Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggleton
In the end, I don't think it is quite possible to program into a computer what the mind is going to desire in the future based on past preferences.
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Well, they don't really program this into the computer. What they do is watch what you buy and watch what other people buy. The computer then points out books that people with similar reading tastes have also read.
As the OP said, it originally worked pretty well. However, with free books people began to stockpile stuff because it was free. As a result, the books don't really match their tastes. The original point was a good observation.
Amazon will need to adjust their algorithm. Possibly only tracking books that actually cost money. Or giving an extra boost when books are part of a series. Or building a filter process similar to Google Circles. It starts with a raw set of suggestions. You tune it by dragging books into and out of specific circles. Then you can browse for books that match a given circle.