Mike Cane left a comment in response to my post about the Sony Reader. He said he hoped I’d write about the possibilities of socialising books on the Internet. Ever eager to please, here I go…

Book Shelves and Coffee Tables

Anyone who reads books will check out the coffee table or bookshelves of friends when left alone in their living room. You put your favorite books on your coffee because that’s where they look first (and ideally because you’re reading them).

They’ll look at the coffee table when you go to the toilet.

If you leave them for longer, they’ll head for your bookshelf.

They do it partly because they’re bored, and partly because it tells them something about you.

Little tip: If the conversation seems to be dying, nip to the loo. While you’re powdering your nose they will look around for a conversation starter. A choice of coffee table books will catch their eye. When you return they will start a conversation on one of your favorite topics. And it will tell you something about their interests too: why did they choose ‘Book of Boring Postcards’ and not ‘How to be a Better Lover’?

The Internet and Books

In real life the social aspect of books is limited by the amount of time you spent in the water closet. Usually they don’t have time to browse your bookcases because you’re talking to them. Or because, horror of all common horrors, you put on the television.

On the Internet this restriction disappears; they can check out your collection whether you’re on the bog or not. No longer do we need to be constipated for them to scan your bookshelves.

Here are a couple of examples of the beginning of this social book revolution:

A simple list of books

This is Garr Reynolds’ list of books that he recommends (link opens new tab). I’ve been following Reynold’s wonderful Presentation Zen blog for some time so I respect anything he recommends. A list of his favorite books is quite useful to me.

Unfortunately there are a few shortcomings: I can’t easily sample the books, or find out what he thinks about them. There are so many choices, I don’t know where to start. I don’t know if all these books are relevant to me. And if I came across one of these books on another site, I probably wouldn’t remember that Garr Reynold’s recommended it.

A deep list of books

This is a blog by a young entrepreneur by the name of Ben Casnocha (link opens new tab). On the left hand-side of his page is a list of his most recently read books. It includes a little picture of the cover, a link to amazon, a one-sentence review, and a link to his fuller review if it exists.

This is very useful and it’s quite likely that a strong recommendation will have me clicking on that Amazon link.

Amazon

Amazon has already taken the socialising of books to a new level by allowing anyone to write an independent review. These are pretty useful when making a buying decision, but there is a big problem: I don’t trust any of the reviewers. Why would I? I don’t know them. Taken together I get a fairly accurate impression of whether the book is good or not, but what I really want is to read reviews by people I already know and respect.

The problem at the moment is while people link to Amazon, Amazon doesn’t generally link back to the people I want them to. Amazon is weakened for the customer because its databases are all inbred.

A Scenario

I’m reading Seth Godin’s blog and he tells me that he’s brought out a new book. I click on the link and I’m taken to Amazon. There are many reviews, but I ignore most of them because Amazon tells me Garr Reynolds, Ben Casnocha and my neighbour Michael, have all read the book. It links back to their blogs where I find both Reynold’s and Casnocha love it, but Michael thinks it’s dire. Since Michael usually has poor taste in books I take this as the ultimate recommendation and add it to my wish list.

Here’s what you would need:

A central database which contains just a few simple details. It contains your name (or online pseudonym) a list of books you’ve read, a link to a review if you’ve done one, and choices for levels of privacy. Install a plugin into your blog and you can automate the whole process.

Then anyone who respects your book choices has you on their own database. It’s just a database of names and links to their book list.

They go to Amazon. Amazon cross references the book they are currently looking at with their list of book-friends and lists anyone who matches that query.

There’s nothing stopping this happening now; we’re only one step away.

Electronic Books

None of this relies on the use of eBooks, but eBooks would make it easier and even more powerful. Some examples:

• You buy a book and open it up on your reader. It gives you the choice to tell people you own the book. If you decide to publish that information it automatically updates the reference on your personal book database.
• When you finish the book, you can click a checkbox that says you’ve done so.
• If your eBook reader allows you to type, you can write your review while you’re still reading. When you’re done, you just click send and it updates your blog and your personal book database.
• Your friend writes notes and musings in the ‘margins’ of his electronic book. You read the same book and see your margin has a marker in it. You click the marker and it reveals your friend’s comments.
• There is a reference in the book, but instead of having to troll the libraries and book shops, you just click a link. If there is a public domain version it tells you and you can download the reference immediately. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a rare book.
• An option takes you to a list of people who are currently reading the same book as you. It even says who’s on the same chapter. Instant book discussion group.

Not all this will be possible on the Sony Reader, but it will begin the revolution. And really, it’s the software innovation that is slowing us down more than technology.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 15:15 UTC and is filed under Futurology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.