Most bibliophiles would agree that Amazon.com has been one of the best advances of the last 20 years — It allows one to search for books, search within the content of books and flip through a sampling of scanned pages. It enables readers to critique and rate various works, sharing their sentiments with potential future buyers/readers. And it gives appropriate recommendations based on browsing and purchasing habits.

Enter now LibraryThing — the best thing since sliced… er… Amazon! Essentially, LibraryThing is a free interactive web tool that gives suggestions for books by finding out what books you own, which you liked and which you hated. It does so in three ways:

1. BookSuggester — As the name suggests, you enter the title of a book that you have read and enjoyed, and BookSuggester returns a large list of recommendations, categorized as follows: People with this book also have… (by analyzing over 10 million titles listed in LibraryThing’s user profiles); Books with similar subjects and classifications… (from Library of Congress subject headings); Books with similar tags… (from over 13 million user-specified tags); and Amazon also recommends… (from Amazon.com database).
2. UnSuggester — This tool gives book suggestions for books that you will enjoy based upon books that you disliked. In order to work, a book need be listed by at least 75 members.
3. LibrarySuggester — Ah!, this is where LibraryThing shines! By creating a free anonymous user account (no e-mail address required), you can catalog your current library. It’s user-friendly interface allows searching by title, author, ISBN#, etc. As you enter each item, it returns a list of matches with cover images to help you find the exact version on your shelf at home. Most importantly, you can specify your own tags that describe these books, which helps refine your suggestions later. After you have cataloged at least five books from your library, LibrarySuggester will look for other works of fiction/non-fiction owned by people with similar tastes. You can also search by tags.

Not to mention that the site uses typefaces reminiscent of Edward Gorey (of PBS’ “Mystery” fame), LibraryThing is sure to please book lovers everywhere!