Wednesday 4 April 2007

Nerd alert!

I love data. There, I've said it.

Actually, let me qualify that: I love data that you can do creative things with. I don't think I could quite cope with being a statistician (I think you need a basic level of maths for that), but I love seeing patterns in data and comparing lists and stuff like that. So I'm a nerd, I get it.

Today I've spent most of the day cataloguing our library at work. Before you groan in sympathy, let me just say that I have enjoyed it immensely, mainly due to the wonderful LibraryThing. If I had a barcode scanner it would be even more fun, but as it is, I've had to settle for typing in ISBNs. You can check out the partially completed AFES Library if you so desire, with rawther an interesting collection of theological books in it.

Next is to tackle my home library, which is no mean feat. But it will be nice to see what I own and how it compares to what other people own. As well as the standard 'suggester' (along the lines of "if you loved ... you'll also love ...") LibraryThing has this nifty 'unsuggester' feature. It takes a book you have read/own and tells you what you are least likely to have also read, based on the data in its vast database.

But I confounded it when I entered Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and was told I was least likely to have read The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper. I've read (and enjoyed) them both. In fact, most of the books I've entered (by Pratchett and Gaiman, as testers) have returned results that are mostly Christian books - if I haven't read them I'm at least familiar with them.

Not only am I a nerd, I'm an anomaly!!!

2 comments :

  1. at last you defy the demographic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My goodness, where do you find the time?? Did you take out a lifetime subscription for both you and AFES?

    ReplyDelete