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How to find new books to read
TLV, a loyal MR reader, asks:
I've always been curious about how Tyler goes about choosing new books to read. Most people rely on recommendations from others, but Tyler seems like someone who generates a lot of recommendations rather than relying on them. What is your process?
Children, do not try this at home, but here goes: visit Borders every Tuesday to look for new books, go to a local public library every other day and scan the new books section, subscribe to TLS, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, noting that you should spend more time with the ads than the book reviews, read the blogs Bookslut and Literary Saloon, read the new magazine BookMark (recommended), read the NYT, FT, and Guardian and their books sections, review lots of books on your blog and peruse the numerous review copies you get in the mail (thanks, you mailers and yes I do look at each and every one; keep them coming!).
It's rare that I rely on recommendations from other people.
Oh, yes, you should get free shipping on Amazon.com.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 23, 2008 at 05:26 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
well, you kind of do rely on other
people if you do all the above.
Posted by: sa at May 23, 2008 5:42:57 AM
I haven't found a new book today (yet) -- but I did read a couple of fascinating blogs as per your suggestion. Literally from Bookslut to Elsewhere.
Denied tenure in the Psych Dept for supporting the wrong poet at Dickinson College, that's really a new one. Apparently the poet in question was not on the approved reading list of the English Department!
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http://garysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/05/dickinson-psych-professor-denied-tenure.html
May 22, 2008
Apparently English professors don't like it when faculty in other departments bring in more poets than they do: Gary Sullivan has a disturbing story from Dickinson College, about the English department helping to block a psychology professor's tenure bid . . . because he brings in flarf poets. Wow. (But remember last week's takeaway: I can't pretend to be much of a judge of poetry: I'm an English teacher, not a homosexual.)
http://www.bookslut.com/blog/
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Great column today ... so many books, so little time.
Posted by: Anna at May 23, 2008 7:31:07 AM
Amazon is the best tool for searching for new books. Pick your topic and then prioritize by date, which turns up all the newly published books.
Posted by: bjk at May 23, 2008 8:27:37 AM
Amazon is the best tool for searching for new books. Pick your topic and then prioritize by date, which turns up all the newly published books.
Posted by: bjk at May 23, 2008 8:27:54 AM
The big problem is not finding good books to read, but finding what to do with them after they're read.
Posted by: Bill Harshaw at May 23, 2008 8:31:24 AM
As someone who used to be a circulation desk peon at George Mason--I can attest to this. T burns up the WRLC and inter library loans like no other. He used to have his own shelves (yes, plural) when I was there. Spectacular. I remember asking him what he was working on once before I figured out who he was... only moderately embarrassing.
Posted by: meg at May 23, 2008 8:40:20 AM
If I did all of those things, there wouldn't be any time left for reading...
Posted by: Rich at May 23, 2008 8:41:28 AM
To quote Schopenhauer: "Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in; but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for an appropriation of their contents."
Posted by: Dennis Mangan at May 23, 2008 8:50:44 AM
Don't forget get a job in academia so reading is considered part of your job.
Posted by: Ted Craig at May 23, 2008 8:56:51 AM
Like bik said, Amazon's search is great for finding new books, but make sure you use the Advanced Search since it gives you greater precision.
Posted by: BW at May 23, 2008 9:03:50 AM
In addition to all the normal ways of picking books, about once a month I go to the Book Nook (used book store) walk down aisles that are of interest to me, close my eyes and walk while running my fingers up and down the books until I stop at one randomly. Then I choose that one or either one to the side. If I've read them all, I go again. Crazy I know, but it's led me to read some great books I never would have picked up otherwise.
Posted by: Carrie at May 23, 2008 9:08:18 AM
How'd the judging a book by its cover experiment work? I tried that after Tyler blogged about it and found a really great novel. Also, I've found success reading the books from authors who blurbed a book I liked.
Posted by: Ted Craig at May 23, 2008 9:39:47 AM
Amazon's listmania is a great source of books.
