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lesserkatie's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
mmccombs's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
A book that put words and context to my overwhelming feelings of bleak anxiety whenever going on the internet over the past few years. I found this book accessible and mind blowing, though I do feel like it was very much an intro overview that could have gone deeper in some areas. Especially coming at this from a bookstagram perspective, I leave this book with many ideas about how to improve my connection with the reason I joined in the first place: building community and finding great books to read. How can I curate my feed to better represent my interests? How can I curate my posts to be more meaningful, rather than just throwing posts out there in a desperate attempt to gain likes? Could I leave the platform altogether to achieve something slower, something outside the algorithm? This is a book that truly made me step back and begin to reassess my own habits, while also thinking more broadly about our culture at large, and I had a great time thinking about those things!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide
ngilbert's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Filterworld is a somewhat meandering exploration of the author’s conflicted relationship with algorithmic culture. He is, by his own admission, a frequent user and fan of recommendation algorithms — as exemplified in an affinity for bland instagram-aesthetic cafes and Airbnbs — but is also deeply concerned about the effects these algorithms have. The organization of the book is a little scattershot, but following the author’s view on curation, we’re exposed to the subjects he wants to talk about in the order he wishes to talk about them. This is a well-written, interesting synthesis of a number of different aspects of the impact of algorithms on culture.
My thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide