[...] In the Amazon bookstore, taste has been crowd-sourced. The books on the shelves are each accompanied by a printed card that lists a rating on Amazon, the number of reviews, and a sample quote from an online review. So instead of some nerd from the Fake News Sunday Book Review telling us what to like, here’s “Kyle” or “Utah Mom” observing that this book is “written with superb attention to detail” or is “surprisingly relatable” or “full of age-old wisdom.” The verdict on James Joyce’s Dubliners: “Each story is a gem”—which, with all due respect to “Brandon” (who I’m guessing didn’t sign up for this limelight), is as funny and daft and obscene as all those Yelp reviews that people take the trouble to write recommending, you know, the Grand Canyon, or the Louvre.
[...] In the Amazon bookstore, taste has been crowd-sourced. The books on the shelves are each accompanied by a printed card that lists a rating on Amazon, the number of reviews, and a sample quote from an online review. So instead of some nerd from the Fake News Sunday Book Review telling us what to like, here’s “Kyle” or “Utah Mom” observing that this book is “written with superb attention to detail” or is “surprisingly relatable” or “full of age-old wisdom.” The verdict on James Joyce’s Dubliners: “Each story is a gem”—which, with all due respect to “Brandon” (who I’m guessing didn’t sign up for this limelight), is as funny and daft and obscene as all those Yelp reviews that people take the trouble to write recommending, you know, the Grand Canyon, or the Louvre.