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BookLamp.org is Pandora.com for Books
booklamp.org — CanGoogleHearMe.com recently introduced BookLamp.org. It's a system that matches users to books based on a full-text analysis of the novel, like how Pandora matches music. It measures elements like action, dialog, and description, graphs them for you scene-by-scene, and uses that to find other books that have similar writing style.
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- FattiKane, on 03/18/2008, -1/+42Nifty. Needs more books, but the concept is pretty cool. I have to wonder how something like this will impact the publishing industry. If it can really bypass advertising and find authors that people have never read, but are good, it could mean the end of super-star authors like Stephen King. Or maybe not. I tend to find that social recommendation sites always recommend best-selling authors because everyone is reading them. I've never had Amazon.com recommend an author that wasn't already popular. Until they have a bigger database, we won't know, I guess.
- tastypaste, on 03/18/2008, -4/+4Well, the problem with BookLamp that I can see, is that it has no way of judging the quality of a book. Even if a book has the same pacing, narrative style etc of a book I like, it could still be a terrible book. So it's recommendations may not very good without a human controlled rating system, which could be fairly arbitrary but it would help to filter out the truly bad novels that aren't even worth looking at.
- VicterHeart, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2It's my understanding that the final stage of the process according to their video was to use human controlled rating to try to figure out which books were good of the ones that matched the other factors. So it does use human controlled ratings, but it's only one thing that's matched, instead of the only thing that's matched like normal systems from amazon.
- PingoLingo, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1That's a good point, but I can't help but think that it shouldn't be up to the system to determine 'quality'. It should have a recommendation/rating function, but let users determine it's overall quality over time.
I like the idea of not knowing if a new author is as good or better than a favorite author. Bad books just make the better ones stand out more, and let you appreciate the craft in a different sense...
- rompom7, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1Ohh, now I get it.. a NOVEL project...
- dfdemar, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1I don't see how it would hurt already established authors but I could see it making more obscure authors more popular.
- billygotee, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Good job, but I'm a bit worried about the future of this project. The interface is so very simple (choose a book from a dropdown box?), while Amazon's system has precisely the same goal, is already free, and is so very user-generated. Much more effective. The developer(s) at BookLamp.org have written it so that each book must be qualitatively and quantitatively interpreted by a human being. Contrast this with Amazon, which has a lattice of all users' tastes to use as a clue for matching books, in addition to the word cloud that is associated with each book. Just my $0.02, not to take away from the stand up job they're doing I'm sure at BookLamp.org, but I must admit my fear for their success.
- billygotee, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Correction: it isn't interpreted entirely by a human being, there is computation involved.
- tastypaste, on 03/18/2008, -4/+4Well, the problem with BookLamp that I can see, is that it has no way of judging the quality of a book. Even if a book has the same pacing, narrative style etc of a book I like, it could still be a terrible book. So it's recommendations may not very good without a human controlled rating system, which could be fairly arbitrary but it would help to filter out the truly bad novels that aren't even worth looking at.
- Geekiitron, on 03/18/2008, -18/+0Not quite first.
Good Luck Aaron! - maiios, on 03/18/2008, -3/+14I have been following this since the first time it was on digg, and I have been really impressed. Aaron has kept a blog going throughout the process from his initial trip to release over the past year. Good job Aaron. Go Vandals.
- murty, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2I also have been following this through since first on digg. I has been an interesting journey to follow along with aaron, and I think his idea is amazing and has the potential to become a big thing. Would be awesome if it was incorporated with amazon kindle! (just in terms of the way reading books is going)
- hgrave23, on 03/18/2008, -11/+1Things like this make me think only 1 thing...
- badgermagics, on 03/18/2008, -0/+5Slow down there, Einstein.
- mtotheatt, on 03/18/2008, -1/+7Looks awesome! Needs more books asap!
- salguod, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2As commented on by FattiKane above, I will be even more interested when less known authors are included in your database. An Indie movement in the book community .... I hope Google or Amazon pays attention to your site.
- aladrin, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1Dugg down for 'indie movement' I guess.
This site is -perfect- for indies, though. There's no better way to advertise than be compared to someone's favorite books. Any indie authors should be sending a copy of their book to them. The free advertising will far outweigh the cost of the book and shipping. (An electronic version might be better, since they won't have to go through the scanning process.)
- aladrin, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1Dugg down for 'indie movement' I guess.
- bconneen, on 03/18/2008, -2/+3The concept seems to have quite a bit of potential. I've been following the website CanGoogleHearMe.com for about a year. Once they get more books into the database, it could provide some interesting insight into why people like the books that they do.
