CPL 2.0 Library Thing

I had tried out the Google Bookshelves some weeks ago when the homework topic was Google Universe. Library Thing makes the Google Bookshelves look a bit like that box in the corner of the doctor's office - it is much more sophisticated.

After setting up my account I searched for the print book I am currently reading. It is called "The Grasshoper" by an Albertan man Joseph Lothian. It wasn't found on the initial search, even using the ISBN so I expanded the locations that were being searched. This book (or author) didn't appear at all, which I found odd considering I borrowed it from the library and I had to wait some time due to the holds prior to mine. So I manually added the book; filling in as many of the spaces I could. Later when I did a "site" search on "The Grasshopper", it still didn't show up, maybe it needs 24 hours?

Interestingly enough that search generated a list of 158 titles, mostly to do with the fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper". And within that list the title that stuck out was "The Grasshopper and the Ant and other La Fontaine Fables". Now maybe my memory is getting a little shaky in my old age, but I believe that particular moral tale is credited to Aesop, not La Fontaine. Which makes me wonder - how much of the information that is input to Library Thing, is double-checked? Is it credible? Or is it a case of reader beware.

The site was user friendly and easy to navigate. I appreciated that to set up an account I didn't have to give an astonishing amount of vague information - "as a security question in case you forget your password, tell us the name of the book your best man was sneakily reading under his coat after the church service and before the photos."

The amount of information on the site was truely overwhelming, (and what is "zeitgeist" anyway?) At what point does all this information stop being helpful or informative and just become a mass of words to wade through?

I did like the comparisons and other suggested reading. Sometimes I can't think what to read next (more, I don't know what I feel like reading next) and these lists will ensure I am never without a story by my side.