Filed under: Fun, Internet, Blogging, Social Software
Library Thing - "Facebook for books"
If you're a book lover, Library Thing is a useful tool to help you catalog your books online, write and read book reviews, see what other people like you may be reading and participate in book discussion threads. In a matter of a few minutes you can add books to your online catalog, tag 'em, and rate them using a star system. Based on your selections, you can then see who else shares your excellent taste in their own book arsenals. Think Facebook for books.
You can catalog up to 200 books for free and if you go beyond that you can get a paid account for $10 per year or $25 for a lifetime membership. There's a little widget you can add to your blog, if you wish, which shows visitors what you're reading. Library Thing is currently beta-testing LiveJournal and MySpace widgets.
Some other nice features include:
You can catalog up to 200 books for free and if you go beyond that you can get a paid account for $10 per year or $25 for a lifetime membership. There's a little widget you can add to your blog, if you wish, which shows visitors what you're reading. Library Thing is currently beta-testing LiveJournal and MySpace widgets.
Some other nice features include:
- Import data from files and web pages. Supports Delicious Library, BookCollector, Amazon Wishlists.
- Export all records as tab delimited text.
- Mobile look-up - http://www.librarything.com/m/
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jon said 12:21AM on 4-21-2007
http://www.shelfari.com/
Shelfari is similar and free.
Discover New Books
Shelfari makes it easy to see what your friends are reading, what others with similar tastes have enjoyed, and even get and give book recommendations.
Talk It Up
With Shelfari you can easily connect with new and old friends to talk about the books you are passionate about. Join a group devoted to your favorite author or bring your book club online.
Showoff Your Shelf
Shelfari empowers you to show off the books you are passionate about. Build your shelf in Shelfari and then embed your shelf in your blog, website, or social networking site of choice
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DJ said 9:05AM on 4-21-2007
I have to add my vote for LibraryThing. Adding books is way fast, and it can pull in book info from a bunch of sources besides the usual 'Amazon only' that the competition can handle (including lots of non-U.S. sources which can be very useful depending on your tastes).
My favorite feature - using a CueCat USB barcode scanner and simply swiping in new books in one easy motion.
(Nope, I don't work for them, but I am a lifetime subscriber).
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cmtdrt said 9:23AM on 4-21-2007
I'm also a lifetime member of LibraryThing
I think there's a reason Shelfari is free.
Its interface is clunky and sluggish. There is (or was last I tried) no way to manually import books, which is essential for those of us who own books that predate the ISBN. There was no way I could see to choose from different sources to get book data from, something else that one needs if you have books published countries other than the US and Canada.
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erickoller said 4:12PM on 4-23-2007
I'd take a free option anyday. Theoretically, the more users they have the better their service will get.
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mujahid7ia said 1:30PM on 5-01-2007
LibraryThing has a far cleaner interface and is much more usable. Shelfari, IMHO, looks downright ugly.
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