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I use Goodreads almost every day and it's a great way to keep track of what I've read, how I liked it, and my notes about it. Occasionally it's interesting to

I use Goodreads almost every day and it's a great way to keep track of what I've read, how I liked it, and my notes about it. Occasionally it's interesting to see what my friends are reading. That's it. I certainly have complaints about the site but I think the author's hyperbole here is a bit much. And as for the ratings and reviews which the author seems hyper focused on - I've generally observed the opposite, ratings on pretty much everything are suspiciously high. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the books on the platform have a rating above 3 / 5.

SamBam 3y ago
Yes, but inflation simply means you re-set expectations. I admit that, if I'm looking for a new book and I see that it's rating average is under about 3.8, I start to wonder what's wrong with it. Of course, I like plenty of books with a lower average rating, but that does give me my first impression. (It reminds me of when I was requesting a house on Airbnb and the owner writes "what's with the 4.9/5 rating you have? There's got to be a story about that." It turned out anything below a 5 set off his red flags.)