Working as Designed

Hey look! It is one of those, "I am going to try to write more blog posts" posts that people do. I wonder if it will stick or just drip down the wall and puddle on the floor.

I have 4 credits on Audible and was looking through some audiobooks. If I found a few that sounded interesting and I tabbed over to Amazon to read the reviews. I kept seeing 4+ star ratings for these books, but then I would gravitate down and read the 1-star reviews because, well, I couldn't help myself. Apparently every book is so horrible that people are throwing them. They are throwing them down, throwing them out the window or just throwing them out. Luckily, it doesn't look like they are throwing them at anybody nor has anyone gotten hit by accident.... yet.

I was getting pretty disheartened to read about how terrible and aerodynamic all these books are.  Then I had an idea to get a better gauge on these reviews. I decided to read the 1-star reviews on my favorite book of all time: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by the dearly missed Douglas Adams. If you know anything about me or have ever read my blog before, this choice should come as no surprise.

That is the link to the last published version of the book, which was in October of 2014 with a uninspired new cover and 4.4 out of 5 stars. The star break down of the 261 reviews are as follows:

5 Stars: 64%
4 Stars: 20%
3 Stars: 11%
2 Stars: 3%
1 Stars: 2%

That is a pretty good showing, very top heavy. Then I read the handful of 1 star reviews. Yeah, I shouldn't be reading 1-star reviews to get a feel for a book. These people aren't helping, though if you were wondering, yes, one person did throw the book.