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Shedding average books from main blog - moving some of them in the forum

#11 · January 7, 2021, 3:13 pm

The condensed book list Resources and the longer reviews list seem to differ in ranking quite a bit.

For example, under the social skills section, these 2 books are ranked highly under the longer reviews list (10/10) but not found under the condensed Resources list.

I’m OK – You’re OK
Thanks For The Feedback

Methods of Persuasion is found under Manipulation for the the longer reviews list but under Persuasion for the condensed Resources list.

The structures for these 2 book-review links seem to be different.
I'm thinking that I should pick out the 10/10 books on the longer reviews list as a guide on what to read.
It is more comprehensive and has more recommended books in each section.

#12 · January 7, 2021, 6:36 pm

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on January 7, 2021, 6:36 pm
Yes, you're right Matthew.

Those two different resources are meant to measure quality in two different ways.

DIFFERENT AIMS

The resources list wants to provide resources that help people improve skills in the quickest way possible, in practical terms, and seek to be more neutral/objective -for as much as being "objective" is possible, of course-.

The review page instead is that: reviews that are more from a personal opinion point of view.

DIFFERENT RATINGS FOR DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES

So sometimes you will see more academic-leaning, or somewhat less practical titles that get high ratings because they were great at providing information -not necessarily practical information-, or because they helped this website develop more practical strategies, but you won't see them in the "top resources list" because they're not practical enough.

You mention a book that's a great example: "I'm OK You're OK".
That's a book that helped me better understand power dynamics and helped me develop the "judge role" concept. But I don't recommend that book to most people who seek practical information, which is what this website mostly caters to.

Even the more advanced students, as long as they seek practical information, rather than academic/theoretical one, they're still better off learning power dynamics from the articles and the content that followed from that book, as those articles/videos are more about practical applications, plus contain real-life examples.

DIFFERENT TITLES UNDER DIFFERENT SECTIONS

Yeah, sometimes frankly what goes under what can be quite subjective -a bit like deciding where to open a topic on this forum, after all-.

In the case of persuasion, most strategies, techniques and skills you can use to persuade, you can also use to manipulate, so what goes under what is quite debatable.
And that's also why sometimes I list the same title several times on the "review page", and even assign different ratings since a book that's a "10" for psychology might just a "6" for self-development (or the other way around).

Yes, you're right Matthew.

Those two different resources are meant to measure quality in two different ways.

DIFFERENT AIMS

The resources list wants to provide resources that help people improve skills in the quickest way possible, in practical terms, and seek to be more neutral/objective -for as much as being "objective" is possible, of course-.

The review page instead is that: reviews that are more from a personal opinion point of view.

DIFFERENT RATINGS FOR DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES

So sometimes you will see more academic-leaning, or somewhat less practical titles that get high ratings because they were great at providing information -not necessarily practical information-, or because they helped this website develop more practical strategies, but you won't see them in the "top resources list" because they're not practical enough.

You mention a book that's a great example: "I'm OK You're OK".
That's a book that helped me better understand power dynamics and helped me develop the "judge role" concept. But I don't recommend that book to most people who seek practical information, which is what this website mostly caters to.

Even the more advanced students, as long as they seek practical information, rather than academic/theoretical one, they're still better off learning power dynamics from the articles and the content that followed from that book, as those articles/videos are more about practical applications, plus contain real-life examples.

DIFFERENT TITLES UNDER DIFFERENT SECTIONS

Yeah, sometimes frankly what goes under what can be quite subjective -a bit like deciding where to open a topic on this forum, after all-.

In the case of persuasion, most strategies, techniques and skills you can use to persuade, you can also use to manipulate, so what goes under what is quite debatable.
And that's also why sometimes I list the same title several times on the "review page", and even assign different ratings since a book that's a "10" for psychology might just a "6" for self-development (or the other way around).

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#13 · January 8, 2021, 8:15 am

Many thanks Lucio for writing this guide on how to view your book recommendations with these 2 links.

What draws me to this website is how clear and practical the concepts of power dynamics are.
That being said, I enjoy the more theoretical discussions as well.
There's something really fascinating about getting to the core of understanding human behaviours.

It is really interesting how you came about to compile the best strategies and practical techniques under Power University.
From personal experience, books, papers, data, analysis, and other resources which you wrote about under the "How to Learn" article.

I am going to go through the more practical books first.
That kills 2 birds with one stone: allows me to navigate power dynamics in actual situations while satisfying my curiosity.

Then I will have more experience and practical understanding to hang the more theoretical aspects upon.
Theory always helps me to connect the dots and generalise my experience to unseen circumstances.
(Like what you mentioned in the "How to Learn" article)

Would linking your post under the Resources tab help the other website visitors decide on what books to read?

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#14 · January 12, 2021, 12:24 am

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on January 8, 2021, 8:15 am

Would linking your post under the Resources tab help the other website visitors decide on what books to read?

Yep, good idea, thank you Matthew, done it.

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#15 · October 20, 2021, 7:02 am

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on October 20, 2021, 6:37 am

Are you going to remove most of the reviews of the average and bad books?

I feel that it has helped me to look out for what types of books are bad.
And also save me time by not reading the book.

There are too many average books though so it can become an endless list.

The snippet reviews with a grade are still on the mega-page of reviews -which by now is TPM's community-driven thanks to many reviews by Ali-.

That's the main tool for quickly looking up and prioritizing -or skipping- certain books/resources.

So the removal of average or below average books shouldn't affect the ability to prioritize.

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#16 · October 20, 2021, 7:34 am

I couldn't find this thread!
So it's under announcements.

That was what I was wondering actually.
Why the links to the books in the mega-page of reviews have been removed for quite a few books.

I was thinking why remove the detailed review pages for the bad books though.
I suppose a few sentences is sufficient to know why a bad book is bad.

By reading reviews of bad books, it helped me to understand why a particular group of books are bad.

It definitely doesn't change my reading priorities as you advised.

There may be other considerations that I'm missing out on.

DIFFERENT RATINGS FOR DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES

So sometimes you will see more academic-leaning, or somewhat less practical titles that get high ratings because they were great at providing information -not necessarily practical information-, or because they helped this website develop more practical strategies, but you won't see them in the "top resources list" because they're not practical enough.

You mention a book that's a great example: "I'm OK You're OK".
That's a book that helped me better understand power dynamics and helped me develop the "judge role" concept. But I don't recommend that book to most people who seek practical information, which is what this website mostly caters to.

Even the more advanced students, as long as they seek practical information, rather than academic/theoretical one, they're still better off learning power dynamics from the articles and the content that followed from that book, as those articles/videos are more about practical applications, plus contain real-life examples.

I find the theoretical books can be unexpectedly helpful in applying strategies in the practical sense.
Like my brain suddenly pieces something together and things click.

#17 · October 20, 2021, 8:45 am

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on October 20, 2021, 7:34 am

I was thinking why remove the detailed review pages for the bad books though.
I suppose a few sentences is sufficient to know why a bad book is bad.

Several reasons:

Thin content with small posts may not be good for Google search
Unless you spend much time adding your own content, a bad book/course doesn't make for a good post...
...And I'd rather only have great articles on TPM
Saying clearly it's not worth reading or it's totally wrong can sound nasty and make enemies / legal troubles
Lying or avoiding telling the truth wasn't an option
TPM's image/branding
Time employed on a bad review is not an efficient use of time

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#18 · October 20, 2021, 9:11 am

Totally understand. Thanks for taking the time to help me get your perspective on this.

So sometimes no posts are better than thin posts. Whether SEO wise or branding wise.

If I have something really bad to say about a book, I will put that in the private section.