I take recommendations seriously. If I’m going to recommend something to someone, I have to be willing to accept the consequences if they end up not liking what I recommended. I usually worry that if someone doesn’t like what I recommend it means either a) I have bad taste, or b) I really don’t know that person as well as I thought I did. Neither of those is a very appealing thing to have to admit.

Some people, though, don’t overthink recommendations quite as much as I do.

I went to Borders today to look for a new book to read, since I haven’t been able to finish the last 3 that I’ve started. Some kind of iPhone-induced mental block, I guess. As I was browsing the “Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off” table, a man glanced at the books I was holding for consideration and said to me:

“Excuse me. May I recommend this book [pointing at Water for Elephants]?”

“Actually, I’ve already read it.”

“What did you think?”

“It was great!”

He smiled and walked away to go pay for the books he was holding. This isn’t the first time I’ve witnessed this kind of spontaneous recommendation. Several months ago, I was at the same table, browsing for books, when a man recommended I read 1491 based on the books I was holding. I did end up buying it and I really enjoyed reading it, even though it’s probably not something I’d have picked out on my own.

The great thing about these types of recommendations is that you know the people must feel really passionately about the book they recommend. Otherwise, why would they bother mentioning it to a stranger?

The other great thing is that in my case, both of the recommendations were spot-on with very little information to go on. This really exemplifies the difference between people and computers. Consider the Netflix recommendation engine, for instance. It looks at all the movies and genres you’ve rated, compares them with other members’ ratings, and recommends movies that people with similar tastes to yours have enjoyed but that you have not yet rated.* Compare that with the book recommendations from strangers where all they had to go on were a couple books in my hand and their own previous experience. There is no algorithm. People just make the connection instantaneously, based on their own instincts. That’s something a computer will never be able to do.

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* At least that’s how I imagine it works. I think that’s pretty close to reality, though.