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    You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice
    Unavailable
    You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice
    Unavailable
    You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice
    Audiobook9 hours

    You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice

    Written by Tom Vanderbilt

    Narrated by Jeffrey Kafer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Why do we get so embarrassed when a colleague wears the same shirt? Why do we eat the same thing for breakfast every day, but seek out novelty at lunch and dinner? How has streaming changed the way Netflix makes recommendations? Why do people think the music of their youth is the best? How can you spot a fake review on Yelp?

    Our preferences and opinions are constantly being shaped by countless forces - especially in the digital age with its nonstop procession of "thumbs up" and "likes" and "stars." Tom Vanderbilt, bestselling author of Traffic, explains why we like the things we like, why we hate the things we hate, and what all this tell us about ourselves.

    With a voracious curiosity, Vanderbilt stalks the elusive beast of taste, probing research in psychology, marketing, and neuroscience to answer myriad complex and fascinating questions. If you've ever wondered how Netflix recommends movies or why books often see a sudden decline in Amazon ratings after they win a major prize, Tom Vanderbilt has answers to these questions and many more that you've probably never thought to ask.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 10, 2016
    ISBN9780399567674
    Unavailable
    You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice
    Author

    Tom Vanderbilt

    Tom Vanderbilt writes on design, technology, science, and culture for many publications, including Wired, Slate, The London Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, Artforum, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine and Popular Science. He is contributing editor to award-winning design magazines I.D. and Print, contributing editor to Business Week Online, and contributing writer of the popular blog Design Observer. He is the author of three previous books: Trafic: Why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us), Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America and The Sneaker Book.

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    Reviews for You May Also Like

    3.5/5

    31 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is a book about why we like what we like. The author explores major areas in which preferences are commonly shared, from food and restaurants, to books, movies, music, beer, and even cats. For me, not all of the areas he discussed were of interest, or rather, they might have been had he not belabored them so much. In addition, I didn’t always find the studies he described persuasive. Basically he concludes that there are lots of reasons we have tastes for one thing or another, and it’s hard to tell what they are. It could be related to our memories (we love something because it reminds us of happy times as kids); expectations (the wine is expensive, so it is “supposed” to be good); the influence of our culture (we grew up in Philadelphia so we love Philly cheesesteaks) or friends or “experts,” or even identity issues (e.g., I want to be seen as someone who likes highbrow things, or conversely, l want to be thought of as more avant garde, and so I want to choose lowbrow things). We both want to be like others and we want to be different from others. Which is it? It may well be both, but a theory for anything and everything doesn’t explain much. Similarly with our taste in books and movies: seeing positive ratings by others can influence people to upgrade their evaluations, and seeing negative ratings can induce them to downgrade them. Vanderbilt avers we crave novelty, but we also crave familiarity. What exactly does all that explain?In other words, there are theories that explain every possibility, and therefore they provide no enlightenment whatsoever.The author does include a few interesting vignettes about music and food and movies, but beyond being diverting, they just don’t say much. He also poses some thought-provoking questions. How exactly, for example, would you describe what a carrot tastes like, without using the word carrot? (Vanderbilt points to a paucity of words to account for taste, unlike the plethora of theories to describe it!)This doesn’t mean the subject doesn’t have the potential for being fun. There are some hilarious videos on youtube, to list but a few, with people arguing about whether grits should have sugar or salt; which Jewish holiday dishes are better (“The Great Latke-Hamantaschen Debates”); and whether deep dish pizza is better than thin crust. But in this book, the strength of preferences and the reasons behind that vehemence was mainly discussed with respect to very, very esoteric types of music.Evaluation: I hoped this would be better, but in spite of what I thought was a potentially interesting topic, it didn’t engage me much. But then again, it’s all a matter of taste. What I like not so much, other readers/listeners will undoubtedly like a lot.
    • 1/5
      Some fun factoids, but overall too academic and uninviting. Ugh!
    • 5/5
      This book was so amazing because it demystified so many of our everyday experiences. Unlike many pop psychology books, this one contains many novel experiments that you have never heard of. It explains what constitutes good ratings and how we are influenced by them, how we choose the foods we like, what differentiates expert tasters from novices, and even some info about how tastes register in the brain. Make sure that when you read it you don’t miss writing down the experts mentioned or the programs. They are totally worth looking up!
    • 4/5
      It’s four stars if you leave out the chapter on fine art! What do we know? People are sheep, imitating others for fads, through Instagram, Facebook and the rest of the mind-numbing social media of the current age. Most people cannot tell you why they like what they say they like. Hmm. Nonetheless, I found the book interesting, if at times annoying for the many references that I had to look up in Wikipedia- who knew there was a cat breed called Rag Doll?