Play Book Tag discussion
January 2018: Science
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Announcing the first tag of 2018
I think I'll read Flight Behavior. It's been on my TBR forever.My recommendation is lighter fare Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman. It was released about the same time as Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and, I thought, was the better book of the two.
Jenny wrote: "I'm going to attempt Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart. I say attempt because I have had a heart transplant (15 years ago now!) but it is still a bit r..."Wow on your heart transplant! I am so glad it went well. My husband is a cardiologist, so one of our friends heads up a transplant program. It is amazing what can be done for people. I'm sure the read will be interesting . . .
Susie wrote: "I was hoping for London but I can handle Science! I’m going to give Lab Girl a stab."Eek, the pressure. Fingers crossed it is at least four stars for you. I'll be holding my breathe, but you know you can tell me the truth.
Jason wrote: "Whoop Whoop. Way to go Science geeks making those participation points work. I am going to start with The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, [book:Collapse: How Societies Cho..."
Ha ha, I feel like you are going to make me look bad on my own list! I'll probably be finishing my 6th book in December, and you'll be done in February . . .but at least you will be able to make recommendations to me.
MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) wrote: "I have 2 books for this topic.I will read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
I also have #1 in the Science book list:
[b..."
You have two good choices I believe regardless!
Booknblues wrote: "Kimber wrote: "As for me, I'm going to read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.Oh, good. I am always happy to have a reading partner. I hope we both like it."
Booknblues -- I'm excited we're both reading Death & Life of the Great Lakes for the Science tag! If you want to chat about it while reading, feel free to message me. I'm finishing up Tsar of Love & Techno right now, and should be ready to start Death & Life on Jan. 1.
I saw it on a couple of Best of 2017 lists, so I have high expectations for it.
Kimber wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Kimber wrote: "As for me, I'm going to read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.Oh, good. I am always happy to have a reading partner. I hope we both like it."
Booknblues --..."
I'm excited about it. I'm from upstate NY, originally and spent many childhood vacations on the great lakes, so it sounded really interesting to me.
Booknblues wrote: "Kimber wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Kimber wrote: "As for me, I'm going to read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.Oh, good. I am always happy to have a reading partner. I hope we both like it."..."
I may join in on this one too. I've always wanted to spend some time on the Great Lakes - I've done a short boat trip out of Toronto, and visited Niagara Falls in July this year, but that hardly counts. But it's rather a long way to go, so opportunities are limited. If I can't get there in person, virtual visits via book will have to do.
Booknblues wrote: I'm excited about it. I'm from upstate NY, originally and spent many childhood vacations on the great lakes, so it sounded really interesting to me... KateNZ wrote: I may join in on this one too. I've always wanted to spend some time on the Great Lakes...
I currently live in Holland, Mich., about 15 minutes from Lake Michigan. I visit the beach/lake as much as I can in the summer time. My husband is from the Lake Huron side of the state, and we've spent quite a bit of time exploring that lake too.
My love for the lakes inspired a career change for me this year. Three months ago, I started working at the Office of the Great Lakes, which is a division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. I'm so happy I made the leap (I'd worked previously for 15 years at a commercial law firm). I liked my previous job, but I am loving my new job so much.
Anyway -- I'm really looking forward to reading this book and learning the history of the Great Lakes. And I hope if either of you are able to visit the Great Lakes in the future, you'll consider visiting me too. I know where all of the good beaches are :)
Booknblues -- as a "small world" aside, I lived in Waterloo, NY, for about a year when I was in third grade (1977-ish?). I remember visiting upstate New York's glacier-formed lakes during that time, at Watkins Glen.
Kimber wrote: "And I hope if either of you are able to visit the Great Lakes in the future, you'll consider visiting me too...."You're on, Kimber!
Kimber wrote: "Booknblues wrote: I'm excited about it. I'm from upstate NY, originally and spent many childhood vacations on the great lakes, so it sounded really interesting to me... KateNZ wrote: I may join i..."
I live in Ca now, but grew up in Elmira NY about 14 miles from Watkins Glen so know that area well. I'm not sure when I will be back in the Great Lake region, but I love it.
Sounds like you have the perfect job for reading this book.
Can someone remind me - does the book have to come from the link listed or can it just have science as one of it's tags? Is there a way to search for a book in the link listed?I'll be reading Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World for sure. I have already put it on my Kindle.
I recommend:
Lab Girl
or anything written by Mary Roach - she's a highly approachable and readable author.
