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Weighted averages
Dec 27, 2021
I love the Plus stats with averages by genre, mood etc. What would make them even better is if they were weighted to account for the number of books involved. For example, in my all-time list, the number 1 genre is ONE book (Scott Pilgrim), and the 2nd and 3rd genres are both the same ONE book (Born a Crime). If the averages were derived from a given minimum number of books read, perhaps that might give a more accurate depiction, as the books in questions are outliers, notable exceptions as can be seen by the fact that they're the only books I've read in the given genres
Comments
We've had this come up a couple times!
In some ways, we're hoping this data helps everyone think about different books that they might like that fall out of their usual.
For example, you might look at this and go: "Why is "Comics" rated so highly? I never read those. Ah, it was that one great book I read, Scott Pilgrim. Maybe I should see what other similar comics to Scott Pilgrim are out there..." Same with Born A Crime — "the one book I've read suggests these are the types of memoirs/books about race that I enjoy. What else is out there?"
Our favourite genres typically score lower because we're more likely to pick up a wider range of books in them.
Your feedback is noted still! I just wanted you to know that this is something that's been thought about and there are advantages to seeing the data in this 'raw' way.
Thank you for the very clear explanation, I have a nagging suspicion that I might have already asked this - senescence in action, sorry!
Hehe — not at all! I don't remember it coming from you previously!