Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

Today’s topic: book ratings – and why we should be careful how we interpret them.

Based on my experience of spending too much time with goodreads reviews on one evening.

You should trust your own opinion ↓

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Have you ever loved a book and looked it up online only to find out that it has an average rating of 3.4 stars?

In this week’s video I talked about how ratings aren’t a good metric for finding out whether you’ll enjoy the book.

Whether that’s because reviews can be really divisive – people’s opinions are all over the place – or because the very fact of looking at the rating is going to influence your experience of the book. After all we’re naturally looking to fit in.

But I would argue that the best books can be the ones that you either love or hate. Simply because they tend to make a strong point or more brave decisions that not everyone will enjoy.

If you want to listen to my thoughts about the topic – watch the video.

But there’s one point I didn’t mention there, due to the fact I only heard about it today.

The 3.5 star theory. An approach to choosing new books which argues that the best books are not the 4+ rated ones but instead the ones you find in the 3.5–4 star range.

Why would that be the case?

Well the books with high ratings are often very famous and widespread bestsellers, but that is often tied to “mass appeal”. Now this doesn’t mean those titles are bad – not by any means – but they’re rarely titles that introduce new risky concepts or nuanced deeper stories.

But what I really appreciate about the 3.5 star theory is that it takes away the pressure of picking the right book (at least for me). It assures me that there is nothing wrong in loving a 3 star book. Or hating a 4.5 bestseller. Just because your taste doesn’t always follow the popular opinion, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it.

Quite the opposite, if you have no niche or opposing opinions then that’s a sign you might be too agreeable.

Either way, choose your next book in accordance with your own curiosity, not what the ratings told you to enjoy.

See you next week,

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

P.S. Let me know if there’s a topic you want me to talk about! Reading culture? A specific book? Your favorite myth or story?

Feel free to send me anything that comes to mind.

See you in the next issue!