Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/blog/list_rss en-US Tue, 13 May 2008 16:02:28 -0700 60 Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 90 Tue, 13 May 2008 16:02:28 -0700 <![CDATA[Order your to-read shelf!]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/90.Order_your_to_read_shelf_ order your to-read shelf feature.

In addition to being able to move items up and down, you can now use the edit view to enter the exact number you'd like to reorder the list to! This interface has worked well for Netflix so we thought - why reinvent the wheel?

On a side note I think the ability to order my shelves (you can make any shelf orderable in 'edit shelves') is the coolest feature we've launched this year. From a usability perspective what was happening was that as people added more and more books to their to-read list it became so large as to be useless - people were being forced to make separate 'to-read-soon' lists. I believe the ordering will fix this issue - and set the stage for many other things!


Here's a screenshot:




posted by Otis on May, 13 ]]> 89 Mon, 12 May 2008 13:04:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Goodreads Indonesia gathering]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/89.Goodreads_Indonesia_gathering organized a gathering. A picture is worth a thousand words, so all I'll say is that this makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy :)





posted by Otis on May, 12 ]]> 88 Thu, 08 May 2008 20:39:49 -0700 <![CDATA[What do you want on your homepage?]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/88.What_do_you_want_on_your_homepage_

Now you can get get recent updates from your groups on your Goodreads homepage! While many members love the updates from the friends, many people have mentioned that their groups are updated more frequently, and they'd love a better way to keep tabs on it.

There are now 4 tabs on the homepage, allowing members to see updates from their friends, top friends, groups, or just view books or reviews from thteir friends.



posted by Otis on May, 08 ]]> 87 Thu, 08 May 2008 20:32:41 -0700 <![CDATA[One search to rule them all]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/87.One_search_to_rule_them_all main search page (accessible in the header). Previously the main search page only searched books, and it was up to the user to navigate to the index pages for groups, quotes, events, stories, and people to search them.

Having six different search pages in six different areas just didn't make a lot of sense! It made a lot of the great content basically invisible for lots of members. We really hope hope the new search page leads lots of new members to find all the great content that exists in the various sub-areas of the site.

Here's a screenshot of the new page:



posted by Otis on May, 08 ]]> 86 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:20:10 -0700 <![CDATA[Manually ordering your shelves]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/86.Manually_ordering_your_shelves You can now manually sort your to-read book shelf.



You can also make other shelves (besides the read list) sortable.















posted by MICHAEL on April, 29 ]]> 85 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:29:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Interview on BNET's Dog & Pony show]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/85.Interview_on_BNET_s_Dog_Pony_show



posted by Otis on April, 28 ]]> 84 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:03:26 -0700 <![CDATA[Does JK Rowling own Harry Potter?]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/84.Does_JK_Rowling_own_Harry_Potter_

In a recent article in the New York Times titled Rowling to Testify in Trial Over Potter Lexicon, it was announced that JK Rowling is suing a small publishing house (RDR Books) that was planning to publish a Harry Potter Encyclopedia. The book was to be based on the content from the website The Harry Potter Lexicon, by a Mr. Vander Ark. Now this doesn't sound right at all - has JK lost it?

Fan fiction is a huge genre. I went through a whole phase in middle school of reading dozens of books that continued the Star Wars series. There is even a Star Wars Encyclopedia. Did all those books have to kick back to George Lucas? I don't know - but I wouldn't guess Lucas cared either way - the more fans got into it the more movies he would sell.

So if fan fiction is a huge genre, it appears JK Rowling can't own Harry Potter. She attempts to explain on her website:

"From what I understand, the proposed book is not criticism or review of Harry Potter's world, which would be entirely legitimate – neither I nor anybody connected with Harry Potter has ever tried to prevent such works being published. It is, we believe, a print version of the website, except now the information that was freely available to everybody is to become a commercial enterprise.

It is not reasonable, or legal, for anybody, fan or otherwise, to take an author's hard work, re-organize their characters and plots, and sell them for their own commercial gain. However much an individual claims to love somebody else's work, it does not become theirs to sell."

Ah-ha. The lexicon, claims Rowling, has no original content. So perhaps Rowling *does* own Harry Potter - the Harry Potter described in her books. If fanfic fans want to build on that Harry Potter, and create something original, then there are no problems. So all you fans of Harry Potter that want to write some stories, breathe easy, JK won't be coming for you!

posted by Otis on April, 16 ]]> 83 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:21:47 -0700 <![CDATA[Is reading dead?]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/83.Is_reading_dead_ National Endowment for the Arts keeps releasing studies that say so.

Personally I don't think its true for most people - if you like to read you will always read, even if you don't have much time now - you will later.

My favorite answer to that journalists question is to spout off something about reading just needing a social conduit. With mass-media, like American Idol or whatever movies are in theater, we can always find common ground with other people. But the chances that we are reading the same books at the same time is low. But if we were both on Goodreads it might be able to spark a conversation about books.

But I think there is another reason reading isn't dead that I don't get to talk about much, probably because it sounds nerdy. I'm one of those crazy people who likes to *learn*. Learn about new places, people, cultures, ideas - whatever. The things I've learned in books have helped define me as a person. And I'm always able to take away ideas from whatever I'm reading to attack the problems I'm facing in the real world.

Some people wouldn't think that you can learn things from a work of fiction - but learning is an experiential process. That means we remember things by associating them with how we learned them. Conversely, that also means we need to experience things to really learn them. And if you have an active enough imagination, a good book is all you need.

I just read a a very well-written blog posted titled How to Fuel Your Idea Machine that put it's finger on how reading helps us even better - go read it!

A choice quote:

"Reading books, fiction and non-fiction, fuels your idea machine. It gives you fodder to think with. The brain is essentially nothing more than a computer (albeit much more complicated); it takes an input, processes it and produces an output. In other words, you can’t create ideas without inputs."

So is reading dead? Not to me :)


posted by Otis on April, 12 ]]> 82 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:09:00 -0700 <![CDATA[New unread messages folder]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/82.New_unread_messages_folder
This is a huge change, as makes it so much easier for members who follow groups regularly to see what they've missed. We only wish we launched this sooner!




posted by Otis on April, 08 ]]> 81 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:38:40 -0700 <![CDATA[The Goodreads Never-Ending Book Quiz]]> http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/81.The_Goodreads_Never_Ending_Book_Quiz

Never-ending Book Quiz



You can enter in new trivia, compare results with your friends, and generally have a lot of fun!



Check it out!








posted by MICHAEL on April, 08 ]]>