Clive ThompsonNov 9, 2022

I built this tool a year ago but I feel like Mastodon folks would like it

The "Weird Old Book Finder"

Type in a search query, and it'll find one randomly-chosen public-domain book that matches the query -- and present it for immediate reading: https://www.weirdoldbookfinder.net/

Why only one book? To prevent the paradox of choice! Just *start readin'*

Can't promise every book will be weird, but most are

A longer essay on how/why I developed it: https://debugger.medium.com/a-search-engine-that-finds-you-weird-old-books-3a74fbb5f3d4

This was a search for "mastodon"

Show threadClive ThompsonNov 9, 2022
If anyone finds something cool, screenshot it and share it (with alt-text describing what it is!)
Show threadriwoche རི་བོ་ཆེ་Nov 14, 2022
@clive was curious if querying "tiger" it would find the classic "Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India" (1907) but instead found this oddity "The Tiger's Awakening" (1903) by Fred G. Lunge:
Show threadClive Thompson

@riwoche

That looks cool too!

Searching for all the big game animals would likely turn up wild stuff from the early eras of colonialism for sure

Nov 14, 2022 at 4:38amWeb