I like George Will's advice not to read any book under a year old -- any book worth reading is going to still be so in 12 months time.
Posted by: Chris at May 23, 2008 10:00:55 AM
I am reminded of Stigler's nice essay on model turnover, inspired by the Fisher, et. al., study of the auto industry. Worth a look.
Posted by: Critic at May 23, 2008 10:04:19 AM
I have found some amazing books using by searching Amazon by name. Because they aren't under a year old, but instead are used and ~40-75 years old, they are cheap enough to buy blindly based on title.
I know I don't appropriate the knowledge as I purchase them, but I like having a large collection which allows me to read what I am most in the mood for at the time, and things slowly creep to the front. In the meantime I can often use them for reference without having read them cover-cover.
I don't like new books much - too much chaff. I rarely buy on recommendation unless I have another reason to believe I will like it. I don't like fiction, unless it happens to be "great literature" which most great literature (and nearly all fiction) isn't.
Posted by: liberty at May 23, 2008 10:07:53 AM
Check out the website gnod.com which is a site for music and literature that works along the lines of 'if you liked (that) then there's a good chance that you'll like (this).
Posted by: notkevinnealon at May 23, 2008 10:45:38 AM
I find the books Amazon recomends gets thrown off when I buy books as gifts. Amazon now seems to think I'm a "middle aged woman mystery novel type" after getting some books for my aunt. Also some books seem to be weighted more heavily. I buy one "Cartoon Guide to Statisitics" and suddenly I'm getting the idiots guide to everything under the sun recomended to me.
I'd be nice to be able to turn off the feature if you're buying a gift or don't want that book counted.
Posted by: M at May 23, 2008 10:58:15 AM
If you like nonfiction, Wall Street Journal is best.
Posted by: jorod at May 23, 2008 11:57:47 AM
I find the books Amazon recomends gets thrown off when I buy books as gifts. Amazon now seems to think I'm a "middle aged woman mystery novel type" after getting some books for my aunt. Also some books seem to be weighted more heavily. I buy one "Cartoon Guide to Statisitics" and suddenly I'm getting the idiots guide to everything under the sun recomended to me.
I'd be nice to be able to turn off the feature if you're buying a gift or don't want that book counted.
I hate how the order of the recommends is not randomized, and so if I don't have any activity for a while, I just get the same suggestions over and over. I don't want to have to dig through about 10 pages to see what I would like based on my purchases from a couple of months ago.
Also, their are a lot of redundant items; if I purchased seasons 1 and 2 of The West Wing, odds are that I would be aware that season 3 of The West Wing exists, but at the same time I don't want to delete the item from the recommends section, in fear that it would screw up the algorithm and all of a sudden everything West Wing related is now black listed.
Posted by: Jonathan Hohensee at May 23, 2008 12:07:21 PM
How to fix your recommendations on Amazon:
1. Click "Your Account"
2. Scroll down and click "Improve Your Recommendations"
3. Log in (if necessary)
4. Now you can go through your recent purchases and check "This was a gift" or "Don't use for recommendations" as well as rate each purchase from 1 to 5.
Posted by: Jacqueline at May 23, 2008 2:05:43 PM
I rely to a large degree on recommendations from Tyler.
Posted by: Alan Little at May 23, 2008 2:11:20 PM
"It's rare that I rely on recommendations from other people."
So if I follow Tyler's advice I shouldn't follow Tyler's advice?
Posted by: John B. Chilton at May 23, 2008 2:51:32 PM
Not only what John B Chilton just said.
Also, isn't loyalty (as in "a loyal MR reader") contrary to our hosts' outlook?
Posted by: tom s. at May 23, 2008 3:02:25 PM
Time for reading, what about thinking?
At what point does the diminishing returns of input outstrip the benefits of greater output?
How do you know what to spend extra time with?
Posted by: Andrew at May 23, 2008 3:29:03 PM
Wall Street Journal for nonfiction? Yeah, especially in the Op-Ed section.
Posted by: baiano at May 23, 2008 6:32:51 PM
