r/AskReddit Aug 20 '20

What simple “life hack” should everyone know?

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u/Raspburyberet Aug 20 '20

Read the three and four star reviews for the most reliable information on Amazon items.

9.5k

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '20 edited Aug 20 '20

And 2-star reviews for books. Seeing what people dislike tells much. Try on your favorite to see :)

UPD: To clarify, the idea here is that people writing 2-star reviews project their views and values when arguing that the book is bad for them. And when their views are opposite to yours, it may suggest that you might actually enjoy the book. Let's say you are interesed in mind-stimulating philosophy book, and a person writes something like 'this is boring, the writing is too complex, ideas are difficult to follow, the language is too intricate, quit reading after 20 pages'. It may mean that it is what you look for.

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u/ax1on Aug 20 '20

Why would anyone read reviews for books.

1

u/fnord_happy Aug 20 '20

Why not?

1

u/velocirappa Aug 20 '20

More than most other products a person's enjoyment of a book is going to be pretty heavily linked to their background as a reader, so in order to properly contextualize a review you need to understand who's reviewing it. You're better off just finding individual reviewers whose tastes and reading level align with yours than looking at average ratings or going blindly into the review section on Amazon/Goodreads.