Since I didn't know what tag was going to be chosen, I brought War of the Worlds by H G Wells along with me on Christmas vacation (it hit all three tags). I imagine that will be done rather quickly though. After that, I plan on reading:
The Handmaid's Tale - PBT 2009 Top 10, PBT 100 F, Jan Decathlon
Remarkable Creatures - PBT 2010 Top 10, Jan Decathlon
Stiff - PBT 100 NF, Jan Decathlon
The Disappearing Spoon - PBT 100 NF, Jan Decathlon
And a couple more, if I can get to them:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - PBT 2010/2011/2013 Top 10, PBT 100 NF, Jan Decathlon
Isaac's Storm - PBT 100 NF, Jan Decathlon
The Time Machine - Jan Decathlon
Tricia wrote: "Can someone remind me - does the book have to come from the link listed or can it just have science as one of it's tags? Is there a way to search for a book in the link listed?I'll be reading [bo..."
Hi Tricia! It definitely doesn't have to come from the link listed. We just provide the link to give members some ideas. It can be any book that is tagged science, or even that you simply feel it fits the tag.
I put max points into the science pot, not sorry at all.I would recommend anything that interests you, then ANOTHER book or article on the same subject. Embrace scientific skepticism!
To that I end I have sitting temptingly on my table Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
to complement the de-extinction book I just read.
For engineering fun, Thing Explainer
A memoir, Lab Girl
On hold, for this or later months:
Some physics, Storm in a Teacup
For medical outsiders, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?
And a bit more genetics, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
I came back because I was going through my shelves for something to read and ran across The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. I just cannot recommend this one enough!!! In fact, after reading it I decided I would get an octopus tattoo. I have not yet done so but I do have it picked out! Seriously, one of my all time favorite books. I can't imagine anyone regretting reading it.
Tricia wrote: "I came back because I was going through my shelves for something to read and ran across The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montg..."Oh, I'm excited because this one is on my TBR and was also very highly recommended to me by another good friend. And it is on my Listopia list!
I got a D- minus in biology. I missed every lab, and most days. But I had a great memory so every Quiz day I'd go into class 10 minutes before it started and memorize the quiz answers and that was enough to get me a D- instead of a fail. But hey- great tag. haha.Actually, now that I'm older more of this does appeal.
My recs are:
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate - I will read anything by Naomi Klein
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End - because everybody should read this
---
I will read one of Linda's recs, either Signature of All Things or Remarkable Creatures which should be the one because I've had it here for eva! (Thanks to Cora many book trades ago)
I also really want to get to The Hot Zone.
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Womenis $2.99 today on Amazon http://amzn.to/2DAiQ93
Nicole D. wrote: "I got a D- minus in biology. I missed every lab, and most days. But I had a great memory so every Quiz day I'd go into class 10 minutes before it started and memorize the quiz answers and that was ..."Oh, Being Mortal, excellent rec!
My tbr hopefuls for January... I’m saying hopeful because since my Gramps death some months I’m in a reading slump and some are good reading months. So it’s a hopeful tbr...So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
* while I was viewing the genre list of science on my iPhone Goodreads app I found that is on the list for Sciene genre. So I looked at my next tbr for the series is So Long and Thanks For All the Fish... and 75 people have shelved the 4th book to the series as Science. I’ll most likely read this as I want to finish the series.
Other tbr...
**Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shatterly (loved the movie **and most likely my second tbr)
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Ender’s Game by Oscar Scott Card (showed on the app Goodreads list)
I just received as a birthday present from dear friends - Consciousness by Oliver Sacks. What a perfect gift and in perfect timing.
Amy wrote: "I just received as a birthday present from dear friends - Consciousness by Oliver Sacks. What a perfect gift and in perfect timing."So appropriate for you! And spectacular timing - I'll look forward to the review!
Anita wrote: "For future reference, London had more voters, but the science crowd used their participation points in a big way assuring the win.."Yes, we increased our odds by using more votes--rather scientific of us, yes???? (No???) ;)
I am hoping to FINALLY read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks if life isn't too crazy.
After some poking around, I figured out how to check if a book has a particular tag, when the book is not one of the more popular ones with the tag. I'm going to read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. If I have time for a second book, I'm considering Lab Girl or A Wrinkle in Time. Or possibly The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World.
Kathy wrote: "After some poking around, I figured out how to check if a book has a particular tag, when the book is not one of the more popular ones with the tag. I'm going to read [book:Quiet: The Power of Intr..."Can you share the secret, because I hate paging one page at a time sometimes!!!! Thank you! :-)
My first PBT! I'm going to read: The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Teri wrote: "My first PBT! I'm going to read: The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1......"Great selection!
