Using Statistics to Choose What People Think Is Best: Not As Straightforward As You Might Think

The Goodreads Choice Awards are in their first round of voting, which prompted some discussion on Twitter concerning the fact that their shortlist for Best Science Fiction has only one woman on it (out of 15 books).

Goodreads states that they “analyze statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads” to choose the shortlists.

Well, this seems pretty straightforward, right? Their awards are about what books their users think are best. So they pick the top 15 books...