WhiskeyJack ([info]whiskeyjack) wrote,
@ 2009-07-03 16:09:00
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Amazon reviews
I find that I learn a lot more about books I'm thinking about buying from the 1 and 2 star reviews than from the favorable reviews. A 5 star review always says, essentially, "I loved it, it was everything I wanted." The negative reviews frequently reveal a lot more about the reviewer: sometimes it is just "this stinks" but they usually stop to tell you why. An intelligent, insightful criticism can turn me off of something no matter how many favorable reviews it has. OTOH - if all the 1-star reviewers are a bunch of kooks I can't wait to buy it.

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hmmm
[info]littlejigman
2009-07-04 09:33 pm UTC (link)
I think the mid-range reviews have the most intelligent commentary to offer--and actually...that might not be true either. I look for detail. There are far too many reviews at the extremes which have little more to offer than "It sucked" or "It rocked".

Far too often at the low end I find nothing but trollish, unpleasant, misanthropes who have nothing positive to say about anything (unless it's the kind of life-sucks-realism that seems to suggest that life ain't worth living.

I prefer the mindlessly gushing reviews to those others.

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Re: hmmm
[info]whiskeyjack
2009-07-05 03:29 pm UTC (link)
Even those are helpful -- if all the 1 star reviews just say 'it sucked', it comes across that all the negative reviewers are a bunch of idiots. I translate that as 'no negative reviews'. But even one thought-out, coherent negative review can tell me a lot. Usually I'm looking at books with many favorable reviews but I don't usually want to take the time to read more than 4-5 of them.

Mid range reviews are also frequently helpful.

I've been looking specifically at history and science books and 1-star reviews that say "too secular" only encourage me.

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Re: hmmm
[info]zoldang
2009-07-07 07:42 pm UTC (link)
This is actually why I learned to spell--so that when I wrote 1-star reviews, they could look insightfully mean-spirited rather than boorishly mean-spirited. Also I'm testing LJ.

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Re: hmmm
[info]zoldang
2009-07-07 07:42 pm UTC (link)
PS there is nothing wrong with your spelling.

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