Books that seemed interesting at first sight but ended up deciding not to read. Includes both already owned books and books I was interested in ## Non-Fiction ### Owned #### Filterworld By Kyle Chayka (Owned, Kobo) [Gave Up on Filterworld By Kyle Chayka Halfway Through : r/books](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1g0y46a/gave_up_on_filterworld_by_kyle_chayka_halfway/): > Reading it now - it’s OK but the thing that really bothers me is that there are no footnotes, bibliography, or notes on sources. And frankly many of the insights are pretty pedestrian and nothing I haven’t read many times before. > Get where you're coming from! It can be tough when a book feels more negative than insightful. Sometimes you just want a fresh perspective instead of a laundry list of complaints. ["Filterworld" NPR Interview on Algorithms : r/dumbphones](https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/19armpn/filterworld_npr_interview_on_algorithms/) > Awful is a strong word, but it is pretty meandering. The first few chapters describe how some social media algorithms work and how that affects both consumers and producers. Like he describes his own experience trying to sell his writing on Facebook. After it abandoned a chronological feed to highlight certain posts, he started doing things like referencing birthdays, weddings or other life events while linking his article. This "tricked" the algorithm into highlighting his post. > > However, the second half is mostly him just nostalgically talking about growing up in the early 2000s. He really misses Livejournal and small message boards. Like he would get music from some guy on a Dave Matthews message board, rather than what spotify's algorithm generates. This "back in my day" stuff really drags down the book and it could have been half as long.