Use Science to Find Your Next Read!

[dios4vida]

Hey folks, I ran across this link thanks to mental_floss (talk about a time waster/useless fact collector!). Type in the name of an author and it'll bring up a visual map of similar authors. I typed in one of my favorite authors (R.A. Salvatore) and was amazed at how accurate it was. I've heard of and/or tried well over half of the recommendations and I'd definitely group them together.

So if you're looking for a book similar to <insert author's name here>, try this site! It might lead you to some treasures.

http://www.literature-map.com/

[meganstirler]

That was totally cool - thanks for the link!

[MattLarkin]

Best site I've seen in a while. I really like how the distance kind of gives you an idea of how similar the authors are.

[Ishta]

Neat! Although I do kind of wonder about the proximity of JK Rowling to Stephenie Meyer - I love both of their books, BUT, their writing styles are completely different.

Which makes me wonder if this is more of a "taste" thing than a "similarity in writing" thing. Either way, it's pretty cool.

[BransfordGroupie]

Wow! Love it. I was a big fan of Robert Jordan, so I gave him a whirl, and watayano I had read at least a dozen of the other authors that popped up. I was curious to find Dan Brown in the mix though (even if he was a little further from the centre.

I'll keep this on in my fav links though.

[dios4vida]

Neat! Although I do kind of wonder about the proximity of JK Rowling to Stephenie Meyer - I love both of their books, BUT, their writing styles are completely different.

Which makes me wonder if this is more of a "taste" thing than a "similarity in writing" thing. Either way, it's pretty cool.

I know what you mean, Ishta. I did a Rowling search just to see what would come up and it was everything from Dan Brown to Charlotte Bronte to Stephen King. Nearly every single name on the page was a household-name, bestseller. The only ones that weren't were the authors whose style actually IS similar to Rowling's.

I think how it works is you go to one of the tabs and can input three of your favorite authors. It's supposed to give you a short list of others (mine didn't come up with any results) but I think they keep track of those and that's how they've made their maps. It's just a guess, though.

Glad everyone's liking the link as much as I did!

[Claudie]

This is fantastic. GOsh, never touch that site with my Kindle within reach.