Very cool! You should see if you're able to replicate your bookshelving experience by maybe having an option on the platform where someone can 'roll the dice' as it were and get returned 1-5 sentences from one of these books at random (or maybe be allowed to filter the dice roll sentence they get by topic or time period), and if it intrigues them maybe a link to the book page proper?
I was just about to write a github issue requesting a random dice roll one too!!! As an avid reader of non fiction obscurity, this site is such a treasure trove. Thanks for the work you've put into it!
For those who asked for a "shelf" feature where you can simulate browsing around on the open stacks, here you go! It was surprisingly easy to make since I had already collected Library of Congress cataloguing info for about a third of the corpus - it currently only shows that portion of the books but it's still fun I think: https://book-prize-index.vercel.app/fun/library-of-congress-shelf
Just couple of week back I was thinking something like this should exist. The thought came to me when I was trying to think about ways create better general decision making systems. As per Herbert Simon, every decision has 'value' premise and 'factual' premise. Reputed Non fiction books in the relevant decision domains can help with the finding those value systems which are tried and tested ! Your project has made finding such books easier. Thanks.
Very interesting! I was also a young student revising in a library when I opened randomly a book and it was about copper... and I realized I was more into stem than literature. And I had the chance to have a curated bookshelf at home, a real luck
Excited to check it out, but I suspect nothing can replace that ‘I’ve decided I adore this specific section of the card catalogue and will now browse all books within 1 m2 of it’ feeling. Eg I for unknown reasons still have notes handwritten to myself ~30 years ago detailing some random 19th century author’s instructions on how to turn oneself into a werewolf. Would never find that on a ‘good non-fiction’ list but I’d crack up if I actually found it in GR830
Totally agreed. I now have a strict requirement in all my classes that the students need to go to a real library, browse the stacks, and check out not just a book they find in the online catalogue but another book they find just from browsing around nearby. Totally irreplaceable experience, I think in part because it's physical/tactile - like a real life memory palace. It's funny how I still remember more or less exactly where I was standing and which direction when reading a particularly interesting book (that "Are Clothes Modern?" book I mentioned) while working as a shelver back in 2003.
I used Claude Code to write a program to put great non-fiction books on hold for me on my library account. It was using NY Times and Rotten Tomatoes ( for movies) to add holds automatically . I was not happy with NYT's non fiction selections and I might use your site going forward. Thank you ( I too enjoy random reads especially when you glance at someone reading in Public Transport, they always have the most interesting stuff.. )
Fun tool! It would be nice if you re-created the shelf in the user interface... you could have a control to expand the row in the search to see the 3 results on either side of the subject book when sorted by library catalog number. This would replicate the experience of finding a book, going to the shelf and sampling around it. It's possible that the set of award-winning books aren't dense enough / close enough together for that...
Totally, working on that now. It's definitely possible to get the LOC catalogue number for all the books which would enable fun things like this, just a matter of working through the data. Given that non-fiction books of this type (non-reference, etc) are a fairly small subset of topics, I have a feeling that the 7,000 or so in the corpus would sit nicely together on a set of "shelves" rather than being too scattered.
Very cool! You should see if you're able to replicate your bookshelving experience by maybe having an option on the platform where someone can 'roll the dice' as it were and get returned 1-5 sentences from one of these books at random (or maybe be allowed to filter the dice roll sentence they get by topic or time period), and if it intrigues them maybe a link to the book page proper?
Great idea, I feel like that could be doable by using previews from Google Books... will look into it!
I was just about to write a github issue requesting a random dice roll one too!!! As an avid reader of non fiction obscurity, this site is such a treasure trove. Thanks for the work you've put into it!
For those who asked for a "shelf" feature where you can simulate browsing around on the open stacks, here you go! It was surprisingly easy to make since I had already collected Library of Congress cataloguing info for about a third of the corpus - it currently only shows that portion of the books but it's still fun I think: https://book-prize-index.vercel.app/fun/library-of-congress-shelf
Just couple of week back I was thinking something like this should exist. The thought came to me when I was trying to think about ways create better general decision making systems. As per Herbert Simon, every decision has 'value' premise and 'factual' premise. Reputed Non fiction books in the relevant decision domains can help with the finding those value systems which are tried and tested ! Your project has made finding such books easier. Thanks.
Very interesting! I was also a young student revising in a library when I opened randomly a book and it was about copper... and I realized I was more into stem than literature. And I had the chance to have a curated bookshelf at home, a real luck
I love you "books for dads who like Pavement" prompt! This is great, thanks for sharing
This is great, thanks!
Glad you like it!
Excited to check it out, but I suspect nothing can replace that ‘I’ve decided I adore this specific section of the card catalogue and will now browse all books within 1 m2 of it’ feeling. Eg I for unknown reasons still have notes handwritten to myself ~30 years ago detailing some random 19th century author’s instructions on how to turn oneself into a werewolf. Would never find that on a ‘good non-fiction’ list but I’d crack up if I actually found it in GR830
Totally agreed. I now have a strict requirement in all my classes that the students need to go to a real library, browse the stacks, and check out not just a book they find in the online catalogue but another book they find just from browsing around nearby. Totally irreplaceable experience, I think in part because it's physical/tactile - like a real life memory palace. It's funny how I still remember more or less exactly where I was standing and which direction when reading a particularly interesting book (that "Are Clothes Modern?" book I mentioned) while working as a shelver back in 2003.
Looks amazing, great work! Thank you for sharing. The chromatic index feature reminded me of an experimental UI that Youtube had a while ago for sorting videos by color: https://lifehacker.com/youtube-lets-you-sort-videos-by-color-now-for-some-rea-1850818142, but I think its much more interesting to do it with books.
I used Claude Code to write a program to put great non-fiction books on hold for me on my library account. It was using NY Times and Rotten Tomatoes ( for movies) to add holds automatically . I was not happy with NYT's non fiction selections and I might use your site going forward. Thank you ( I too enjoy random reads especially when you glance at someone reading in Public Transport, they always have the most interesting stuff.. )
“If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.”
Zappa
Fun tool! It would be nice if you re-created the shelf in the user interface... you could have a control to expand the row in the search to see the 3 results on either side of the subject book when sorted by library catalog number. This would replicate the experience of finding a book, going to the shelf and sampling around it. It's possible that the set of award-winning books aren't dense enough / close enough together for that...
Totally, working on that now. It's definitely possible to get the LOC catalogue number for all the books which would enable fun things like this, just a matter of working through the data. Given that non-fiction books of this type (non-reference, etc) are a fairly small subset of topics, I have a feeling that the 7,000 or so in the corpus would sit nicely together on a set of "shelves" rather than being too scattered.
Pretty dammed clever.
Great tool, already found my next read. 🙏
LOVE THIS. This is dangerous for me because of my book addiction. Suggestions:
1) perplexed as to why some books don't have the synopsis filled out? The link to buy with a full synopsis is right there?
2) can you hyperlink "awards won" on the right with the "award history" below? Depending on you screen resolution, it could be missed
3) Add a filter for published date? I like older books--cheaper to buy used
4) after I save some books, would be nice to be able to export maybe CSV with the basic data.
Thank you for this work!
Thanks for this. I also worked in the library stacks and loved browsing there. Suggest adding a category for biographies.
Thanks for your website.
Maybe you can save money for API cost with a cheaper LLM:
https://chat.deepseek.com/share/hq0e5qmyutdz88e7x0