Where the List Begins

A small change to the blog's book shelf this week: if you've saved a book, a return in the same browser can now begin with your saved list. The full collection is still there. It just waits its turn.

That order is the part I want to keep. A list of recommendations begins with somebody else's choices. A saved list begins with yours. Even if there's only one title in it, something has already caught your attention. Returning to that one book is a different sort of visit from arriving with no particular book in mind.

Saving doesn't tell us very much about what happened. You might have liked the premise, wanted to check an edition later, or simply needed to leave the page. Those are possibilities, not things the list can know. It holds the title without having to settle the reason.

It doesn't mean you've decided to read it, either. There's a useful bit of space between “that looks interesting” and “that's the book I want.” A saved title can stay in that space. It doesn't have to become a purchase, a reading plan, or an explanation for why you haven't got round to it.

The new view leaves out the shelf categories and long introductory notes. They're useful when you're browsing. When you're returning to something you already picked out, they can be another introduction before the thing you came back for. The book's cover, title and author have more room together now.

There's still a way back to all the books. A previous choice doesn't need to become a permanent instruction. You can want the familiar cover in front of you and, a moment later, want to look somewhere else.

The change is only an order on a page. It can't know whether the book still interests you. But it can begin with the little bit of choosing you've already done, and leave the next bit open.