- theaer, on 03/18/2008, -5/+3it works! love it. Can't wait until more books are added. (I want to know someone similar to Michael Crichton) Can't wait to see where the end of the road lies.
Keep up the good work.- InfamousAtheist, on 03/18/2008, -2/+3Similar to Crichton = as ***** an author?
- WalterPigeon, on 03/18/2008, -2/+6I'm waiting to discover another Dean Koontz. I enjoyed working with the Booklamp data base as it currently exists. Even with its limited data I learned a few things about my reading preferences. This thing is big. It makes good sense that this service be married to Google, Amazon.com or someone with a huge data base and a heart for serving the literate community. Go for it guys. Someone is going to hear you and we will reap the benefits of your insightful program. I can't wait to see your service in full swing.
- mooseontheloose, on 03/18/2008, -5/+7Yeah, authors like Dean Koontz don't come along too often. You have to go all the way to the $1.99 bargain bin to find authors of comparable quality.
- mrjit, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1LOL You totally beat me to it.
- evodude, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Try King. No, seriously. I though Koontz was good, then I started reading King, and I realized just how hard Koontz sucks. He has a few good novels, like Odd Thomas, but a lot of them just flat out blow, and it seems to be about one in five with Koontz. I've yet to encounter that problem with King.
- mooseontheloose, on 03/18/2008, -5/+7Yeah, authors like Dean Koontz don't come along too often. You have to go all the way to the $1.99 bargain bin to find authors of comparable quality.
- ToMZiLLA, on 03/18/2008, -8/+1stupid. Books are different than music because it takes longer to read a book than to listen to a song. It's also more involved than music. You read a book for the process, not the result. For books, I think it's more important to broaden your horizons and read different kind of books and not limit yourself.
- FattiKane, on 03/18/2008, -0/+5It's exactly the difference between books and music that makes this project make sense to me. I can go through three songs I don't like without wasting much time, but I can't do that with books. They take longer to read, so a recommendation system that works seems all the more valuable. And you're wrong - I read good books for the process; I put down bad ones and don't read them at all. And after reading the forums at the site, there's a great deal that's gone into making this a system that can expand your horizons, if you bothered learning about it before condemning it. You make a great deal of assumptions without learning about what you're commenting on - hardly atypical for forums, but still...
- tastypaste, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Clearly this system would allow you to broaden your horizon. If I liked Jurassic Park, I would never think to read a book by John Ringo. I have no idea who that even is. It's already broadened my literary horizon, just from watching the introduction video.
The system has a lot of potential. Don't wave it off before it's even fully implemented. - mrjit, on 03/18/2008, -1/+3What the hell? What, have you read no more than 10 books in your entire life? Most of us "well-read" adults know exactly what genre and style of writing we like, and probably have little interest in any horizon broadening. I want to read books similar to GRRM, someone may want to read books similar to S.King. You think throwing either one of us a Nicholas Sparks book will interest us? You don't use Pandora to learn about new GENRES of music, you use it to find bands similar to the GENRE you prefer. That's why you select a "Sounds like: xxxxyz" at the beginning.
- EliMordino, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Reading the same kind of book over and over again hardly makes you well-read. Surely being that specific in your reading habits gets intensely boring?
- Karmavs, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2This project is likely to broaden the literary horizons of those who use it. The metrics are based upon writing style, not on subject matter.
- Roger, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1Their metrics might be a bit too simple, but still an interesting project.
- mkling176, on 03/18/2008, -7/+4Interesting idea--but not necessarily a good one. Pandora is great to put on and listen to passively while doing work. Can't really read while doing something else. This will definitely fill a much smaller niche.
- VicterHeart, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2So you're saying that it's going to serve a smaller niche because people listen to music more than they read? :)
- screwy3333, on 03/18/2008, -1/+4im pretty sure thats what hes saying
- passedoutghost, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0If you're referring to digg, then I think you're very much mistaken. I read more than I listen to music. Sometimes I read and listen to music.
- god613, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0I think you missed the point all together. Its not for people to go here and read in their spare time. It recommends books based on someones reading patterns and interests, similar to how Pandora recommends/plays music based on someones listening patterns and interests.
FTR: I barely read at all and I think its a great idea. - richierichsis, on 03/19/2008, -0/+0A smaller niche? I don't think so! Finding books with stylistic preferences that please my palate will be enjoyable. I don't want to waste money on a book that isn't going to fit my "enjoying index"...don't have enough free time!
