Using A.I. for eBook summaries

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I asked Copilot (website)...

I want a list of 10 science fiction books available as eBooks for summer reading.

1. Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
2. Dune — Frank Herbert
3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
4. The Martian — Andy Weir
5. Neuromancer — William Gibson
6. The Left Hand of Darkness — Ursula K. Le Gui
7. The Three‑Body Problem — Cixin Liu
8. Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie
9. Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel
10. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — Becky Chambers

All are real books.

But one thing that's wrong. Le Guin should not be in any reading list.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And when AI goes horribly wrong, how are you going to know?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But one thing that's wrong. Le Guin should not be in any reading list.

At least it is easy to tell when a poster goes horribly wrong.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But one thing that's wrong. Le Guin should not be in any reading list.

The issue with your results, as I see it, is that your prompt was too general in nature.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

The issue with your results, as I see it, is that your prompt was too general in nature.

What do you think I should have asked for?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What do you think I should have asked for?

I can only give you an example of modernist-styled fiction, which is a type of literature that I love. For example:

"Give me 10 recommendations for fiction published in the past 20 years that emulates in structure Modernist fiction similar to that of Franz Kafka, where a new consciousness or sensibility is on display as character and situation are revealed. "

But there are hundreds of ways to include and exclude something, and I'm sure there are hundreds of writings that would come up. And I've read plenty of modernist and post-modern fiction in my time, in addition to metafiction and experimental fiction. So I would probably put together 3 or 4 queries and test each one in order to see if there's something I haven't read.


ADDED:

Whatever it is that turns you away from Ursula K. LeGuinn - and to me it doesn't matter whatsoever - then you should frame your query by listing it, writing that you do not want to see recommendations of whatever those negatives may be.

Too, science fiction itself, as a category is way too broad, in my opinion. Ask yourself this: What is it about combining a beach read with science fictional elements that I find of interest? And then FRAME your question with those attributes to get (for you) positive results.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I can only give you an example of modernist-styled fiction, which is a type of literature that I love. For example:

"Give me 10 recommendations for fiction published in the past 20 years that emulates in structure Modernist fiction similar to that of Franz Kafka, where a new consciousness or sensibility is on display as character and situation are revealed. "

But there are hundreds of ways to include and exclude something, and I'm sure there are hundreds of writings that would come up. And I've read plenty of modernist and post-modern fiction in my time, in addition to metafiction and experimental fiction. So I would probably put together 3 or 4 queries and test each one in order to see if there's something I haven't read.


ADDED:

Whatever it is that turns you away from Ursula K. LeGuinn - and to me it doesn't matter whatsoever - then you should frame your query by listing it, writing that you do not want to see recommendations of whatever those negatives may be.

Too, science fiction itself, as a category is way too broad, in my opinion. Ask yourself this: What is it about combining a beach read with science fictional elements that I find of interest? And then FRAME your question with those attributes to get (for you) positive results.

Here's your answer from Copilot.

Ten contemporary novels that read like Modernist/Kafkaan experiments

1. The City & the City — China Miéville (2009) Two cities occupy the same space and only collective perception keeps them separate; a conceit that forces characters’ consciousness to be legally and psychologically split.
2. The Pale King — David Foster Wallace (2011, posthumous) Fragmentary, episodic chapters about IRS employees turn bureaucracy into an existential condition, revealing interior life through procedural pressure.
3. The Raw Shark Texts — Steven Hall (2007) Memory and identity are threatened by a conceptual predator; typographic play and metafictional puzzles collapse form and self.
4. The Vegetarian — Han Kang (2007; English trans. 2015) A woman’s bodily refusal becomes a metamorphosis narrated in shifting perspectives, exposing alienation and moral opacity through formal partitioning.
5. Convenience Store Woman — Sayaka Murata (2016; English trans. 2018) A deadpan, single‑voice immersion in ritualized work renders social norms uncanny and reveals an estranged, hyper‑rational consciousness.
6. Outline — Rachel Cusk (2014) A novel built from conversations rather than plot; character emerges by absence and testimony, a structural minimalism that excavates subjectivity.
7. Transit — Rachel Cusk (2016) A continuation of the Outline method where identity is assembled from narrated encounters; restraint and repetition produce a destabilized self.
8. The Luminaries — Eleanor Catton (2013) A formally intricate, pattern‑driven novel whose astrological architecture shapes fate and consciousness across multiple viewpoints.
9. The Melancholy of Mechagirl — Catherynne M. Valente (2013) Linked, lyrical fictions and prose‑poems that use dream logic and fragmentation to stage transformations of self and perception.
10. The Trial of Elizabeth Cree — Peter Ackroyd (2013) A layered, unreliable narrative of guilt and performance where structural play and psychological opacity echo Modernist interrogation of identity.

[JSWolf]

I changed the AI model in Copilot to Think Deeper and asked my question about summer reads and this is the new list. I know 6 of the books in the list are really good. The others, I cannot say.

10 science fiction eBooks for summer reading

1. Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir (2021) A lone astronaut wakes with amnesia on a desperate interstellar mission; fast, clever science and a surprisingly warm heart.
2. The Ministry for the Future — Kim Stanley Robinson (2020) A near‑future, policy‑driven epic about climate crisis, moral choices, and large‑scale social engineering.
3. The Three‑Body Problem — Cixin Liu (2008; Eng. 2014) Hard‑SF first contact across decades and cultures, with mind‑bending physics and geopolitical stakes.
4. Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie (2013) A starship’s fragmented consciousness inhabits a single human body and seeks justice in a galaxy of imperial politics.
5. The Power — Naomi Alderman (2016) A speculative, provocative novel where a sudden biological shift gives women world‑altering physical power.
6. Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel (2014) A lyrical post‑pandemic tale that traces art, memory, and survival across a fractured timeline.
7. Children of Time — Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015) An expansive evolutionary saga where uplifted spiders and human survivors collide across deep time.
8. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — Becky Chambers (2014) A warm, character‑driven space opera about a mismatched crew, found family, and the small wonders of the galaxy.
9. Sea of Rust — C. Robert Cargill (2017) A gritty, philosophical road‑novel through a robot‑ruled wasteland, exploring memory, identity, and what it means to be alive.
10. Gideon the Ninth — Tamsyn Muir (2019) Necromancers, locked‑room mystery, and razor‑sharp dialogue in a wildly original, gothic space fantasy.

