LibraryThing is the most innovatibe “Book Thing” I have seen in years.

Compare its massive appeal with the paltry efforts of say HaperCollins’ Search Inside attempt, or the blogging efforts of the rival publishing houses and conglomorates. LibraryThing (though as I learned on my initial posting, I am a late convert) is jammed with innovative features and filled with possibilities for book promotion passive or otherwise. In one sense I am glad it is unhindered by affliation as in the hands of a publisher it would surely be doomed.

Today they have officially launched their new Talk feature and discussed the challenges of forum software (and not just their forum but all forum). I have to say forums are one of my hates. Slow, clunky and rarely worth the effort of wading through I really only converted to online discussion with the arrival of Gmail and its exceptional conversation view. That made being involved in discussion so much easy as the entire strand was in a verticle colum on a single page in my inbox, perused at my leisure, I loved it. I hope that Talk enables me to enjoy LibraryThing’s forum and opens discussion on some of the books I love.

LibraryThing continues to amaze me. I look forward to seeing more features from an already feature stacked product.

Fearing the return home
Eoin