- VicterHeart, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2So you're saying that it's going to serve a smaller niche because people listen to music more than they read? :)
- talonstriker, on 03/18/2008, -0/+3awesome! Dostoevsky set the bar pretty high for my literary tastes...lets see anyone can top him..
- passedoutghost, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Tolstoy - War and Peace. Utterly gripping novel. Also, Ibsen - A Doll's House. Pretty powerful play which paralleled the tensions of a woman's role in a patriarchal society of the 19th century.
- talonstriker, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1I read War and Peace and hated it...although it was a well written book.
- EliMordino, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2Hey guys, you might want to be careful with all these names you're dropping, someone might trip up.
- passedoutghost, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Tolstoy - War and Peace. Utterly gripping novel. Also, Ibsen - A Doll's House. Pretty powerful play which paralleled the tensions of a woman's role in a patriarchal society of the 19th century.
- HolemCross, on 03/18/2008, -2/+32Lol I did a search on George Orwell's "1984" and the most relevant book to it match was the "USA Patriot Act" by the US Congress.
- Karmavs, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2It's actually As far as I can tell, the strongest recommendation in the entire site (I only checked one book per author though, so I may be wrong)
- PhireN, on 03/18/2008, -0/+14Its an easter egg, The Patriot Act isn't actually in the database.
- encrypteduser, on 03/18/2008, -11/+12I saw one thing that really ***** me off. L RON HUBBARD is in the authors list. It's bad enough that there is such a small selection of authors! What the ***** is L RON doing in there?
- theymos, on 03/18/2008, -2/+8He wrote some very famous non-scientology scifi before he started the cult. It would be surprising for him to not be there. Battlefield earth(book, not movie) is actually pretty good.
- aladrin, on 03/18/2008, -0/+12Because the aim of the site is to recommend books according to data, not to push someone's agenda. You're asking them to ban an author because you don't agree with something they did. How's that any different than schools banning books over the idiotic reasons they do?
- encrypteduser, on 03/18/2008, -3/+1***** L Ron Hubbard and all of his clones....
- m895krein, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1This is such a great idea, I hope you guys can make it big. Way to go guys!
- Sharpezor, on 03/18/2008, -3/+1Thank you
- Sharpezor, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1who the ***** diggs down a simple thank you?
- cl2yp71c, on 03/18/2008, -0/+4This is great for finding underdog writers with genuine talent.
- sicamore, on 03/18/2008, -3/+7Hey this really works - I selected George Orwells 1984 and it suggested the United States Patriot Act by the US Congress. Remarkable. . .
- str3ama, on 03/18/2008, -0/+3"L. Ron Hubbard - Fear" ...hmm maybe an allusion to things to come..
Anyways this needs more books - there are too few books in there, and I'm worried that putting Asimov will isolate me to scifi books.- andoman, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1This is just a example database to show a demo of the final product.
Aaron and the team over at Booklamp are still in beta and are trying to choose between open sourcing, partnerships or raising capital
- andoman, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1This is just a example database to show a demo of the final product.
- babiya, on 03/18/2008, -0/+6Anyone know a site with the same concept but for movies?
- int10h, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1There is a great site called Filmtipset (filmtipset.se) for Swedish people, but I don't know of any English ones that are decent.
- diskit, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2I know of two sites that are okay for recommendations, though neither one is perfect.
criticker.com
movielens.org
Again, both sites aren't perfect, but they're the best that I know of.
If anyone finds any better sites for movie recommendations, let me know.
- drinklord, on 03/18/2008, -8/+1Cool. And last.fm is pandora for music.
- Karmavs, on 03/18/2008, -3/+4Pandora is pandora for music. Last.fm is voluntary spyware.
- passedoutghost, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Last.fm has gone downhill ever since Pandora was closed off to the international community.
- Eddible, on 03/18/2008, -1/+6Shame they force you to register to even try the site, always a bad move to force registration for any sort of functionality.
- KingGorilla, on 03/18/2008, -4/+4I love lamps!
- passedoutghost, on 03/18/2008, -2/+0Especially lava lamps!
- lamiaconfitor, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2I wanted to be able to read samples from random books,based on reading history. That would be a pandora for books.
- jefuchs, on 03/18/2008, -2/+3Pandora lets you listen to the music. This site just recommends titles. Doesn't supply any content.
Heck, Amazon recommendations do the same thing. - loquax, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Great concept, but it does need more people participating and more books.
- joshtj, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2The book selection is so limited, so it's far too early to say whether or not the site will even work. They would have to migrate so many more books over. I'd never use it.
