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<p>Trying to understand BookWyrm vs StoryGraph vs GoodReads and
Twitter vs Mastadon (and beyond), I found this aggregator of
alternative recommendations:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://alternativeto.net/">https://alternativeto.net/</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>which doesn't necessarily solve anything, it just makes it
obvious how challenging "too many choices" can be...</p>
<p>After a lame attempt to go with Mastadon I decided to abandond
Twitter-like things altogether. I doubt I will be willing to
throw GoodReads over for anything else because of the
participating base of my own personal/family network there. I
can at least avoid clicking through a GoodReads recommendation to
order from Amazon. <br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://alternativeto.net/software/bookwyrm/">https://alternativeto.net/software/bookwyrm/</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I haven't begun (tried?) to evaluate AlternativeTo.Net
itself... <br>
</p>
<p>Is this the tragedy of the "free market" (subset of "commons")?</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/4/22 3:00 PM, glen wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:69f38462-3fb3-5519-1fc2-8541923fc479@gmail.com">I'd
forgotten about this until the release yesterday:
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://joinbookwyrm.com/">https://joinbookwyrm.com/</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 11/2/22 14:52, Steve Smith wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<br>
On 11/2/22 9:43 AM, Roger Critchlow wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Thanks, Glen.
<br>
<br>
It would be nice if there were a public bibliographic
reference url that one could use to name a book that only
conveyed the thing in itself. Goodreads was that once, then
Amazon bought them. Ditto for video and audio recordings and
other objects of public interest.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I admit to continuing to use Goodreads this way in spite of two
problems... the Amazon affiliation/ownership of course, but also
the too often spotty reviews... I don't provide many nor
particularly good reviews myself, so I've no room to complain
really.
<br>
<br>
So I suppose I agree with your "public bibliographic reference
url" point. It seems as if Wikipedia is a good candidate but I
haven't done the work to understand how new entries are made...
are they always required to be made by a citizen of the
community who is NOT affiliated with the book (publisher,
author, etc)? I find a *lot* of the books I seek in Wikipedia
and prefer them for reference when their book-description (and
cross links to related works, author, etc) are particularly apt,
but that is also spotty. I use Goodreads mostly to follow what
family/friends are reading and what *they* think of their reads.
<br>
<br>
The trend toward crowd-sourced public-use corpii being acquired
by private interests (even public corporations are private
interests) is disturbing (FB <-Mapillary,
Amazon<-Goodreads)... Twitter->BoringCo, etc)
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<br>
Eugenia Cheng has other books and a pile of youtube videos.
Interestingly, her primary institutional affiliation is the
Art Institute of Chicago, where as resident scientist she
teaches math to art students. She has a public reading for
kids scheduled in Jersey City this month. Her definition of
category theory is "the mathematics of mathematics" which she
expands as "the logical study of the logical study of logical
things."
<br>
<br>
Hasok Chang has a third book, Is Water H2O, which Amazon fails
to index on his amazon author page, though it is on amazon at
a blistering price in every available format. I found a pdf
on the internets. It's details the history of working out the
chemical identity of water. Two themes are that 1) the
consensus answers to scientific questions often change in
anticipation of the arrival of corroboration, 2) there are
often multiple acceptable answers to scientific questions.
These are possibly consequences of being a realisitic realist.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Interesting set of recursions... we CS types tend to love our
arbitrary-depth recursion, but the special cases like
double-negatives, and Rummy's unkown unknowns and now Chang's
logical logicologoy of logics and realistic realists are ...
*special*? While some may prefer "turtles all the way down"
sometimes just a few turtles deep suffices?
<br>
<br>
- Steve
<br>
<br>
PS... couldn't help hearing/reading "Cheech&Chong" on the
first reading of this thread.
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<br>
-- rec --
<br>
<br>
On Wed, Nov 2, 2022 at 9:57 AM glen
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com"><gepropella@gmail.com></a> wrote:
<br>
<br>
There. I fixed that for you. 8^D
<br>
<br>
On 11/1/22 19:36, Roger Critchlow wrote:
<br>
> Interesting visit with my old boss/friend today, he
mentioned some books of interest, and while looking for them I
discovered yet another book.
<br>
>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-joy-of-abstraction-an-exploration-of-math-category-theory-and-life-eugenia-cheng/18557720?ean=9781108477222">https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-joy-of-abstraction-an-exploration-of-math-category-theory-and-life-eugenia-cheng/18557720?ean=9781108477222</a><br>
<br>
> Exploration-Category-Theory/dp/1108477224>
<br>
> Eugenia Cheng, The Joy of Abstraction: An Exploration
of Math, Category Theory, and Life, published October 2022.
<br>
>
<br>
> A presentation of category theory that keeps the
underlying algebra basic.
<br>
>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/inventing-temperature-measurement-and-scientific-progress-hasok-chang/9513488?ean=9780195337389">https://bookshop.org/p/books/inventing-temperature-measurement-and-scientific-progress-hasok-chang/9513488?ean=9780195337389</a><br>
<br>
> Hasok Chang, Inventing Temperature: Measurement and
Scientific Progress
<br>
>
<br>
> An itemized history of temperature and all the wrong
turns taken along the way, more detail than even the author
cares to read again. Poetic justice to examine the operation
of the pragmatist's ratchet and pawl over the centuries as it
rescues workable definitions of temperature from thermal
confusion.
<br>
>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/realism-for-realistic-people-a-new-pragmatist-philosophy-of-science-hasok-chang/18368583?ean=9781108470384">https://bookshop.org/p/books/realism-for-realistic-people-a-new-pragmatist-philosophy-of-science-hasok-chang/18368583?ean=9781108470384</a><br>
<br>
> Hasok Chang, Realism for Realistic People: A New
Pragmatist Philosophy of Science, available on kindle on
November 30, 2022.
<br>
>
<br>
> -- rec --
<br>
<br>
-- ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ
<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
</blockquote>
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