2 ms·

> And the computer doesn't duplicate the proximity once found in the physical card catalog. This is what I miss about technical bookstores. Serendipity. And co

by a3n 7y ago

> And the computer doesn't duplicate the proximity once found in the physical card catalog. This is what I miss about technical bookstores. Serendipity. And computers can't yet duplicate that, since what is serendipitous often has nothing to do with me until I find it. I found Calendrical Calculations on the shelf at SoftPro books in Centennial, while just generally browsing. I have never before, and never since, bought a book about calendar systems. What I like most about it was the historical treatment of different calendar systems and definitions of "day." https://duckduckgo.com/?q=calendrical+calculations&t=lm&ia=products https://duckduckgo.com/?q=calendrical+calculations&t=lm&ia=p... Had I bought it at Amazon, I'd see all sorts of time and calendar books that I have no interest in. But, I never would have found it to begin with.

cududa 7y ago
Back when I was a younger my local Borders book store had a 3 shelf nook of extremely technical books around software and engineering. Was incredible. I spent whole weekends there
Jach 7y ago
Sometimes when buying gifts for hard-to-shop-for people I'll use a random-word generator and put that into Amazon and see what comes up. The process has also found some interesting books for myself that I'd have been unlikely to come across either as recommendations or on my own browsing. Sometimes you have to be open to a less direct search style, or just pick a new word. For example trying it now, the word was "corrod" (I believe it's meant to be the Welsh plural of "cor", which is "dwarf or pygmy") and nothing was found so I might just move on to a new word. But something in Amazon's systems must be interpreting it as "corrode" and so one of the suggested sub-categories I noticed on the side is "Steampunk fiction". Here's an entire genre I didn't realize existed and would be unlikely to find or notice if it even exists at a library or book store. Now I can go look at random books in that category, or google for "best steampunk fiction" to get some good suggestions for entry points. You have to create the circumstances for serendipity.

by a3n 7y ago

cududa 7y ago

Back when I was a younger my local Borders book store had a 3 shelf nook of extremely technical books around software and engineering. Was incredible. I spent whole weekends there

Jach 7y ago

Sometimes when buying gifts for hard-to-shop-for people I'll use a random-word generator and put that into Amazon and see what comes up. The process has also found some interesting books for myself that I'd have been unlikely to come across either as recommendations or on my own browsing. Sometimes you have to be open to a less direct search style, or just pick a new word. For example trying it now, the word was "corrod" (I believe it's meant to be the Welsh plural of "cor", which is "dwarf or pygmy") and nothing was found so I might just move on to a new word. But something in Amazon's systems must be interpreting it as "corrode" and so one of the suggested sub-categories I noticed on the side is "Steampunk fiction". Here's an entire genre I didn't realize existed and would be unlikely to find or notice if it even exists at a library or book store. Now I can go look at random books in that category, or google for "best steampunk fiction" to get some good suggestions for entry points. You have to create the circumstances for serendipity.