Escape Artists

The Lounge at the End of the Universe => Gallimaufry => Topic started by: stePH on September 15, 2008, 08:53:28 PM

Title: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 15, 2008, 08:53:28 PM
Anybody else on Librarything (http://www.librarything.com)?  I'm signed up as Theta9 (http://www.librarything.com/profile.php?view=Theta9) though I'm currently at the non-paying level which lets me only list 200 books (actually 201 for some reason.) 
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Anarkey on September 15, 2008, 11:01:57 PM
*handraise*
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: deflective on September 16, 2008, 12:47:48 AM
i hadn't been there for over a year, they've improved quite a bit.

my online collection doesn't include much more than (year old) Pratchett & Palahniuk. might go back to it and try out the new features.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 16, 2008, 02:29:20 AM
Friend requests have been sent. 

Anybody else, please sound off here or send me a request.  :)
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Sandikal on September 16, 2008, 03:31:18 AM
I'm using Good Reads.  It's totally free and has many of the same features.  I've been getting some great book recommendations off it.  If anyone's an author, I recommend checking it out.  They've got a great authors' program.  I've read quite a few books that I wouldn't have known about if the authors hadn't been active members of Good Reads.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Anarkey on September 16, 2008, 03:14:06 PM
Friend requests have been sent. 

Anybody else, please sound off here or send me a request.  :)

And accepted.  Though I am a long way from having most of my books listed, I notice our current overlap only extends as far as Sandman and Snowcrashed. 
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 16, 2008, 03:42:24 PM
Though I am a long way from having most of my books listed, I notice our current overlap only extends as far as Sandman and Snowcrashed. 

I have about a thousand books -- when I moved last year I listed my books in an Excel workbook so I could keep track of what each box contained, and there are nearly 800 entries in said workbook.  Then there's the collection of my father's books which were already boxed and therefore not catalogued (about two or three of those are actually in my LT, with the tag "dad's books" to distinguish them).  That's probably another two or three hundred.

deflective's 31 listed books don't overlap at all with mine, but I actually have about nine of them that I haven't listed yet.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Anarkey on September 16, 2008, 04:15:42 PM
Actually, Steph, I owe you congratulations for getting me to post in a Gallimaufry thread.  I had sworn off this area of the board several months ago, with the exception of a couple of threads that I was already participating in when I swore off.

Anyway, despite being a librarian, I'm not book obsessive, and I discard books easily.  Unless I know I'm going to reference or re-read or loan a book, I no longer keep it after reading it.  So even though I haven't counted, I think I'm well under the 1k mark for books, though probably not by much.

Sandman and Snowcrash both fall into the "you will need to loan this to someone" category.  In fact, I'm on my third or fourth copy of Snowcrash, because every time I loan it out, it does not return to me.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: DKT on September 16, 2008, 04:16:29 PM
How does it differ from Shelfari?  That's what I generally use...
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 16, 2008, 04:30:36 PM
How does it differ from Shelfari?  That's what I generally use...

http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/11/shelfari-spam-basically-social.php

... is all I know about Shelfari.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Talia on September 16, 2008, 06:08:02 PM
Sent! :)

Though I havent used it much in a while, I'm finding I like goodreads a bit better. I should keep it up though, I put a fair amount of work into it before I got distracted.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 16, 2008, 06:13:45 PM
Sent! :)

Though I havent used it much in a while, I'm finding I like goodreads a bit better. I should keep it up though, I put a fair amount of work into it before I got distracted.

I've signed up to Goodreads just this morning before leaving for work; haven't had a chance to do anything else with it yet.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: alllie on September 17, 2008, 01:04:23 AM
Ya'll really don't mind someone knowing every book you have?

The feds were forcing librarians to give them lists of people who had read certain books and you tell them without being forced?

It's bad enough that I'm sure Amazon yields up the list of books I have bought without me telling them on purpose.

Ya'll need a strong dose of paranoia.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 17, 2008, 01:22:12 AM
Ya'll really don't mind someone knowing every book you have?

The feds were forcing librarians to give them lists of people who had read certain books and you tell them without being forced?

It's bad enough that I'm sure Amazon yields up the list of books I have bought without me telling them on purpose.

Ya'll need a strong dose of paranoia.

