That seems like an even more questionable tool for deciding what to read than a best-seller list. Those guys are renowned for starting tech companies that made lots of money, not for their outstanding taste in books.
>They are also very smart, which made them read/like interesting books.
This logic doesn't take us anywhere because there existed equally intelligent people who either worked in farm or meatshop or even might be working as a janitor instead of launching companies worth billions and recommending othes books.
And does being intelligent means not being evil? What if they posted these books to distract you while they go around reading something else which helps them build competitive advantage against masses.
I won't blind accept a reading suggestion from someone even if they happen to be commerically successful or they happen to be smarter.
So people post book reviews to distract you from doing something. Lol.
I still have a bigger respect for people that started a multi billion dollar company than a janitor. It doesn't mean I have no respect for them, but just a bigger one for someone that did something unique.
While your question is interesting as a psychological thought experiment, it does not matter pragmatically.
If I am interested in, say, sci-fi, or futurism, and so is person X - or, person X's marketing image - then person X will bolster their brand by posting sci-fi and futurism books.
Therefore, I still get recommendations in the genres I'm interested in, and whether those recommendations are accurate portrayals of person X's interests is irrelevant.
i highly recommend this as well. have a list of people you admire and monitor/check their twitter, blog, website, etc. they usually post amazing books they have read and all you have to do is add these books to your wishlist (if possible, or bookmark them). see how long they stay there and how your interest in those books changes.
to be honest, books recommended by, say Bill Gates, are often in other spheres of influence and interest than i am currently part of and feel i can do anything about. but any technical book from John Carmack is a go for me.
Why should I care what those people are reading or think. I'm not them and they're not me and while some of my interests may overlap with them, it doesn't mean I want to, or will enjoy, reading what they read.
...okay? With the exception of tailored algorithms, i.e. Pandora, every media service or list is going to be the opinions of one or more persons.
What's on cable is relegated by Neilson ratings, what's on the radio is relegated by what's popular / the DJ's favorite songs, what's in a bookstore is relegated by what sells well (or, by what doesn't sell poorly). Everything is curated.
Why should you care about the bestseller lists? This is an alternative if you want to get some insight into the thought process of these (terrible) people.
Also these three people are examples; the point is that some public people that you may care about recommend books, and that is a way to discover books.
I only said it because I meant it. Booklists from people one admires (or detests) are a good place to check to discover new books, though.
I also suggest bibliographies and references in things that you are currently reading. That's usually where I find the next things to read. Especially with journal articles, because you can find other things that cite a paper you enjoyed pretty easily on the web.
And then we can aggregate those, put it on a website and post affiliate links gradually becoming the go to source for book lists and then sell spots on the list and then people start publishing their own reading lists and someone aggregates those and...
browse goodreads! go to local author talks! go to a local book club ran by someone well-read! totally agree with the above supporting long form review publications like the new york/ london/ paris review of books; they typically will write about a general topic whose sources are 1-3 books that are listed. If the long form piece peaks your interest you know exactly where to dig in for more information.
Best seller lists skew towards "branded" writers typically pushing (in my opinion) a diluted version of an existing thought that is re-marketed for our time. There is nothing new under the sun, so stick to the classics. Life is much too short to read mediocre books. (:
But this makes sense, because a store will generally buy items that it thinks it can sell, so it'll come down to humans making choices about what's a good book. Of course, publishers will be pushing their latest items through their marketing chains, and so new books will make it to stores based on marketability to the store owner.
In the digital realm, this is less of an issue, and can accept more books, but makes the whole shopping experience very noisy imho.
However, I personally like to read those little recommendation cards that the shop assistants make. I've bought a few books outside my normal genre that way, and haven't been let down yet.
This is by far the most insightful comment on this thread. Especially for fiction and poetry, which like opera and classical music, the we're presently in a period of creative lullness, and seemingly nothing that compares with the grandeur of works from the 19th century ever comes up these days.
Oddly enough, that's not been my problem for some sime now. Note that I largely read nonfiction....
1. Find a topic of interest.
2. Start reading at some arbitrary entry point, though generally favour texts with references.
3. Branch from there.
- Find the authors you most respect / who most make you think, and read their publications, and track down their sources and references, or where they're cited. Notes, footnotes, references, bibliographies, and citation indices are gold.
- Find the topics, questions, ideas, methods within the topic that you're most interested in and drill down on those.
- If you find yourself needing new skills in the course of explorations, pick up on those.
- Don't hesitate to ask for recommendations.
- If there's a concept that seems unclear, chase that down to its origins, and trace variants as the concept evolves
- Incidental histories and biographies can often provide further illumination.
- Eventually you should start constructing your ow structure or modle of the field or space (or subsets / components of it/them). This can further drive your exploration.
I think the key is looking for longevity. A book at the top of a bestseller list for a week is a mere blip. Books start catching my attention when I seem them out there for about 3 months- its not some flash in the pan or selling just because the author previously wrote a good book. Around 6 months, you start getting stuff that is almost certainly going to at least be entertaining. If something has been on the list a year or more, this is likely going to be a thought provoking book and something highly enjoyable. This scale has never really let me down- except maybe in the case of The Alchemist. That was such a miss and the language just so... vapid... that I actually downloaded a copy off the internet just to see if I got a bootleg mistranslated version or something. I read tons of books, 99/100+ times a book on the NYTimes Bestseller list for more than 6 months has been worth its time to read.
Despite the obvious conflict of interest, you can get pretty far by talking to bookshop staff. They’re around the books all day, so it’s pretty much inevitable they’ll leaf through them and form their own opinions.
Read quality book reviews. I would especially recommend the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, but there are dozens of long-form journals of this kind.
Most newspapers also have book review sections, as do many academic journals.
Presumably if you're interested in someone or something, you can also simply peruse the internet to see what's out there, i.e. you can start with your interests rather than with what's popular or well-advertised.
