{"id":11863,"date":"2009-05-11T11:20:24","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T11:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2009\/05\/11\/what-isnt-on-your-bookshelf\/"},"modified":"2009-05-11T11:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:41:07","slug":"what-isnt-on-your-bookshelf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/what-isnt-on-your-bookshelf\/","title":{"rendered":"What Isn’t On Your Bookshelf?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The UnSuggester<\/a>. It isn’t new, but a few months ago, I stumbled across this entertaining feature at LibraryThing, a website where people can list the books they’ve read and connect with other readers. The UnSuggester is a search engine where you enter a book, theoretically one that you own or have read, and are given a list of books that are least<\/em> likely to be right for you. <\/p>

The results are based on which books are missing from the collections of LibraryThing users who have the book you give. It doesn’t always seem to work, and I’m not sure how scientific it is, but it makes for a fun game, seeing which book tops the list of “unsuggestions” for a particular title. Here are some of the better pairs that I found:<\/p>

My Life<\/em> by Bill Clinton ≠<\/strong>Don’t Waste Your Life<\/em> by John Piper<\/p>

Your Best Life Now<\/em> by Joel Osteen ≠<\/strong>Dune<\/em> by Frank Herbert<\/p>

Orthodoxy<\/em> by G.K. Chesterton ≠<\/strong>Shopaholic Takes Manhattan<\/em> by Sophie Kinsella<\/p>

Paradise Lost<\/em> by John Milton ≠<\/strong>Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide<\/em> by Kay Gardiner<\/p>

Life Together<\/em> by Dietrich Bonhoeffer ≠<\/strong>The Devil Wears Prada<\/em> by Lauren Weisberger<\/p>

Give it a try. Can you generate any better pairs than these?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UnSuggester. It isn’t new, but a few months ago, I stumbled across this entertaining feature at LibraryThing, a website where people can list the books they’ve read and connect with other readers. The UnSuggester is a search engine where you enter a book, theoretically one that you own or have read, and are given Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[3160],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[4444,5129],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-11863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-tim-avery","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-media","tax_ctp_tags-technology"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nWhat Isn't On Your Bookshelf? - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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