4 ms·

Is there a way to know what other Hacker News readers recommend? I use Goodreads, but while I've found it pretty good as a source of new books to read, the rat

Is there a way to know what other Hacker News readers recommend? I use Goodreads, but while I've found it pretty good as a source of new books to read, the ratings system ends up with everything coming within a few points of 4 (4.1, 3.9, 4.2). I'm guilty of tagging books I read with either 4 or 5 usually, unless it's pretty bad. Anyway, what I wanted to ask was if there was a way to know what a subgroup of readers thinks of a book.

DigitalJack 14y ago
We could make a HackerNews group on goodreads. Edit: created: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/94469-hackernews http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/94469-hackernews
- GFischer 14y ago
  Joined :) Well, the first book recommended is The Pragmatic Programmer, we can all get behind that one :)
zokier 14y ago
There has been book recommendation threads around here at times, search probably would find them. The recommendations/reviews/comments probably are still mostly valid.
- GFischer 14y ago
  True, but they're mostly focused on Entrepreneurship, Management, etc :) . That's all good of course, but I was wondering about science fiction, fantasy and stuff.
silencio 14y ago
If you want recommendations based on what you've read, I've found that goodreads recommendations (http://www.goodreads.com/recommendations http://www.goodreads.com/recommendations) are pretty good once you've added a bunch of books you enjoy to shelves based on genre (they can be all over the place if you only look at your general read/to read/favorites). I've read a couple books that I had never heard of this way and I have yet to be disappointed. I am also pretty guilty of rating books highly, but I also think it's a bit of a thing where I'm not likely to read a book I won't enjoy. On the bright side, it means if a book has an exceptionally low overall rating, I know to avoid it because it doesn't appeal to anybody.

DigitalJack 14y ago

We could make a HackerNews group on goodreads. Edit: created: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/94469-hackernews http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/94469-hackernews

GFischer 14y ago
Joined :) Well, the first book recommended is The Pragmatic Programmer, we can all get behind that one :)

zokier 14y ago

There has been book recommendation threads around here at times, search probably would find them. The recommendations/reviews/comments probably are still mostly valid.

GFischer 14y ago
True, but they're mostly focused on Entrepreneurship, Management, etc :) . That's all good of course, but I was wondering about science fiction, fantasy and stuff.

silencio 14y ago

If you want recommendations based on what you've read, I've found that goodreads recommendations (http://www.goodreads.com/recommendations http://www.goodreads.com/recommendations) are pretty good once you've added a bunch of books you enjoy to shelves based on genre (they can be all over the place if you only look at your general read/to read/favorites). I've read a couple books that I had never heard of this way and I have yet to be disappointed. I am also pretty guilty of rating books highly, but I also think it's a bit of a thing where I'm not likely to read a book I won't enjoy. On the bright side, it means if a book has an exceptionally low overall rating, I know to avoid it because it doesn't appeal to anybody.