I joined Goodreads in 2016. Ever since that is one of my two most used social media platforms.
FunFact: When I type ‘G’ on my web browser, the auto-suggest fills Goodreads first and not Google. I’m a regular user of this platform, but I recently had an awakening that made me question my entire stint on Goodreads. The realization hit me very hard that I stopped using the platform almost completely over the last few months.
Goodreads recommendation engine is the primary reason why I joined Goodreads. Goodreads recommends books based on our shelves, genres, and how other readers with similar reading profiles have read. It understands my preferences, likes, and dislikes and generates a custom list of books that are similar to the books that I loved reading. So awesome right! And this is exactly the reason why I’m planning to leave Goodreads and not read any more of its recommendations.
While the recommendations are really good initially, over a period of time - it gets repetitive, same plot, similar content, monotonous perspectives. We get stuck in the labyrinth. We are starved of novelty and uniqueness. As we keep reading, our taste refines, mind evolves, and we are hungry for new ideas and fresh perspectives. Eating the same food every day strips the joy of eating, likewise reading similar books repetitively kills curiosity and imagination.
So, I made a conscious decision, not to select my next book recommended by Goodreads. So far, I’m really happy with my decision.
This helped me explore many books outside my regular reading preferences, and it’s really refreshing. It makes me curious and helps boost my imagination. Patterns emerge among the dots.
Here are some techniques which I used to find some really interesting books, I used the Classic approaches:
- Go to a library, explore different options, read summaries, trust your instinct and pick a book
- Talk to a librarian and ask for recommendations
- Ask people which books made an impact or affected the way they think
- Books recommended or quoted within other books
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Here are some books that affected the way I look at the world:
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
- Educated by Tara Westover
I would love to know more of your thoughts and comments on how you judge a book and how you select your next book to read?
Do you have a book recommendation? I’m looking forward to your recommendation, send them over to me through email: ConnectWith@Laxmena.com or LinkedIn: Lakshmanan Meiyappan
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