If we get to the point where my owning a copy of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, or The Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich, or whatever, gets me in trouble with the government ... well, then I'm sure they'll have already apprehended me for reasons completely unrelated to the books in my collection.  So I'm not concerned on that count.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: alllie on September 17, 2008, 02:15:06 AM
If we get to the point where my owning a copy of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, or The Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich, or whatever, gets me in trouble with the government ... well, then I'm sure they'll have already apprehended me for reasons completely unrelated to the books in my collection.  So I'm not concerned on that count.


FBI checking out Americans' reading habits
Bookstores, libraries can't do much to fend off search warrants
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/23/MN75593.DTL
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 17, 2008, 03:41:48 AM
If we get to the point where my owning a copy of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, or The Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich, or whatever, gets me in trouble with the government ... well, then I'm sure they'll have already apprehended me for reasons completely unrelated to the books in my collection.  So I'm not concerned on that count.


FBI checking out Americans' reading habits
Bookstores, libraries can't do much to fend off search warrants
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/23/MN75593.DTL


... and ...?
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Talia on September 17, 2008, 04:59:13 AM
Ya'll really don't mind someone knowing every book you have? 

That right there is the weakness in your argument.

You dont have to input ANYTHING into library thing. Its for those who WANT to share.

Got a copy of something you want to hide? by all means, don't post it. No one's making you.

However I'd love to learn who else owns and enjoys the "otherlands" series, or fellow deverry fans.

And such tools are useful for me.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: alllie on September 17, 2008, 11:49:52 AM
Got a copy of something you want to hide? by all means, don't post it. No one's making you.

You think you KNOW what books or combination of books would make them identify you as a possible danger just because you have been exposed to certain ideas?

Total Information Awareness, which Congress voted down repeatedly and which the Bush department just moved to private contractors, meant to get every bit of information on everyone in the country(and probably the world) because they believe if they have that they can tell who might ever rebel against them. Like they spy on Quakers and Environmentalists and Animal Rights Advocates. Do you think you KNOW what might get you in trouble a few years down the line?
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: wintermute on September 17, 2008, 12:41:41 PM
Allie: The point is that this is voluntary. I fully agree that libraries and bookshops should not hand over information about what I'm reading to the government. Because that is done without my explicit permission. On the other hand, if I choose to open up a given subset of my book collection to the public, then I should be free to do so. If the government is trawling Librarything looking for people who own The Anarchist's Cookbook or Fahrenheit 451 (and I'd be surprised to learn that they're not), then they can find the people who are happy to let them know that, but not the ones who object to them even asking.

I don't have my books online anywhere, more for technical reasons than any moral objections, but my DVD library is out there for anyone to see (http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/wintermute115).
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on September 17, 2008, 01:09:01 PM
Got a copy of something you want to hide? by all means, don't post it. No one's making you.

You think you KNOW what books or combination of books would make them identify you as a possible danger just because you have been exposed to certain ideas?

Total Information Awareness, which Congress voted down repeatedly and which the Bush department just moved to private contractors, meant to get every bit of information on everyone in the country(and probably the world) because they believe if they have that they can tell who might ever rebel against them. Like they spy on Quakers and Environmentalists and Animal Rights Advocates. Do you think you KNOW what might get you in trouble a few years down the line?

I still maintain that if the situation degenerates to the point where the books I own will get me in trouble, then the government knowing what books I own will be the least of my worries.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Anarkey on September 17, 2008, 02:08:01 PM
I'm all for privacy rights, but I find it quite peculiar to be worried about LibraryThing as something the government would use to "decide I'm dangerous". 

I'm much more concerned about the fact that any time I enter a government building they can check how much cash I'm carrying.  Or that stupid effing RFID they're putting in new passports (which is abhorrent both on a tracking level and on a how ridiculously easy it is to hack this thing level.  Security through insecurity, thanks a lot, Uncle Sam).  Or that they're routinely scanning my email and monitoring calls I make to foreign countries.

Do you use encryption every time you send email, Allie?  Do you ever bank online or buy anything by credit card?  Did you request your residence be obscured off google street view?  Do you wear a hat and scarf when you go to the ATM or the grocery store?  Got one of those nifty fastpass thingys that tells the government to the second whenever you've gone through a toll point?