LibraryCin wrote: "Kathy wrote: "After some poking around, I figured out how to check if a book has a particular tag, when the book is not one of the more popular ones with the tag. I'm going to read [book:Quiet: The..."LibraryCin wrote: "Kathy wrote: "After some poking around, I figured out how to check if a book has a particular tag, when the book is not one of the more popular ones with the tag. I'm going to read [book:Quiet: The..."
Yes! When you pull up a book that you want to read, look on the far right of the screen, and listed are the shelves where the book is shelved. Then, I checked to see if the book had "science" listed, and how many shelves. Then, I made sure it was listed on the big list. Does that make sense?
Kathy wrote: "When you pull up a book that you want to read, look on the far right of the screen, and listed are the shelves where the book is shelved. "Do you know if there is any way to sort the genres or shelves by alphabetical order rather than by the number of people who shelved them? Some lists go on for pages and it's difficult to search for a particular tag.
annapi, if there is a way to make the list infinite and not by page you can hit ctrl f which is find on page and type in what you are looking for.
annapi wrote: "Kathy wrote: "When you pull up a book that you want to read, look on the far right of the screen, and listed are the shelves where the book is shelved. "Do you know if there is any way to sort th..."
No, I don't know if that's possible.
Kathy wrote: "When you pull up a book that you want to read, look on the far right of the screen, and listed are the shelves where the book is shelved. Then, I checked to see if the book had "science" listed, and how many shelves. Then, I made sure it was listed on the big list. Does that make sense? ..."Thanks. I actually do look at that first, but that only lists the most popular tags for the book. I take a look at all of them, and page through (as annapi suggest) them.
Like Anna, I would love to be able to put them in alphabetical order. It would make it so much easier to find a particular tag!
Jason, I do use Ctrl-F on each page, but some of them have 50 pages of tags/shelves! It still takes a long time!
I know that somewhere someone had posted that there was a way to see if a book was on a particular shelf if you knew the GR bookID. I recently went looking for that post and can't find it in the groups that I thought might have it. That would be very handy!
If I didn't know better, I would think that The New Times Book Review is shadowing our group in terms of this month's tag and offering up a timely selection for anyone still looking to settle on what to read. Take a look at the "9 New Books We Recommend" in today's paper (all but one could be classified as Science, in my opinion): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/bo...
OK --- I found out how to look up to see if a specific book is on a specific shelf. You have to know the GR bookid in order for this to work.I will use the book I'm reading for science: The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
1) Finding the bookid: go to the book's main page and look for the number in the URL after /show/. If you click on the link above, the GR book id is 7247854
2) You need to have the name of the shelf you are searching. For Jan, it is "science"
3) Then you will use the following URL (will need to add the www.goodreads.com/shelf/users/GRBookID-claimed?shelf=SearchShelf
Here is the string to look for the book on the science shelf:
www.goodreads.com/shelf/users/7247854-claimed?shelf=science
To see the results: Results
What this shows you is the users that have shelved the book with that specific shelf name. So, if only one or two people have "shelved" it, then perhaps it doesn't really meet the criteria. Remember that on GR, how people shelf books is completely subjective. If you have a tag like "historical fiction", you might also want to check "HF" since some people abbreviate for their shelves.
Thanks for finding that info , JoLene! And wow, that is very convoluted!
JoLene wrote: "OK --- I found out how to look up to see if a specific book is on a specific shelf. You have to know the GR bookid in order for this to work.I will use the book I'm reading for science: [book:The..."
Oh, nice! This will save me endless searching through pages of tags!
Charlie wrote: "If I didn't know better, I would think that The New Times Book Review is shadowing our group in terms of this month's tag and offering up a timely selection for anyone still looking to settle on wh..."There are some great books on that list! I think I just added like 7 of them to my TBR! Thanks for sharing.
JoLene wrote: "OK --- I found out how to look up to see if a specific book is on a specific shelf. You have to know the GR bookid in order for this to work.I will use the book I'm reading for science: [book:The..."
Thanks a lot, JoLene. I did not know about the GR book Id at all. That's very helpful. It is a very simple and easy method. The usage of links you had suggested really work smoothly.
I find in many of the Listopia and Genre lists many good books have not been added. Many generally comprise old classic kind of books and more fantasy books. I find it difficult to locate good fiction - general, literary, cultural, historical, contemporary etc. - which have been published in the recent years. If I want to find out the genre/featuring list of a book I had read but for which GR Book Mani Page does not show any categorized genre, how to find out the genre and then how to add it to the lists? Whom should I approach with such request? Could somebody help me?
Thanks.
