The Perils of ISBN
6 days ago
- #book-tracking
- #GoodReads-alternative
- #FRBR-model
- The author praises Letterboxd for its clean interface and social features, contrasting it with GoodReads, which they find clunky and unappealing.
- GoodReads and StoryGraph are criticized for their poor user interfaces, making it difficult to log and review books.
- The author explores building a better book-tracking platform, starting with a search function using the Google Books API, but finds issues with multiple ISBNs for the same book.
- The FRBR model is introduced to distinguish between works, expressions, manifestations, and items, highlighting the need for a work-level book database.
- OpenLibrary is mentioned as a potential alternative, but its data is still messy and incomplete compared to The Movie Database used by Letterboxd.
- The author notes the challenges of creating a high-quality open-source book database, given the scale and lack of commercial backing compared to movie databases.
- The post concludes with a teaser for a future blogpost on attempting to build a better book-tracking platform.