TheFunkyMonk

No, all sources are ones you create and private to your account by default. So if a friend of mine recommends a book, I can add the book to my list along with adding a custom source for that friend/noting the reason they recommend it so I can remember to talk to them about it if I do read it.

If that friend ends up joining BookPocket and adding me as a friend, I can then connect them to the source I created and we can set privacy settings for what’s shared between us. But sources are inherently custom and could be a person, podcast, library, etc. I was already doing this with tags in my last book tracker, like #recommendation #recommendation-sarah would go on a book that Sarah recommended to me, so I could use those tags to surface books actual humans recommended to me. This just pushes that a step further and allows me to add notes both on the person and the recommendation about why they recommended it, and open up new vectors for prioritizing/yearly stats.

The core idea is to be able to prioritize my reading based on recommenders/sources I trust and tend to like their recommendations the most (and those I shouldn’t prioritize) rather than AI/algorithm based recommendations.

I’m actually making it. Official 1.0 release is a few weeks out as I work on LLC/App Store approvals, but it’s pretty much there. BookPocket, a book tracker/reading log that treats sources/recommenders as actual entities and can learn whose tastes you share and prioritize your TBR based on those. I was annoyed the book tracker I used has been leaning heavily on AI recommendations, and none of the options out there offered this kind of functionality. I hope others find it useful, but at the very least, I’ve replaced the book tracker I was using with it and it’s helped me prioritize the books I actually want to read from my endless list.

My favorite non-fiction recently was Trash! A Garbageman’s Story. I was sold at a memoir from a garbageman, but he’s also a great writer and it was a super entertaining book.

This and Underberg. Most of my bartender friends love it and I’m still convinced they’re all fucking with me. I’d rather take a shot of Malört. But I’ll still join the round of Bergs for the camaraderie.

I like them all, but definitely Diet Dr. Pepper the most. I assumed it was because Dr. Pepper has kind of an artificial/medicinal flavor.

Would.

Assuming it works like the XTEINK X3 (with Crosspoint), not directly. There’s no web browser, so you’d need to download/convert articles and then you could send them wirelessly to the device. Definitely worth it for long form articles you’re going to spend some time reading, but probably tedious if it’s short form stuff you want regularly updated.

Met this legend at a book talk! What a wonderful human.

I put a wig on, and I’m Alan from the Hangover. I like to wear that costume and stop by my usual haunts/hang out until people realize it’s me.

Still in favor of renaming it “A racist pile of linear algebra.”

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