I followed your directions but am confused and I'm usually good with this kind of thing. I entered the following:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
Where I am having a problem is with the Results. I don't see any? If I add results to the url I get an error. I don't see anywhere to find results. I'm a little sleep deprived, but can you tell me what I am doing wrong? Thanks (operating on about 4 hours of sleep)
Ladyslott wrote: "I followed your directions but am confused and I'm usually good with this kind of thing. I entered the following:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7......"
Linda, I think that you have included the title as well. You only put the GR bookid which is the 7 digit) number, which appears before the title.
I’m on my iPad right now, so it’s more difficult to see the whole URL you are using.
@Viji, regarding your questions about genres and lists. (Sorry this will be a bit long)All GoodReads content is user generated ( or crowd sourced). There is no one that is officially categorizing books into the genres. In fact, what is confusing is that the genre information is really what shelves that most people have “shelved” the book under in their own personal shelves. Not everyone uses the same definition for specific genres. Using historical fiction as example (since I know you read that), the academic definition for historical fiction is that the time setting of the book is a certain number of years (40-50) after the publication date. However, many people tag a book as historical fiction if it about a time before their lifetime (which is different for every person). Some people tag Pride and Prejudice as historical fiction, even though Austen was writing about her current period of time.
On the books main page, you can see the “top genres”, and I think that GR does filter all the shelf information so that it removes the shelves that are not “genre” type information like read, read-in-2016, favorite, etc. If you click on the “see top shelves” link under the genres, you will be taken to a page (s), where you can see all the shelves that a readers have categorized their books. This is pretty amusing because some people are very creative on what they track. (Side note: in most PC based browsers, you can hit ctrl-F to bring up a window to search for specific text on a webpage. This allows you to look to see if your monthly tag is on the page)
As an individual, the way that you organize your shelves is contributing to the GoodReads knowledge base. This means that if you want accurate genre information, you should create your own genre bookshelves and categorize the books on it.
The lists are managed differently. Books are placed on lists through “voting”. When you look at a list, On the right side of the page, there is a section called “my votes” with 5 spots. If you want to vote for something already on the list, there is a “vote for this list” button. If you want to add something to the list, there is a tab at the top (above the bigger button), which will take you a view of your own shelves or you can add a book in a look-up similar to the add book/author lookup. Please note: some lists have very specific content ( like — winners if a specific award) so you may only be allowed to vote, but not add.
Also, I am not a GoodReads librarian, so I’m not sure what base level info the librarians set up as part of adding a book to the database. However, I know that how users shelf their books is how we get the “tags” that we use for our monthly picks.
As a librarian you don’t maintain genre information. You only maintain information regarding the work (original publication) and edition format: language, author, series, settings, awards, etc.
JoLene wrote: "OK --- I found out how to look up to see if a specific book is on a specific shelf. You have to know the GR bookid in order for this to work.I will use the book I'm reading for science: [book:The..."
can we put this somewhere so it's easy to find in the future?
Yep! Anita is on it and we will let you know where its home is.
I gave it a try. Not as convoluted as I thought with JoLene's example to copy/paste. :-) Just seems convoluted from the explanation!
Ladyslott wrote: "I followed your directions but am confused and I'm usually good with this kind of thing. ..."Hi, Linda.
I just opened the link you posted and it took me to the book page.
I opened a new tab and copied JoLene's example. I replaced the bookid number with the bookid number from the book you were looking for. I assumed you were looking for the science tag (which is what JoLene used in her example), so in this case, I didn't have to change that.
It did bring up a list of people who have used the "science" tag on their own shelves.
Does that help?
LibraryCin wrote: "Ladyslott wrote: "I followed your directions but am confused and I'm usually good with this kind of thing. ..."Hi, Linda.
I just opened the link you posted and it took me to the book page.
I ..."
I'll give it a shot later tonight. As I said I'm sleep deprived and haven't been able to take a nap. I left home yesterday at 1PM for a 3:00 clock flight. Got to the airport in record time - surprising considering all the snow we got. Arrival time was supposed to be 6PM. I got to my house (20 minutes from airport) a7 11:45 PM. I had to go out to 7-11 looking for something to eat since I had no food - expecting to go shopping when I arrived home at 6;30. Anyway, I will give it a try when my brain is not so fried.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (other topics)Lab Girl (other topics)
A Wrinkle in Time (other topics)
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (other topics)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Oliver Sacks (other topics)Margot Lee Shetterly (other topics)
Rebecca Skloot (other topics)
Oliver Sacks (other topics)
Rebecca Skloot (other topics)
More...
The Martian
A Wrinkle in Time, I've wanted to read this since my son read it in school and loved it. He's in his 40s now!
And, if I can get to it (Nov and Dec weren't good reading months) Salt: A World History
As for Recommendations: I second many of the above but especially anything by Mary Roach, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals