#GoodReads
I forget where I came across GoodReads.com the first time around but I had basically just removed the link from my del.icio.us “todo” set when Sarah pops up and tells Wranglers to get on board. So, several Wranglers later, I cave and join up as well. Short versions of immediate impressions:
- The concept is neat but the UI is terrible. It’s hard to find the correct action links and there is not much consistency from screen to screen. And what’s up with not allowing whitespace characters in the names of my shelves?
- So much focus on each book and not a lot of focus on the users. Hard to describe… Just seems like when you land at a given book, you don’t see how it ties in with your social network or your interests. Seems difficult to explore (thus far).
- The system seems demanding. Sure you can just rate a book (having it automatically added to your “read” list) but the UI seems like it’s trying to bully you into making recommendations and reviews on top of your ratings.
Thanks for the tip. I’ve been looking for a service like this for a while. LibraryThing is cool, but the interface is pretty rough - worse than GoodReads, by the looks of it. Can’t wait to give GR a spin…
July 5th, 2007 at 8:03 am@Justin: You’re welcome. I have found GoodReads a bit hit-or-miss so far. On the one hand, it’s a mildly-addictive way of tracking what you have read, what you are reading, what your friends are reading, etc. And on the other hands, I keep asking myself: “What was so wrong with just ASKING for recommendations in the first place?”
In any event, happy reading.
July 8th, 2007 at 6:52 am[...] Back in June, I posted about my foray into GoodReads. At the time, I simply posted some “short versions of immediate impressions”. I was convinced that my time with GoodReads would be short, that I would quickly grow frustrated with it and move on. In part, I formed this opinion because I dove into it without a real sense of scope or mission. I had joined GoodReads on a whim, because a couple of friends had, and I had not really thought through what I wanted to get out of the site. After a couple months of on-again-off-again usage, I figured out how it fit into my overall plan; I could use it to track the books in my personal library, to track books I had taken out of our local library, to track what I was reading and when, to record my thoughts as I went along and then convert those notes into full reviews, to find other interesting books, etc. I suppose that is the site’s mission after all. Which is not to say that I do not still have some critiques. [...]
April 6th, 2008 at 9:12 am