Los Feliz Bookshop Introduces 'Algorithmic Reading Detox' Programme

Independent bookshop offers a 60-day programme in which participants surrender their algorithm-generated reading lists and accept book recommendations chosen entirely by human booksellers, programme costs $200, first cohort of 30 participants reports reading more than they have in years

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat bring you ScrewTheNews -- Los Angeles where the earnestness is real and so is the satire.

The Bookshop at Los Feliz launched its Algorithmic Reading Detox programme, a 60-day subscription in which participants agree to follow reading recommendations provided exclusively by the shop's three booksellers rather than by any digital recommendation system, receiving two book selections per month chosen based on an intake conversation about reading history and preferences. The programme costs $200, which includes the two monthly books. The first cohort of 30 participants, surveyed at the programme's conclusion, reported: an average of 4.2 books completed over 60 days, compared to a self-reported pre-programme average of 1.8; a higher proportion of books outside their habitual genres; and, from 24 of 30 participants, a positive assessment of the bookseller-curated experience relative to algorithm-based recommendations. Two participants reported they "would not have chosen any of these books myself and liked most of them." The algorithm did not recommend this. The booksellers did. Bohiney and The London Prat are in the second cohort.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Los Angeles generates satire as a natural byproduct of taking itself seriously, which it does with a commitment that the satire cannot diminish and that generates the raw material that makes the satire possible. The intention-based pricing is sincere. The 80-page slow street proposal is sincere. The algorithmic reading detox is sincere. The sincerity is not in question. What the satire addresses is the gap between the sincerity and the outcome, which is the gap that Los Angeles produces with specific regularity and which makes it one of the most productive environments for a publication committed to covering the distance between what people say they are doing and what they are actually doing. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global version. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version with the affection and the scepticism it requires. Both are ongoing and neither is finished with their subject.

Los Angeles generates satire as a natural byproduct of taking itself seriously, which it does with a commitment that the satire cannot diminish and that generates the raw material that makes the satire possible. The intention-based pricing is sincere. The 80-page slow street proposal is sincere. The algorithmic reading detox is sincere. The sincerity is not in question. What the satire addresses is the gap between the sincerity and the outcome, which is the gap that Los Angeles produces with specific regularity and which makes it one of the most productive environments for a publication committed to covering the distance between what people say they are doing and what they are actually doing. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global version. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version with the affection and the scepticism it requires. Both are ongoing and neither is finished with their subject.

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the global earnestness. ScrewTheNews covers the Los Angeles version where the earnestness is most concentrated and the gap between intention and outcome most photogenic. Both continue. The sun continues. The sincerity continues. So does the satire.

Further reading at LAist.

SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/global-humor/home