Recommendations

[stoutfellow]

I love it when some book club or other merchandiser notifies me of things they think I might like, on the basis of past purchases. Some years ago, I purchased a book (via Amazon) by Bill O'Reilly for one of my nieces as a Christmas present, because she had asked for it. I personally want as little as possible to do with the likes of Bill O. Nonetheless, for some months afterward Amazon pelted me with suggestions that I buy more books by O'Reilly, or (gag) Coulter, or - you get the picture.

Today, the Scientific American Book Club (from which I am trying to slowly disengage) sent me a list of recommendations. Now, in the recent past I have ordered books from them such as The Calculus Wars and The Poincaré Conjecture; does it occur to them that popular books on mathematics or on math history might appeal to me? No; every recommendation on the list is based on a book I bought as a present for my brother some months ago.

It is possible that, some day, mass vendors will be able to make accurate recommendations to their customers. I don't know whether to regard that possibility with hope or horror; but that day is most assuredly not here yet.

Comments

[kattsune.livejournal.com]

Amazon does the same thing to me. If you don't mind this service, you can rate things and request that the things you purchase be used or not used for recommendations. I have a fair bit of free time, so I don't mind messing with that, but at the same time, I still get a lot of random stuff that makes no sense.

I think they base recommendations on what people who have also purchased/liked things you have bought have purchased/liked that you haven't bought yet... (<-did that sentence make any sense?)

Technically, it would be possible for you to purchase a math text book, and if the entire class required to purchase that text was composed of girls who were also rabid yaoi fangirls, your recommendations would include naughty manga too.