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So "most read" doesn't include people who actually read physical books! Just people who listen to books via audible, and people who swipe pages via kindle ( ok
by dxbydt 9y ago
So "most read" doesn't include people who actually read physical books! Just people who listen to books via audible, and people who swipe pages via kindle ( ok that still counts as reading, but real reading in my books ahem...would definitely count people reading a real book).
"most sold" is problematic as well - everytime you download a free sample, it is counted as sold?!!! I probably download 10 free samples every month, end up actually buying very few. Yet I have been "sold" all these books ?!! Come on.
That said, as a newly naturalized citizen who is still trying to find his bearings in this country, the taste of the public fills me with despair - same formulaic Baldacci James Patterson Stephen King on every list. Even the nonfiction isn't much better. Maybe HN should do one of these charts - you can at least get a few books actually worth reading.
- jkchu 9y agoPerhaps your idea of something "worth reading" differs from the average person. Either way, no real benefit in despairing over what other people choose to purchase/read. Maybe you have a unique taste in books, that's a good thing!
- freehunter 9y agoAnd how do you propose Amazon tracks if someone has actually read every page of a physical book? Even if they wanted to include that, there is no reasonable or trustworthy way to get that data.
- dredmorbius 9y agoThere's a reason that traditional dead-tree bookstore bestseller lists were called "bestsellers" and not "bestreaders". Some information is ... difficult to acquire. Though spending patterns are at least a form of honest signalling of intent, regardless of fulfillment or achievement.