[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

If you are not at all influenced by other people's opinions on books, then how do you winnow down the all the books? I'm skeptical that anyone is completely uninfluenced by other people's opinions of books. If that is actually true for you, then you are a decided minority. I'm not going to buy a book just because someone recommends a book, but depending on who that person is, their recommendation might persuade me to take a look at the book. It depends on the person, of course. My tastes are my own, but few if any person's tastes are totally unique. Some people's tastes are more akin to mine, and I give some weight to their recommendations. Other people have tastes so different from mine that I can only nod and smile at their recommendations.

I've never bought or read a book because somebody else told me I should read it. I might have bought or read a book because somebody told me that author X had a new book which I didn't know about, though.

I am a cover-girl. I look at the cover. If I like the cover, I'll read the summary. If I like the summary, I'll buy the book. If there's a preview of the book, I might read that (to see if I like the writing style). Or I search for keywords.

Originally Posted by Apache

I used to hate it when people would buy me books for my Birthday or Christmas. Invariably it was something I did not want. I was very happy when bookstores started using gift cards.
Apache

Yes, same here! I'd rather buy the book myself and get a book I know I'll like. Though, I have gotten (and given) books that I wanted. But in those cases, the person giving (or me giving the book) has asked what book was wanted.

Originally Posted by hrosvit

I religiously read reviews on Amazon for other types of products, but have never even glanced at the reviews for a book.

I read them. After I've read the book myself. And mostly the 1-star reviews too, simply because I want to have a laugh

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Then how did you ever discover those authors in the first place? Was it wholly random? Perhaps you are truly uninfluenced by the opinion of any other reader, but if so, that's not the case with most readers.

Easy. I like SF, for example. I've known Arthur C. Clarke for a long time. One time I was reading a book he co-authored with Stephen Baxter. So, I started looking at Stephen Baxter.
Another example. I had an Audible plan (way back when). I was looking for a new book to get for that month. I came across a book, Fantasy. Never heard of the author (somebody called George R.R. Martin). But I bought the book. Another author I learned via the genre-search: Stephen R. Lawhead (genre: King Arthur, Historic Fiction).

A last example: Wilbur Smith. Here in town we have a bookshop that sells second hand books and remaindered books (those are the only books that can be sold below the fixed price). I saw a bundle of two books by some author called Wilbur Smith. I had never heard of him. But those books looked and sounded interesting (ancient Egypt and some lost Pharaoh tomb). So I bought them. A year later I found out my grandmother has about every book by him... But those books just couldn't catch my attention and thus I didn't even notice them when I stayed there (and I've spent many a holiday with my grandparents!)