Quality non-fiction books are the antithesis of AI slop
8 hours ago
- The author's college library shelving job led to serendipitous discovery of quality non-fiction books, which became a formative intellectual experience.
- To address the decline of physical libraries and the rise of AI-generated content, the author created a free tool called Book Prize Index that aggregates prize-winning non-fiction books.
- The tool uses semantic search to help users find books similar to ones they like, mimicking the experience of browsing curated library stacks.
- The author argues that non-fiction writing quality peaked between the 1980s and early 2000s, aided by technological and social changes like jet travel and open access to libraries.
- The Book Prize Index includes data visualizations, such as book covers by color and publisher rankings, and aims to promote the discovery of high-quality non-fiction.