. True, I probably wouldn’t.

If I liked The Great Gatsby, I won’t like: The supremacy of God in preaching by John Piper. Another good call.

If I liked A Prayer for Owen Meany, I won’t like Fruits basket 5 by Natsuki Takaya, or any other Fruits baskets, for that matter. As this appears to be manga, I can’t argue.

If I liked Master and Commander, I won’t like Awakening the Buddha within : eight steps to enlightenment : Tibetan wisdom for the Western world by Lama Surya Das. Bad call! I think I own that book, in fact.

Okay, one more.

If I liked The Lord of the Rings, I won’t like 13 little blue envelopes by Maureen Johnson. Young adult fiction — right again!!

Accuracy — not bad. New information about myself gained — zero. More research is needed.

Filed under: books, fun, reading, technology