FB connect is broken ^-^ Cool idea though.
Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
#12Really like this idea. Find Amazon recs for books that teach you about a specific topic are very hit or miss or you have to sift through lots of reviews to figure it out. Time suck.
Some thoughts/ideas:
1. May be focus on really good recommendations on a handful of verticals to start. Always find focus in beginning is a good thing and see where those people/users take it. Speak from personal experience not having done this in my own startup (trying to be everything to everyone - not good).
2. What about different levels of learning? What if you're looking to learn about negotiation but you're not a beginner and so want 'intermediate' resources? I find this is also a pain point as it's tough to determine what is for beginners vs intermediate or advanced practitioners.
Look forward to seeing how this evolves. Nice start.
Re: Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
#13Another vote for a search box in the home page. I've so gotten used to one that it felt odd to be in a page without one, I was subconsciously searching for it for some time.
Also, I was initially confused by the "find and recommend books about logic" line staring at me, wondering whether this was a niche site for logic books or something. Only because I gave it more time I realised it changes to other topics. There must be a better way to indicate that this is what is happening, that it's gonna animate to other topics, try to think of one.
All the best.
Re: Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
#14Maybe you should separate out search by topic and search by book title? On searching for something which is not there yet, how about an option to create (suggest) it?
Good stuff, otherwise!
Re: Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
#15This is the sort of thing that I currently search certain sites for. Like if I'm looking for book recommendations on a certain programming language, I search HN (eg. site:ycombinator.com rails programming books)
I could see this type of thing being really useful. Maybe you could partner with some of the online-learning sites to have the students and teachers rate books that are used for teaching/learning subjects... Good luck with the project!
Re: Ask HN: Rate my summer project - BookShout
#16Looks very nice indeed. The only thing I would suggest is to add a star-rating system, so that you can see the distribution of opinion. Currently you can only vote for "Good", there is no "despite what others say, this really sucks" function.