5 ms·

A new kind of review - inspired by Stephen Wolfram's book

63 points by gozzoo 17y ago

pohl 17y ago
That was beautiful. It perfectly captured everything about the book that rubbed me the wrong way.
FluidDjango 17y ago
What I find striking is the huge approval ('helpful' votes) that this (1-star) review and two other thoughtful pans (a 1- and a 3-star review) received on Amz. For a 2002 book that still sells quite well in hardcover (coffee table book to impress geeky friends?), the huge overbalance of negative reviews is something this Amazon addict does not recall seeing: 5 star: (89) 4 star: (38) 3 star: (50) 2 star: (60) 1 star: (104) Perhaps somewhere in all those I'll find someone who's culled the gems from it. "Hacker Readers Digest" where are you?
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- jcl 17y ago
  In the case of this particular review, however, I think the "helpfulness" votes indicate that readers enjoyed the review more than found it helpful. Other "helpful" reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032G1S0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1265127144&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032...
- regularfry 17y ago
  "Helpful" might mean "helped me decide to spend my money elsewhere."
  - FluidDjango 17y ago
    But the "stars" are the ratings of the book in concern - not of any reviews' "helpfulness". What is striking is the modal rating of people about the book is one star - something seldom seen at Amz.
csantini 17y ago
great, no words
bgraves 17y ago
I haven't read this book, but this other review was a great overview. http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_per...
jackfoxy 17y ago
Clever satire! ANKoS is a worthwhile read full of great nuggets of interest. You could read the Notes as a standalone work. But it is not quite as important as Wolfram believes.
- gjm11 17y ago
  It is not clear that anything could be quite as important as Wolfram believes ANKoS is.
patrickgzill 17y ago
"It is staggering to contemplate that all the great works of literature can be derived from the letters I use in writing this review." However the author of the review left out the letter "z". Thus none of the works of e.g. Zola can be properly derived ... or is that the review writer's intention?
gjm11 17y ago
For an equally scathing but more contentful review, it's hard to beat Cosma Shalizi's at http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/ http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/ -- I love the title: "A rare blend of monster raving egomania and utter batshit insanity".
gnosis 17y ago
Also see Ray Kurzweil's take on the book: http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1 http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1

63 points by gozzoo 17y ago

pohl 17y ago

That was beautiful. It perfectly captured everything about the book that rubbed me the wrong way.

What I find striking is the huge approval ('helpful' votes) that this (1-star) review and two other thoughtful pans (a 1- and a 3-star review) received on Amz. For a 2002 book that still sells quite well in hardcover (coffee table book to impress geeky friends?), the huge overbalance of negative reviews is something this Amazon addict does not recall seeing: 5 star: (89) 4 star: (38) 3 star: (50) 2 star: (60) 1 star: (104) Perhaps somewhere in all those I'll find someone who's culled the gems from it. "Hacker Readers Digest" where are you?

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jcl 17y ago
In the case of this particular review, however, I think the "helpfulness" votes indicate that readers enjoyed the review more than found it helpful. Other "helpful" reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032G1S0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1265127144&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032...
regularfry 17y ago
"Helpful" might mean "helped me decide to spend my money elsewhere."
- FluidDjango 17y ago
  But the "stars" are the ratings of the book in concern - not of any reviews' "helpfulness". What is striking is the modal rating of people about the book is one star - something seldom seen at Amz.

csantini 17y ago

great, no words

bgraves 17y ago

I haven't read this book, but this other review was a great overview. http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm http://www.amazon.com/review/RUGSCP3XBNBUV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_per...

jackfoxy 17y ago

Clever satire! ANKoS is a worthwhile read full of great nuggets of interest. You could read the Notes as a standalone work. But it is not quite as important as Wolfram believes.

gjm11 17y ago
It is not clear that anything could be quite as important as Wolfram believes ANKoS is.

patrickgzill 17y ago

"It is staggering to contemplate that all the great works of literature can be derived from the letters I use in writing this review." However the author of the review left out the letter "z". Thus none of the works of e.g. Zola can be properly derived ... or is that the review writer's intention?

gjm11 17y ago

For an equally scathing but more contentful review, it's hard to beat Cosma Shalizi's at http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/ http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/ -- I love the title: "A rare blend of monster raving egomania and utter batshit insanity".

gnosis 17y ago

Also see Ray Kurzweil's take on the book: http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1 http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1