After the kind reception my Top 10 Must-Read List received from @thesteemengine and @ethandsmith (check out his podcast here: https://steemit.com/dsound/@ethandsmith/the-steem-engine-express-episode-5 ), I decided to stick with the book theme for my next post. This time I thought I’d share the invaluable tool I use to find damn near every book I read…
Are you consistently and endlessly searching the library, Amazon or Google for your next book? Have you ever wondered how many books you read this year? How about in your life? Behold the power of cheese the internet, and allow me to introduce you to the avid reader’s dreamsite… http://www.goodreads.com
For those of you that have heard of the website... hold on! Hold on just one sec! Because I want to flesh out some of the finer features of Goodreads.com and why this website was truly a game-changer for me when I found it back in 2011.
Brought to life in late 2006, Goodreads.com has evolved from a simple book tracking website to a full scale social network for book worms. If there were any doubts in the future of this site, they were eliminated en total upon its endorsement and acquisition by Amazon in 2013. Now, that’s all fine and dandy, but why do you care? Or in the words of us always-endeared millennials, “What can it do for me?”.
#1 - “Bookshelves”
Begone dusty boxes and lonely corners of the house filled with books I may have read! You can forget the days of adorning your mantle with that massive novel you conquered (even though it was so freaking bad) just to boast “Yep, I read that. I read the holy hell outta that book... it was great!”
Goodreads’s main claim to fame is that it grants you an opportunity to immortalize your books by electronically organizing and tracking them with ease. Preset with three “bookshelves” (Read, Currently Reading, Want to Read), the site allows you to input a wealth of information in each list to include the book’s rating, date read, number of times read (looking at you Harry Potter fans), comments and many more. You can even create your own bookshelves (like I did when forming my Top 10), which leads me to the next bit of Goodreads glory…
#2 - Listopia
This portion of the site took me a couple years to stumble upon, but when I did I think I scared the wife with my screams of excitement. Goodreads maintains a huge... no, no I mean YUGE... database of unique lists that are created by its users. Ever finish one book and think, “Man, I need another book about (insert absa-freaking-lutely anything here)”? Goodreads has you covered. Here let’s try it: Man, I need another book about…hyenas!
Search for hyenas in the list search bar and bam!:
You can also get crazy specific. Maybe you want to find books affiliated with pop culture? Who remembers all the literary references in LOST? Goodreads has you covered with oh just a measly 90 books that were mentioned on the show:
The point is you can find yourself going down a wonderful rabbit hole in the Listopia feature of Goodreads. Checkout the main page here: https://www.goodreads.com/list
#3 - Reading Challenge!!!
Full disclosure, I am ridiculously goal-oriented. And along those lines, I also love stats (could be my economics degree finally being utilized). So finding Goodreads was like having the pearly gates open for me, especially with this feature. Every January, Goodreads populates a reading challenge in which you can set the number of books you expect (or hope) to read in a year. Every book you read (FYI the site auto-updates if you read on Amazon's Kindle!!) gets recorded and you can keep track of your pace. Big whoop, you say? Well not only does it keep you motivated but you also get a pretty cool report at the end of the year of all the books you read. Check out a few screenshots of my own report below (sorry, it’s a massive webpage so I just have a few pics):
To be honest, I could go on and on about Goodreads.com as the features to this site are truly endless. In rapid fire succession, the site also offers:
- Social sharing/updates from your book “friends”
- In-depth reviews and ratings
- The super-competitive annual Goodreads Choice Awards
- Customized recommendations
- Author pages and chatrooms
- Book deals and giveaways
...And mucho mas!
The point is, if my enthusiasm has not conveyed it enough, the website is a reader’s e-paradise! So the next time you find yourself wondering how you’re going to find that next sultry cowboy romance, stumble over to Goodreads.com and let the site do the work for you:
(I promise I didn’t make that list! But given I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw it, it was a must-include in this post!)
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Very cool intell. I shared the link with my sister. She the serious reader between us. Thank you! Now they just need to tokenize, lol! Introducing Book Worm Coin
Holy cow ain't that the truth!!!! That would be an insta-buy for me!
Hahaha! Right?! Actually kind of genius when you think about it. Token representing reading power of the human population! Need something curated, studied, edited, whatever? That token and economy is your solution. Use their blockchain info for best seller lists, also they could be like the worlds librarians... You can keep running with this crypto token thing and get some pretty interesting new concepts. We could revolutionize the teaching industry.
Welcome to Steemit. This is not a bot. Inspiration Daily is a manual curation project meant to encourage and curate new content creators on Steemit. The project will recognize ten writers per day with a 100 percent upvote (which, unfortunately, is currently worth zero).
I read your top ten books posts as well as your experiences with Goodreads. Your experiences are genuine and add a great perspective to the Steemit community. Oh, and I love coffee, too. Although I only use my French press to make Vietnamese coffee.
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I'll definitely have to begin utilizing goodreads on my kindle. I've been reading a lot more since going electronic. While I do miss the smell and feel of a book, there's something amazing about being able to read on your side before bed, lol. Thanks for sharing this!
@keephy you couldn't have said it any better! I was like oh man but what about that soft, pliable heft of a good paperback?!? Not to mention that smell of pure comfort. I seriously felt like I was commiting a mortal sin when I bought a Kindle. All the way up until I laid down and looked into that softly backlit screen: Game. Over.
Love your blog too! Insta-follow! Thanks for the comment/upvote!
I gave up in Goodreads a few years ago. Maybe I'll give it another go based on your advice.
I’ve only encountered the website in passing. Interesting capabilities. Although I am far from organized or stat driven. lol
Nice, thanks for the pointers. I myself have decided I would have my modest goal of reading 1 book a month :) This will be great for suggestions. I think I remember seeing goodreads on the kindle as well. Cheers.
more reasons for me to read now. Thanks!
I'm sorry to have missed this article, because I love goodreads, but have yet to work out all the parts of it. I keep an eye on my reading lists, but haven't branched out into specific bookshelves, and i didn't even know about listopia.