The benefits of low-tech.
Back in the days when library books had pockets that held cards, the librarian
would list our name on the card for the book we were taking out of library and
file it, returning the card to the pocket when we returned the book. This system
worked quite well, and was more than sufficient for a small lending library. And
it offered us a very simple yet effective means of peer recommendation. If we
wanted to know if a book was a good read (or was simply popular, or perhaps read
by popular people) all we had to do was read the names of the previous readers
on the card for the book (and perhaps also check how long it took them to read,
or at least return, it). Today, of course, we can check the recommendations at
amazon.com and read reviews that are often fascinating and enjoyable. We can get
to know others readers through the reviews and recommendations that they post,
and chances are good that in this way, as we learn the tastes of the reviewers
we choose to read, we'll be exposed to some very good books that fit our taste.
But we still won't have the opportunity to find out what people we know are reading.
We need that outdated pocketed card for that.
Go to: In the margins of cyberspace.