[DiapDealer]

I'm confused. The title of the the tread is about A.I. book summaries. But you seem to be asking it something unrelated to summaries. And then judging the results based on whether or not you think the resulting books were "good."

What's the point here?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm confused. The title of the the tread is about A.I. book summaries. But you seem to be asking it something unrelated to summaries. And then judging the results based on whether or not you think the resulting books were "good."

What's the point here?

Because a link was posted in the thread on an article about an AI summer reading list that contained garbage.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Because a link was posted in the thread on an article about an AI summer reading list that contained garbage.

That still doesn't explain why this thread is described as being about AI summaries, when in fact, it seems to be about recommendations.

Summaries don't have anything to do with subjective good/bad books on summer reading lists: AI or otherwise.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

That still doesn't explain why this thread is described as being about AI summaries, when in fact, it seems to be about recommendations.

Summaries don't have anything to do with subjective good/bad books on summer reading lists: AI or otherwise.

It i showing that some AI can get things very wrong and some others not.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It i showing that some AI can get things very wrong and some others not.

Oh, you mean like humans do all the time??

And again.... none of this has a single thing to do with your thread title. In case you don't know what you titled this thread, it's "Using A.I. for eBook summaries" (bolding by me). You've not asked for any summaries. So far, you've only asked it to provide lists of books. Some of which you then dismiss as being "bad" (by your personal standards).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh, you mean like humans do all the time??

And again.... none of this has a single thing to do with your thread title. In case you don't know what you titled this thread, it's "Using A.I. for eBook summaries" (bolding by me).

I didn't start the thread. It's not my topic.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I didn't start the thread. It's not my topic.

It's certainly yours now. Get back to the original topic or start your own on getting good reading suggestions from AI.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Here's your answer from Copilot.

Ten contemporary novels that read like Modernist/Kafkaan experiments

1. The City & the City — China Miéville (2009) Two cities occupy the same space and only collective perception keeps them separate; a conceit that forces characters’ consciousness to be legally and psychologically split.
2. The Pale King — David Foster Wallace (2011, posthumous) Fragmentary, episodic chapters about IRS employees turn bureaucracy into an existential condition, revealing interior life through procedural pressure.
3. The Raw Shark Texts — Steven Hall (2007) Memory and identity are threatened by a conceptual predator; typographic play and metafictional puzzles collapse form and self.
4. The Vegetarian — Han Kang (2007; English trans. 2015) A woman’s bodily refusal becomes a metamorphosis narrated in shifting perspectives, exposing alienation and moral opacity through formal partitioning.
5. Convenience Store Woman — Sayaka Murata (2016; English trans. 2018) A deadpan, single‑voice immersion in ritualized work renders social norms uncanny and reveals an estranged, hyper‑rational consciousness.
6. Outline — Rachel Cusk (2014) A novel built from conversations rather than plot; character emerges by absence and testimony, a structural minimalism that excavates subjectivity.
7. Transit — Rachel Cusk (2016) A continuation of the Outline method where identity is assembled from narrated encounters; restraint and repetition produce a destabilized self.
8. The Luminaries — Eleanor Catton (2013) A formally intricate, pattern‑driven novel whose astrological architecture shapes fate and consciousness across multiple viewpoints.
9. The Melancholy of Mechagirl — Catherynne M. Valente (2013) Linked, lyrical fictions and prose‑poems that use dream logic and fragmentation to stage transformations of self and perception.
10. The Trial of Elizabeth Cree — Peter Ackroyd (2013) A layered, unreliable narrative of guilt and performance where structural play and psychological opacity echo Modernist interrogation of identity.

To respond to your post. And then, as indicated, back to the OP's question concerning summaries. (I'll respond to that at the bottom of my post.)

Actually, by a strange coincidence, I'm already in the process of reading Rachel Cusk's Outline Trilogy, and I'm loving it.

The other writers I've read and are quite familiar with include Catherynne M. Valente, Peter Ackroyd, Han Kang, Eleanor Catton, China Miéville, and David Foster Wallace, although I have yet to read the The Pale King. (And Han Kang is a recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.)

The two I am NOT familiar with include Sayaka Murata, and Steven Hall. I need to remedy that sad fact as soon as I can.

Thank you for the list.

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I think AI summaries are pretty much useless for me. At this stage of AI development, there are too many generalizations made. In fact, I no longer pay any attention to those summarized 'stats' that precede readers' comments made on a particular book. There are so many 'uninformed' readers that I think it's somewhat of a joke. My reading is often - NOT ALWAYS! - too narrow in scope. I like to relish the language of the words, and I don't care to be distracted by what I term Surrounding Nonsensical Noises. To list simply one instance: Although I live near a beach, I could care less about so-called Beach Reads. There's too much sand, noise pollution, accumulating garbage, and the smell of cooking food. For me, it is not a place conducive to a relaxing place to read. Give me an outdoor cafe, a foreign language that I don't need to pay attention to, a good drink (coffee or otherwise), and that's the place where I want to read.

Reading a book [ebook] - for me! - is what one often does alone, similar to going to the bathroom. And summaries don't cut it.