About Pick Better Books

Hi, I’m Chris L.

I’m a lifelong reader who loves fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction, history and popular science.

I’ve always loved discovering a great book, but finding the next one isn’t always easy.

I might love a Brandon Sanderson novel for its intricate magic system, then pick up John Williams’s Stoner and appreciate it for entirely different reasons.

And just because I loved one book in a genre doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy another.

That’s what got me thinking about book recommendations.

Too often, they amount to little more than “If you liked this book, try that one.”

But why did I like it?

Was it the characters? The writing? The worldbuilding? The ideas? The way the story made me feel?

Those details matter far more to me than a simple genre label.

So I decided to build something that takes them into account.

Finding the right book for you

Pick Better Books uses AI to help you find books based on your individual tastes.

Tell it about books you’ve loved, books you’ve hated, and what you’re looking for next.

But you don’t have to limit yourself to books.

Love Christopher Nolan’s movies? Fascinated by the ideas of a particular philosopher? Have a favourite author, television series or historical period?

Tell it that, too.

The more you share about what interests you, the better it can understand the kinds of stories and ideas that might appeal to you.

It uses those preferences to suggest books that could be a good fit and explain why.

It won’t always get everything right. Reading is personal, and no algorithm can perfectly predict what someone will love.

But that’s the idea: give readers a better starting point, with recommendations that consider more than what’s popular or what genre a book belongs to.

The less time you spend searching for something to read, the more time you can spend actually reading.

More than recommendations

Pick Better Books is also a place for me to write about books, reading and the ideas stories leave behind.

You’ll find reading guides, personal essays, recommendations and the occasional opinion about literature, science fiction, technology or whatever else a good book has me thinking about.

I hope you’ll find something interesting, discover a book you hadn’t considered or maybe feel inspired to start reading again.

Because that’s really what this project is about.

Helping people fall in love with reading.

Privacy and analytics

Your reading profile is saved in this browser until you choose Start over. When you request recommendations or a book check, your examples, reactions, notes and preferences are sent securely to OpenAI to generate the answer. They are not sent to Google Analytics. Book titles and authors may also be used to look up bibliographic facts or descriptions through web search, Open Library and Google Books. Your personal reading notes are not included in those catalog searches. If you allow analytics, Google Analytics records general usage information such as pages visited, device type and approximate location so I can understand how the site is being used. Analytics remains off if you select “No thanks.”