So what book recommendations do you get?

[Stonehead]

I've just been on Amazon to buy a book for someone's Christmas present and was rather startled to find their recommendations included a large number of erotic novels around the themes of leather and bondage!!!

When I had a look at why they were recommended, it was because the last book I bought was about leather tanning!

Anyway, that got me thinking - what does Amazon recommend to you and what does it say about your taste in reading.

Now that I've weeded out the erotica (yes, I can hear the sighs already), this the top 10 recommended books that were pushed my way:

Food for Free
by Richard Mabey

The Game Cookbook
by Clarissa Dickson Wright, Johnny Scott

Sharing a Shell
by Julia Donaldson, Lydia Monks

The Magic Paintbrush
by Julia Donaldson, Joel Stewart

Preserved
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Sunset Limited
by James Lee Burke

Woodlands: A Practical Handbook
by Elizabeth Agate

Remnant Population
by Elizabeth Moon

Poachers and Poaching - Knowledge Never Learned in Schools
by John Watson

Wild Food (Natural History Photographic Guides)
by Roger Phillips


Anyone else game to embarrass themselves?

[shiney]

My recommendations are Dinasaurs and Bicycle Stuff! Not very interesting really.

I bought Walking With Dinosaurs for my son and A Tour De France Book for the old man. (He's loves cycling for miles and miles and miles.....)


Walking With Dinosaurs [1999]
DVD ~ Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: May 15, 2000

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
by J.K. Rowling
Publication Date: July 6, 2001

Walking With Monsters
Release Date: November 21, 2005

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5)
by J.K. Rowling
Publication Date: July 10, 2004

The Big Dinosaur Box
DVD ~ Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: March 8, 2004

Prehistoric Park [2006]
Release Date: August 28, 2006


The Unknown Tour De France: The Curious Story of the World's Biggest Bicycle Race

Frost on My Moustache: Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer
by Tim Moore
Publication Date: January 6, 2000


The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle
by Matt Seaton
Publication Date: June 2, 2003

[Merry]

I`ve just been into Amazon to see what my recommendations were - they were: -

African Textiles

Natural Art Forms

Miao Textiles from China

Art Forms in the Plant World

Embroidery of India and Pakistan

[Andy Hamilton]

Moine have not changed much since I was a student and are all for depression, schizophrenia and S.A.D. - makes it depressing to log onto Amazon.

[The Chili Monster]

The Dangerous Book for Boys
by Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden

Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions
by Mick O'Hare (Editor)

The Sound of Laughter
by Peter Kay

QI: The Book of General Ignorance
by Stephen Fry (Foreword)

The Boys' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything
by Various

Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook
by Jamie Oliver

The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins

Planet Earth: A Fresh Look at a Spectacular World
by David Attenborough (Foreword), et al

And Another Thing: The World According to Clarkson: v. 2
by Jeremy Clarkson

Humble Pie
by Gordon Ramsay

For the life of me I can't fathom Amazon's reasoning. Can anyone else here?

FYI

1. My last two purchases from Amazon have been php 5 for Dummies and Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

2. I can't stand Peter Kay.

[red]

1 puppy patrol book ( i have been buying them for my son)

2 marcia willett.. (ok weakness for drivel and its local drivel)

3. the smallholders manual (bought a book on livestock, on smallholders DIY and sheep keeping.. guess that would do it)
4 - rayburn cookbooks 3 of them. guess why.
5 practical sheep keeping. see 3
6. starting with a smallholdering see 3
7. more puppy patrol books. see 1

[Millymollymandy]

Always John Grisham and ?? (I've forgotten already!), books I haven't bought in years!

Takes no account of the amount of DIY and woodworking books I've bought in the past for my husband though.

[Stonehead]

It's interesting how some people get what appear to be quite appropriate selections (although with tangential ones here and there), while others get selections that seem to be based on just one purchase (even when they have made more than one purchase).

I do tend to mark the books I have (and review them), which undoubtedly helps. But then, buying one book on leather dramatically changed the whole recommendation list.

The irony is, of course, that I don't usually buy from Amazon. Instead, I use the recommendations so I know what to look for in charity shops, forum swap shops, on freecycle and on ebay. By ticking off books I have and reviewing them, I can then turn Amazon into a book research tool instead of a buying site.

[PurpleDragon]

Have you tried The book People Stoney? Theirs are quite reasonable as well, although their selection might not resonate with you.

[Andy Hamilton]

Did you know that Amazon has only just broken even for the first time?

[monkeynuts]

Just had a look at mine, some gardening books, a couple of books about Hells Angels (worked with a child of one and curious as to their lives) and a scarey one called
** Can a Vagina Really Buy a Mercedes?: What Can Your Pelvic Floor Do for You? **
Goodness knows how that choice got there!!!!!

[Stonehead]

Have you tried The book People Stoney? Theirs are quite reasonable as well, although their selection might not resonate with you.

I don't tend to buy many new books. In fact, most of the new books we've bought for ourselves in the past few years have come from book tokens that people have given us. That's a gift I always appreciate.

If we do have the means for new books, we tend to source them from:

Green Shopping

Green Books

BTCV

Or small, independent bookshops but these are becoming hard to find and often involve trips that are hard to justify just for a book.

Second-hand ones from:

Countryman Books

Coch-y-Bonddu Books

The charity shop in Alford often has good country cooking books so when we're visiting friends down there, we pop in. The people that run the shop are brilliant and surplus stuff often pops up on freecycle (so when we collect free stuff, we also buy a few things as well or donate stuff).

[chadspad]

Mine are:

Life: A natural history of the first four billion years of life on Earth
Richard Fortey

Complete idiot's guide to communication with spirits
Rita Berkowitz

When life nearly died: The greatest mass extinction of all time
Michael Benton

After life: Answers from the other side
John Edward

Unleash your potential
Glenn Harrold (audiobook)

The hidden landscape: Journey into the geological past
Richard Fortey

Halfway Tree (music CD)
Damian Marley
(This man is superb (IMO) his album Welcome to Jamrock is awesome!!)


Most fo those titles make me seem quite clever lol