Unsuggested Reading
Dec. 27th, 2006 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pasitheahttp://www.librarything.com/unsuggester
The link for the unsuggester got passed around at work and I'm finding it rather fascinating. The first title I put in indeed gave me a list of things I'd probably read, though one's title was so amusing, I might read it just because it wasn't suggested for me.
Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks Two!
Sounds like a slasher-fic sequel to Arsenic and Old Lace where they become spree killers.
I put in 'Divine Comedy' and 'Faustus' and while it recognizes both books, neither has unsuggestions. 'Faust' gets me a few more hits and appears to not be read by people who read romance novels and spy thrillers. 'Paradise Lost' gets much the same with the addition of some Stephen King and Mercedes Lackey thrown in.
Of course, most of the titles I put in just unsuggest a bunch of really dreary-sounding christian titles. That makes me kind of sad. They don't read sci-fi or classic fiction? And that gets me curious. What do they not read, and is it stuff I would read?
I put in 'Left Behind' and I get all sorts of interesting results. George Orwell, Dorothy Parker, Edward Gorey, Kafka, Oscar Wild, Sylvia Plath, William S Burroughs, and Virginia Woolfe all show up in their unsuggested reading list. Fascinating and just a little bit scary.
I need to stop playing with this thing and get back to work.
Edit:
One more. I put in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and was amused when it came back with several matches for Lisp programming books. On a whim, one of my friends put in the first Lisp book's title and the list that came back was truly fascinating to me. 'Practical Common Lisp' gets this unsuggestion list:
http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester/135088
What's interesting about this list is that I've read more than 2/3rds of the books on it. But oddly enough, I've also done a bit of Lisp programming. Interesting. :) I guess not all unsuggestions are opposites.
The link for the unsuggester got passed around at work and I'm finding it rather fascinating. The first title I put in indeed gave me a list of things I'd probably read, though one's title was so amusing, I might read it just because it wasn't suggested for me.
Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks Two!
Sounds like a slasher-fic sequel to Arsenic and Old Lace where they become spree killers.
I put in 'Divine Comedy' and 'Faustus' and while it recognizes both books, neither has unsuggestions. 'Faust' gets me a few more hits and appears to not be read by people who read romance novels and spy thrillers. 'Paradise Lost' gets much the same with the addition of some Stephen King and Mercedes Lackey thrown in.
Of course, most of the titles I put in just unsuggest a bunch of really dreary-sounding christian titles. That makes me kind of sad. They don't read sci-fi or classic fiction? And that gets me curious. What do they not read, and is it stuff I would read?
I put in 'Left Behind' and I get all sorts of interesting results. George Orwell, Dorothy Parker, Edward Gorey, Kafka, Oscar Wild, Sylvia Plath, William S Burroughs, and Virginia Woolfe all show up in their unsuggested reading list. Fascinating and just a little bit scary.
I need to stop playing with this thing and get back to work.
Edit:
One more. I put in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and was amused when it came back with several matches for Lisp programming books. On a whim, one of my friends put in the first Lisp book's title and the list that came back was truly fascinating to me. 'Practical Common Lisp' gets this unsuggestion list:
http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester/135088
What's interesting about this list is that I've read more than 2/3rds of the books on it. But oddly enough, I've also done a bit of Lisp programming. Interesting. :) I guess not all unsuggestions are opposites.