It's not only that there's a thousand bigger, more pressing privacy concerns in today's society.  It's also that proper surveillance always first seeks information that isn't self-reported.  That's why the library records are more valuable than my lthing account.  I can report any book I feel like to lthing, whether I own it or not.  People lie.  A lot.  Anything transaction based (such as checking out a barcoded book, or buying an item on amazon) is more valuable data from a surveillance perspective than anything self-reported.  Not that pooling together information from freely available sources isn't something the government (or a stalker) won't do, but it's also a measure of last resort.  I don't completely agree with Steph's position, at least not necessarily from a societal viewpoint, but from a personal viewpoint, the second the gov't starts checking my lthing account, I'm surely already a "person of interest" and they've also already warrantlessly wiretapped me and have an unmarked van outside my house.  My forum posts to EP and my LibraryThing will be the LAST thing they'll check, and they won't need lthing at all, because they can just walk into my house and pick up the physical copy of "Farenheit 451" off the shelf while they're arresting me.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: slic on September 17, 2008, 04:43:59 PM
Anarkey is spot on.  Data mining and anonymous profiling are already out there on many levels (governmental and corporate).  It really isn't going to be your book list on LibraryThing that will tip the scales towards you being "noted".

I also want to expand on her point about pooling freely available info.  It is simply frightening what someone can know about you from reading through posts, lists and comments on web sites, and applying some deductive reasoning.  I am always wary of anyone I don't remember who seems to have alot in common with me.  The spookiest thing I ever saw online was being in gmail and seeing the ads adapt to the content of my email (including being city specific)
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Talia on September 17, 2008, 04:46:19 PM
Allie: The point is that this is voluntary. I fully agree that libraries and bookshops should not hand over information about what I'm reading to the government. Because that is done without my explicit permission. On the other hand, if I choose to open up a given subset of my book collection to the public, then I should be free to do so. If the government is trawling Librarything looking for people who own The Anarchist's Cookbook or Fahrenheit 451 (and I'd be surprised to learn that they're not), then they can find the people who are happy to let them know that, but not the ones who object to them even asking.

I don't have my books online anywhere, more for technical reasons than any moral objections, but my DVD library is out there for anyone to see (http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/wintermute115).

Couldn't agree more. I absolutely believe that library information should be and must remain confidential to protect privacy.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: slic on September 17, 2008, 04:48:27 PM
Sandman and Snowcrash both fall into the "you will need to loan this to someone" category.  In fact, I'm on my third or fourth copy of Snowcrash, because every time I loan it out, it does not return to me.
I'm on copy #6 of Snowcrash myself (which is currently being lent out  :))  The other books for me are "Interface" (also by Neal Stephenson, with a co-author) and the graphic novel "Watchmen"
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: FamilyGuy on January 17, 2009, 11:35:58 PM
Threadomancy Alert

Invites sent.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Bdoomed on January 18, 2009, 12:41:00 AM
*puts in a word to smite FamilyGuy for the sin of threadomancy*
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Zathras on January 18, 2009, 12:42:40 AM
Be careful!  N-sh tried out his smiting powers on me.  It didn't quite work, but I think he has it down now!
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Russell Nash on January 18, 2009, 05:22:01 PM
*puts in a word to smite FamilyGuy for the sin of threadomancy*

And that is why you are only an Acolyte.  Threadromancy is approved by TCoRN and I believe also by the unaffiliated moderators of the forums.  The basic idea is: if you have something to say, put it with everyone else's comments on the topic.  This makes it so Eytanz doesn't have to write the same long well-thought-out argument twice.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Russell Nash on February 08, 2009, 12:56:19 PM
I just signed up for Goodreads.  I wanted someplace where I could try to compile my list of every book I've read.  I've lost this list many times, but I always try to recompile it.  The need for this list came about after I discovered that three of the books, I had just bought, I had already read.  The list is terribly incomplete, but it's a start.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Poppydragon on February 08, 2009, 01:03:26 PM
I started a list of every book that I own, by the simple expedient of going through tthe shelves one at a time, adding the info straight onto the computer and worrying about sorting it later. Infortunately I ended up having to move house unexpectedly, hence all the books got taken off the shelves and put into boxes and then put back out in the new house, in a different order. I haven't had the motivation to start again  :-\ That said I'm usually quite good at remembering what I have although I did end up buying second copies both of I Am Legend and Naked Lunch recently.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on February 08, 2009, 05:57:43 PM
I started a list of every book that I own, by the simple expedient of going through tthe shelves one at a time, adding the info straight onto the computer and worrying about sorting it later. Infortunately I ended up having to move house unexpectedly, hence all the books got taken off the shelves and put into boxes and then put back out in the new house, in a different order. I haven't had the motivation to start again  :-\ That said I'm usually quite good at remembering what I have although I did end up buying second copies both of I Am Legend and Naked Lunch recently.

