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Old 02-26-2012, 09:04 PM   #16
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You can mark items as gifts under "improve my recommendations".
Probably. I've put the energy into tweaking my recs at goodreads. For some reason it wants me to read books I've already read but haven't entered because I read them, like, 20 years ago.
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Old 02-26-2012, 10:34 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Bob Butler View Post
You can mark items as gifts under "improve my recommendations".
I don't click "This was a Gift" but the box "Don't Use For Recommendations".

Do it each day and it only takes a few minutes. I've gotten tons of Freebies and this way none of them impacts what they recommend for me.

Not that the recs are very good to start with, but it helps to keep the freebies out.
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Old 02-27-2012, 12:08 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by DuskyRose View Post
I don't click "This was a Gift" but the box "Don't Use For Recommendations".

Do it each day and it only takes a few minutes. I've gotten tons of Freebies and this way none of them impacts what they recommend for me.

Not that the recs are very good to start with, but it helps to keep the freebies out.
Yeah, I do that too but once in a while I get a freebie or a daily deal that I would like to have be part of my recommendation list. And once in a while a book I bought later gets offered for free. But it is better than nothing.
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Old 02-27-2012, 02:24 PM   #19
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Honestly never had the problem. I've never bothered with any of the free eobooks. I've tried a few of the cheapy 99 cents or 1.99 books, but only when the subject/them were ones I was interested in anyway. It recommends what it knows you've selected in the past. So don't select books about Chinese weasel farming and it won't keep suggesting books on Chinese weasel farming.
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Old 02-27-2012, 04:50 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by xg4bx View Post
i don't get their recommendation system at all. just because i buy one cheapie zombie novel doesn't mean i'll be interested in every cheapie novel in totally unrelated genres.

in general i like the system but lately it feels like i'm locked in constant battle with it.
It probably comes from the same data as the "people also bought this", but as someone already pointed out, when it's free people will download anything (along with everything else that is free at that time). That's where it breaks down. You just end up with random stuff that people who bought the same book as you downloaded. No benefit to the reader, no benefit to the writer.
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Old 02-27-2012, 08:14 PM   #21
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So don't select books about Chinese weasel farming and it won't keep suggesting books on Chinese weasel farming.
In a perverse moment I might actually tempted to read a book on Chinese weasel farming. I was unaware of weasel farms in general, never mind the Chinese ones.
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Old 02-28-2012, 12:26 PM   #22
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I find that finding new books to read is anything but tough. My "to be read" pile has more than 1,000 books in it. I don't look at Amazon's recommendations for me, but I do pay attention to the "other people bought this too" section of the Amazon product pages for books that I really like. I would wager that 60% of my "to be read" pile is based on finding books this way.

This is a useful site:

http://www.yournextread.com
I have to read a bit of each book before deciding to read it further, nothing else matters. Constant word of mouth might nudge me toward that first bit though lol.
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Old 02-28-2012, 10:58 PM   #23
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I bought a dictionary and started getting romance books in my recommendations. They ought to filter out recommendations from unrelated categories.

I suggested that they add options to our account settings that would allow us to block recommendations from specific genres. Click on "I Hate Romance Novels" and they would never recommend another one to you.

Unfortunately, customer service had no idea what I was asking for. I sent a follow-up, but I still don't know if they could grasp the concept
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Old 02-29-2012, 12:46 AM   #24
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goodreads recs can be filtered by genre
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Old 02-29-2012, 07:40 AM   #25
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A bit OT but what really bugs me about Amazon's recommendations is that they apparently apply the same logic to physical products as books/music/video. Now if I buy a Stephen King book it's at least reasonable that I may want to buy other horror books, but if I buy a phone charger then does that mean I want another and another?
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Old 02-29-2012, 08:08 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by latepaul View Post
A bit OT but what really bugs me about Amazon's recommendations is that they apparently apply the same logic to physical products as books/music/video. Now if I buy a Stephen King book it's at least reasonable that I may want to buy other horror books, but if I buy a phone charger then does that mean I want another and another?
I'll agree with that, I bought an mp3 player a couple of weeks ago, the next day Amazon sent me an email for the beastselling mp3 players.
I mean why? Just in case I didn't like the 1 I bought? In which case at least give me a week or two and then make the subject of the email "about the turkey you bought last week - we have better ones".
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Old 03-06-2012, 05:57 PM   #27
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I'd like to recommend LibraryThing as well as Goodreads. LibraryThing has the added funtionality of letting using collect reviews from around the web about a particular book.
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Old 03-06-2012, 11:44 PM   #28
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I publish on Amazon and tweak descriptions and add pictures etc. Then I browse the updates.

As a result, Amazon only recommends our own books and products now.
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Old 06-13-2012, 10:34 AM   #29
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Sorry to join the conversation so late, but i recently developed a home grown book recommendation system. At the moment, it covers about 40,000 books from Project Gutenberg, but I plan on adding free books from other sources. I used a recommendation engine developed by the University of Hildesheim in Germany and am currently experimenting with different recommendation techniques to improve the accuracy.

My system addresses some of the issues that you mentioned and:

* Does not recommend books that you already have downloaded
* Incorporates a rating system where you can rate books. Your ratings are a key factor in suggesting new recommendations for you
* If you have not rated anything yet, the general popularity of a book based on the number of downloads by other people is used

If you want to try the system out, the URL is:

http://www.impactsoftwarelabs.com/book/new.php

Bruce
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Old 06-13-2012, 11:06 AM   #30
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Library Thing is one of my go-to's if I want recommendations that are like some other particular author or book. I get a bunch of books to check out from other people right here at MR. If one of my too-many favorite authors mentions someone or a book then I'll go look at it as well.

I skim the lists of award winners and nominations (Edgar, Hugo, Nebula, etcetera). I've liked some of the nominations ahead of the winners.

Amazon is sort of my last resort, poking through other people's recommendation lists. That is very much hit and miss for me.
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