Reading Trails Makes it Easier to Find Books to Read

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Libraries are so long gone with the advent of social media sites catering to books and reading. And that’s coming from a Library Science School graduate like me. Hopefully, my college friends and instructors will not chanced upon this post and crucify me for stating what most librarians refuse to admit. But how can you not admit the obvious when once in awhile you encounter social sites catering to books and reading such as LibraryThing, Shelfari and now the latest of which is the utterly innovative Reading Trails?Reading Trails unlike LibraryThing and Shelfari offers a different kind of cataloging/organizing books. Think of it as a Techmeme for book titles and you’d know what I mean.

Instead of putting books on a virtual shelf, Reading Trails connects books via trails. A better way to explain is by an example from an actual trail for books about “Dune”. So let’s say you haven’t read the book “Dune 40th Anniversary Edition” and plans of buying it. But wait you found out by checking Reading Trails that there are other books about “Dune” which you are not aware of. Thanks the book trails, you’d discover other related books related to it.

Now it gets more fun when another member creates his own book trail and it so happens that he has read one of you books. Hence, your Reading Trail intersect with each other. So that’s add another source of book lists which you might interested to check out. Imagine the possibility if more trails intersect and soon enough you have established a web of book reading lists.

Aside from trails, Reading trails also lets you tag your books and trails. Once you’ve tagged a particular book on your trail or from other people’s trail, it becomes part of your Reading Trails profile. And every Trail you tag become part of your Trails.

Most importantly, Reading Trails also has a widget function which lets you embed your trails on your blogs or websites.