- crxyem, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Again cool concept, but it didn't have any books I have read.
- WaltDismal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+4Their parameters are quantitative, not qualitative. I see flaws in that. You'll get similar structures, but structure has little direct connection with meaning nor with character, viewpoint, and empathy for a character.
- ciphex, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1True in the beginning but I disagree when you being unable to link structure to character. There is still a lot of value in quantitative data. By layering the different quantitative measurements over each other they begin to paint a qualitative picture. With a few more criterion or "bookmarks" things could get even more interesting. I think that dialect markers, vocabulary set analysis and overall character emotion detection could be feasible, possibly even character behavioral patterns. One thing to note though, trying to get too specific without a perfect weight balancing system might begin to return a lot of false positives.
Meaning and viewpoint are much more abstract ideas and would be insanely hard to code for individually. This is where the social ratings come in though, right? But if a system could tell you that the main character is malicious, for example, then that the book is fast paced, then identify literary references and maybe pick up on the general setting... you could begin to get a very clear picture of most works.
Lastly, how well the system works will depend a lot on the book itself. I think theology books for instance would be harder to properly stat then would the Great American Novel.- WaltDismal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Well, a few more comments. Can the software recognize the difference between strong drama, melodrama, mainstream, comedy, romance? Can the software recognize whether physical adventure, mental adventure, or emotional adventure is dominant in the plot? Can the software even detect genres? (adventure, mystery, comedy, SF/fantasy, war, etc.)
AS for character, it's expressed by what a person thinks and does, and even by viewpoints of other characters. Can Google's software handle that? Structure analysis does not do that. Semantic analysis is required. But that is very complicated and their software is utterly incapable of it to any needed depth.
What the Google software does is analyze style, but in looking for books, style is only one of many things that can make a book appealing or not. Philosophy of the writer, the mind and personality of the writer, is a big factor. This software isn't able to handle that.
- WaltDismal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Well, a few more comments. Can the software recognize the difference between strong drama, melodrama, mainstream, comedy, romance? Can the software recognize whether physical adventure, mental adventure, or emotional adventure is dominant in the plot? Can the software even detect genres? (adventure, mystery, comedy, SF/fantasy, war, etc.)
- ciphex, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1True in the beginning but I disagree when you being unable to link structure to character. There is still a lot of value in quantitative data. By layering the different quantitative measurements over each other they begin to paint a qualitative picture. With a few more criterion or "bookmarks" things could get even more interesting. I think that dialect markers, vocabulary set analysis and overall character emotion detection could be feasible, possibly even character behavioral patterns. One thing to note though, trying to get too specific without a perfect weight balancing system might begin to return a lot of false positives.
- LiquidDragon, on 03/18/2008, -0/+4Sounds like a good idea. I bet you soon enough this will also be outlawed in Canada just like Pandora was.
- AyaJulia, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Definitely not pandora-like until it gets WAY more books. Where the hell are today's classics like Tolkien or Heinlein? Even some of the authors that -are- there have only their little-known titles there instead of the ones that made them famous. I see the potential, but it was way too early to make this sound like anything but a work in need of very, very much progress.
- nedzalife, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1speaking of Pandora, anyone know a US proxy that I can use to access the site? I miss that site so much... stupid RIAA and their damn licensing not allowing anyone outside of the US to listen to the best legal music site on the net...
- docholoday, on 03/18/2008, -1/+3Searching with George Orwell's 1984... top result... the US Patriot Act by the US Congress. 98% match.
- mikewill7seven, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1http://digg.com/tech_news/The_Can_Google_Hear_Me_p ...
- blackturtleus, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Amazing project! There's a thirteen minute video on the main page of the site that explains the project thoroughly. There's an article in the last issue of Wired about the preference system used by NetFlix. It seems that booklamp and netflix (as well as Amazon and Pandora, etc.) are all attempting to develop similar systems. BookLamp's emphasis on writing style might prove to be a key to success!
- greywolf330, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1And next thing you know, they slap taxes whatever way they can and are forced to only allow American viewers.
- YellowSnowDemon, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Novel project, indeed.
- diskit, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Wow.
This site needs A LOT of work done on it.
Good concept though. - flowctrl, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1Flash sucks.
- TheKong, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1The potential of this project is amazing. The technology behind it could help people recognize budding writers in the same way the internet helped people recognize independent bands and amateur porn stars.
- danilsl, on 03/28/2008, -0/+0Shouldn't you be able to read or hear the books if it is like pandora?
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