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I'm deeply saddened to hear that the Seattle Mystery Bookshop is closing. This feels like something easily missed in today's automation-based economy; the abili

I'm deeply saddened to hear that the Seattle Mystery Bookshop is closing. This feels like something easily missed in today's automation-based economy; the ability to go to an expert and get quality recommendations is not to be missed. Seattle Mystery Bookshop was only one of many excellent book stores in the Seattle area, but it seems that their number is diminishing by the day. I can only assume that that trend holds firm in other cities, and we are the poorer for it.

MartinCron 9y ago
Agreed. I found SO MANY of my favorite authors based on recommendations from that place.
lighthazard 9y ago
Is the major benefit an expert to give you recommendations? How is this different from any online medium like Reddit or Facebook where an expert can do the same thing, without a local constraint?
- egypturnash 9y ago
  Let’s say I want to read some new fantasy. I go to /r/fantasy and ask for recommendations. I will probably get someone recommending goddamn Malazan* no matter how applicable it is to what I asked for. I will also get a lot of recs that are just a title, maybe a title and an author, with no further info. Some authors who hang out there will pimp their own books. Maybe someone recommends Name Of The Wind and a mini-flamewar about book 3 taking a decade and counting happens. I end up with a lot of unfiltered recommendations, and an overwhelming amount of research to do on them. I go to a good bookstore. I can wander into the SF section and find a whole bunch of staff recommendation cards on the shelves next to things they’ve loved. Maybe there’s a list of Hugo and Nebula winners. Maybe some new stuff the average reader hasn’t heard of. Maybe a “if you liked THIS THING then try THIS OTHER THING” card on the shelf points me to something new. I’ve got a fairly small selection of recommendations, curated by people whose job is partially to keep up with new fiction and recommend the great new stuff. And maybe something outside my genre comfort zone catches my eye on the way to the SF/F section... Also it is TONS easier to get an idea of just how long a book is when you’re picking one up off the shelves. One cover image and maybe a little tiny text note of how big the file is on Amazon’s page is a lot less information about the sheer size of the story I’m considering picking up. * /r/fantasy loves this turgid-ass sprawling account of someone’s D&D campaign, I finally tried reading the first book and gave up after three chapters, then got told that “everyone knows it doesn’t pick up until book 3” and life is way too short for that IMHO... ---- TL;DR: Reddit ain't gonna give you professional recommendations. Reddit will give you a bunch of recommendations of stuff twentysomething guys with a ton of free time on their hands like.
  - dagenleg 9y ago
    If you go to /r/fantasy and don't like their suggestions it simply means your tastes do not match with mainstream /r/fantasy tastes. Luckily we are not limited to just reddit when looking for recommendations on the internet. Just look around more.
  - lighthazard 9y ago
    Yea, but couldn't I find an expert amongst the group of random Internet people posting on these places? What makes a bookstore employee more knowledgeable or an expert? You've mentioned recommendations and exploration but things like Goodreads have similar tools - you can follow users who have similar 'likes' as you, you can read lists by people who have similar tastes, and you can get recommendations from the 'pros'. I'm sorry I mentioned Reddit. I really did mean any online medium, Goodreads, random book forums, anything else.
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    Not your goal but I just added Malazan to my wish list :)
- setr 9y ago
  Reddit and facebook offer the ability for anyone to recommend to you, with no real way to filter their actual authority on the subject except by the one post itself (scowering through each person's history to get a better sense is beyond unreasonable). With a bookstore, you can reasonably expect, at least to a certain degree, an authority figure. With facebook/reddit, you can reasonably expect nonsense, and maybe one somewhat knowledged guy piping up in a wave of shit. Tbh, I have no idea why you'd bring up reddit or fb instead of at least hn, where the noise to signal ratio at least attempts to approach something useable. Reddit and facebook are where you go to accidentally stumble into something useful; not when you're searching for it. In fact, if you're looking for an expert, you usually go where few people go: because those you would find there probably have good reason to be there; places where its only worth being if you're an expert in the niche

MartinCron 9y ago

Agreed. I found SO MANY of my favorite authors based on recommendations from that place.

lighthazard 9y ago

Is the major benefit an expert to give you recommendations? How is this different from any online medium like Reddit or Facebook where an expert can do the same thing, without a local constraint?

egypturnash 9y ago
Let’s say I want to read some new fantasy. I go to /r/fantasy and ask for recommendations. I will probably get someone recommending goddamn Malazan* no matter how applicable it is to what I asked for. I will also get a lot of recs that are just a title, maybe a title and an author, with no further info. Some authors who hang out there will pimp their own books. Maybe someone recommends Name Of The Wind and a mini-flamewar about book 3 taking a decade and counting happens. I end up with a lot of unfiltered recommendations, and an overwhelming amount of research to do on them. I go to a good bookstore. I can wander into the SF section and find a whole bunch of staff recommendation cards on the shelves next to things they’ve loved. Maybe there’s a list of Hugo and Nebula winners. Maybe some new stuff the average reader hasn’t heard of. Maybe a “if you liked THIS THING then try THIS OTHER THING” card on the shelf points me to something new. I’ve got a fairly small selection of recommendations, curated by people whose job is partially to keep up with new fiction and recommend the great new stuff. And maybe something outside my genre comfort zone catches my eye on the way to the SF/F section... Also it is TONS easier to get an idea of just how long a book is when you’re picking one up off the shelves. One cover image and maybe a little tiny text note of how big the file is on Amazon’s page is a lot less information about the sheer size of the story I’m considering picking up. * /r/fantasy loves this turgid-ass sprawling account of someone’s D&D campaign, I finally tried reading the first book and gave up after three chapters, then got told that “everyone knows it doesn’t pick up until book 3” and life is way too short for that IMHO... ---- TL;DR: Reddit ain't gonna give you professional recommendations. Reddit will give you a bunch of recommendations of stuff twentysomething guys with a ton of free time on their hands like.
- dagenleg 9y ago
  If you go to /r/fantasy and don't like their suggestions it simply means your tastes do not match with mainstream /r/fantasy tastes. Luckily we are not limited to just reddit when looking for recommendations on the internet. Just look around more.
- lighthazard 9y ago
  Yea, but couldn't I find an expert amongst the group of random Internet people posting on these places? What makes a bookstore employee more knowledgeable or an expert? You've mentioned recommendations and exploration but things like Goodreads have similar tools - you can follow users who have similar 'likes' as you, you can read lists by people who have similar tastes, and you can get recommendations from the 'pros'. I'm sorry I mentioned Reddit. I really did mean any online medium, Goodreads, random book forums, anything else.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  Not your goal but I just added Malazan to my wish list :)
setr 9y ago
Reddit and facebook offer the ability for anyone to recommend to you, with no real way to filter their actual authority on the subject except by the one post itself (scowering through each person's history to get a better sense is beyond unreasonable). With a bookstore, you can reasonably expect, at least to a certain degree, an authority figure. With facebook/reddit, you can reasonably expect nonsense, and maybe one somewhat knowledged guy piping up in a wave of shit. Tbh, I have no idea why you'd bring up reddit or fb instead of at least hn, where the noise to signal ratio at least attempts to approach something useable. Reddit and facebook are where you go to accidentally stumble into something useful; not when you're searching for it. In fact, if you're looking for an expert, you usually go where few people go: because those you would find there probably have good reason to be there; places where its only worth being if you're an expert in the niche