See, what I did was catalog my books as I was packing them for a move, with the intention of keeping track of which boxes held which books.  I still have the Excel workbook (though it still doesn't have most of my late father's collection.)
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: gelee on February 10, 2009, 05:51:33 PM
I'm on both Goodreads and Librarything.  I like the completeness of Librarything, but it's just too bloody slow, and seems geared more toward professional librarians.  I moved over to Goodreads, as it seemed a lot quicker and easier to manage my library, but a bit tougher to find people.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on February 11, 2009, 01:13:24 AM
Forgot to mention yesterday that I got an Early Reviewer book.  It's something called Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer, apparently an urban fantasy sortofthing.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Russell Nash on February 11, 2009, 07:52:29 PM
Forgot to mention yesterday that I got an Early Reviewer book.  It's something called Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer, apparently an urban fantasy sortofthing.

How did that come about?
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on February 12, 2009, 12:49:19 AM
Forgot to mention yesterday that I got an Early Reviewer book.  It's something called Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer, apparently an urban fantasy sortofthing.

How did that come about?

Step 1: Sign up for LibraryThing Early Reviewers (http://www.librarything.com/er_list.php).

Step 2: Click "Request it" for books that interest you.

Step 3: Wait.  Maybe something will come, maybe not.  Repeat steps 2-3 monthly.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Russell Nash on February 12, 2009, 08:06:57 AM
Forgot to mention yesterday that I got an Early Reviewer book.  It's something called Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer, apparently an urban fantasy sortofthing.

How did that come about?

Step 1: Sign up for LibraryThing Early Reviewers (http://www.librarything.com/er_list.php).

Step 2: Click "Request it" for books that interest you.

Step 3: Wait.  Maybe something will come, maybe not.  Repeat steps 2-3 monthly.

I was hoping it was something on goodreads.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on February 12, 2009, 02:25:55 PM
I was hoping it was something on goodreads.

Sorry, not.  But maybe goodreads has something similar.  I haven't checked.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: Talia on February 12, 2009, 02:32:12 PM
hmm wow, that's rad. I had all but abandoned LT in favor of goodreads, but I may have to reconsider.
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: stePH on April 02, 2009, 06:39:02 PM
LT Update:
A friend on another board has gifted me with lifetime membership on LibraryThing, a few days ago so I've been plugging in about a couple dozen books a day, starting with my late father's collection.  w00t!  :)

A word on bookshelves:
PICTURES! I GOT PICTURES!

Dad's books (six shelves in all, so the middle two are in both pictures):
(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Dad-lower.jpg) (http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/?action=view&current=Dad-lower.jpg)  (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9//Bookshelves/th_Dad-upper.jpg) (http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/Dad-upper.jpg)


Four Billys (Ikea FTW!) are of a size that isn't made any more, and I don't think the grey finish is available either.  The two on the left are the bottom and the two on the right sit atop them.

(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Billy1-lower.jpg) (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/Billy1-lower.jpg)   (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Billy1-upper.jpg) (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Bookshelves/Theta9/Billy1-upper.jpg)


These three, more current model Billy units, were set up for my wife's cookbooks and other miscellaneous stuff in the dining room off the kitchen in the old house, and she wanted them to look built-in so we wouldn't have to take them out when the house was being moved.  So that's an Ikea countertop on top, and molding to cover the seams.  Once we left the old house these became mine, and I liked the look of it so I kept it this way (cutting down the countertop to fit the new area).  They're in a little alcove-type area with wire shelves above (that I took from my closet in the old house).

(that's my collection of comic books in the bottom right shelf)

(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Billy2-left.jpg) (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/Billy2-left.jpg)  (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Billy2-right.jpg) (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/Billy2-right.jpg)


This is a bookcase my stepfather built for me ten years ago when I first moved up to the Seattle area from Los Angeles.  The shelves are moveable.  The whole thing is sturdy and very heavy.

(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/th_Roger.jpg) (http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp343/Theta9/Bookshelves/Roger.jpg)

* * *
And here's my new self-portrait visible on my LT page.  It looks exactly like me.
(http://www.librarything.com/userpics/Theta9.jpg?3836f?rnd=589296)
Title: Re: Librarything
Post by: tpi on April 03, 2009, 09:38:16 AM
Personally, I am not concerned of privacy matters in sharing my library content.
Here it is:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=tpi.kirjat&shelf=list


P.S
Tracking banknotes using rfid is a urban legend:
http://www.snopes.com/business/money/strip.asp