Just because someone liked a book you hate, doesn't mean you will hate the other books they like.

I hated "Sea of Tranquility". I can't stand stupid characters.

"Furtuna" was so bad I made a note to avoid any other books by Kristyn Merbeth. The main character is stupid, selfish, and short sighted to the detriment of everyone around her.

>Just because someone liked a book you hate, doesn't mean you will hate the other books they like.

So much this, and it's why recommendation engines mostly don't work well, they really have no way to quantify why you liked or disliked something.

True. I hated the three body problem in fact but I loved the expanse (yes both franchises I know from TV). But I read all the expanse books. I gave up on the three body problem halfway the second book, I just found the story too boring and hardball.

Not saying the books are bad but preferences differ indeed.

That's a poor way to find good books?

I liked 3BP, and I also liked Permutation City and Cryptonomicon. Yet I met a lot of people who didn't like 3BP, but liked the latter ones.

Hah, and I liked 3BP but didn't care much for Egan's books (excellent ideas, poor writing IMO).

Ya I am working on this :)

Our new Book DNA review format has you pick why you disliked/loved/liked a book and I am going to use that data to help build a profile of similar types of readers.

You can try it here by sharing your 3 fav books of 2024 -> https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads

Next year I will roll it out for all books as we get more in place.

I think it depends on why someone disliked a book.

I liked the first novel in the Three Body Problem series, but mostly because it exposed me to a culture I wasn't really familiar with; there was a lot about China I didn't know, and it was interesting to read about characters who lived and breathed that history.

But the rest of the novel, and the sequels, mostly to me felt like re-treading ground that I'd already walked in other novels, which did a better job of exploring those ideas.

(To be more specific, because I'm sure folks will ask - I think Stephen Baxter does a better job of building interesting, mostly-consistent-to-my-eye universe-wide physics puzzles, although nearly all of his books are depressing as hell. The closest thing to a happy ending in most of his novels is "it's not a complete genocide!")