Automatically import Amazon.com description?

I'm a new user (and thanks for a great site), so this may be my error, or other users may know of a workaround...

BookCAT and BookCollectorz, both of which I tried before I found LibraryThing, automatically imported a brief description of each new book for me. Usually, it seemed to be the publisher's blurb from the rear cover, a plot teaser designed to pique my interest. I'd like to have that description displayed in List view, and I'd like to have it pop up either onClick or onMouseover in Cover view. Is this possible/feasible/useful?

(I've read the onMouseover debate...still, I think that an onClick trigger would be nice and less bothersome to the anti-mouseover contingency.)

The reason I would like this feature? It mimics my bookstore browsing habits:

I see an author I like and notice a new title I have not yet read.

I look at the cover first, then I turn over to read the description:

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Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth.
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Sounds good, so I pull it from the shelf and read it.

This is a "what am I in the mood for?" feature, not necessarily, I realize, something in which professional librarians would be interested.

Thanks for any feedback,

~Amos

Well one of my recent additions got an Amazon description by default. Some have not, I suspect this was because they did not exist on Amazon.com when I added them from amazon.co.uk.

You can also add your own descriptions very easily.

Right, the book description is already there. Look at the bottom of this page Watership Down. And many books also have user reviews that you can look at.

andyl: Unfortunately, 100% of my new book adds did not import an Amazon description, even in cases where I know one is available. I am (slowly) adding descriptions manually to the Comments field, which displays in my default List view. This is my only workaround right now, but it would be great if this were automatic.

jjwilson61: I know that descriptions and user reviews already exist under book-->work-->edit details-->descriptions; those are great when I want to read others' reactions to a book. What I would also like, however, is to have a short, useful description available at-a-glance in my List View for casual browsing, not several clicks (and several page loads) away - I also would like to avoid navigating away from my bookshelf to retrieve a quick back-cover blurb.

Thanks for the replies.

How long did you wait for the description to show up? If it works like other things on this site then it is probably populated by a background process that could take days (or weeks) to get around to a particular book.

ETA: On second thought, it sounds like you don't realize that the Description field on the Work page is supposed to contain the description from Amazon. The ability for users to add their own descriptions is extra.

Collectorator: I believe the description field can hold summaries, at least short ones.

>2 Collectorator:: Collectorator, Tim has said that the LT "Summary" field, though auto-populated, CAN be used for us to enter our own summaries. I use it extensively in one of my other catalogs.

If you're just starting out in setting up your library views and need a quick guide, I keep a recap of the available catalog fields on my chautauqua.girls profile. If interested, it is in the "About My Library" section, where I have a paragraph labeled "VIEWS", then "Style Buttons".

It is somewhat out of date. I know that there has been added functionality for showing more fields at a time, and perhaps more fields have been added from which to choose. I've been in the middle of a horrid cross-country move and haven't kept up as well as I'd like. But, if catalog fields is the spot in your library where you're working right now, its A place to start. :)

My guess is that most users don't want Amazon descriptions added automatically to their catalogs. Besides, think of the waste of space: if 1000 people own a book, that's the same information stored 1000 times.
Wouldn't it be better to make the descriptions a possible column in a library view, like some of the CK fields now are?

I'm not interested in what Amazon thinks. I'm interested in what the library owner thinks.

> 10

My guess is that most users don't want Amazon descriptions added automatically to their catalogs.

Raises hand.

I absolutely would hate that.

I'm a little confused reading this thread, so to clarify...my understanding is:

1.) The OP is saying that the Amazon descriptions are not importing to the appropriate place on the work page even when they are known to exist.

So this would be a bug - why are they not importing? - perhaps the descriptions are linked to specific ISBNs that no one has entered on LT yet?

2.) The OP would like to be able to see the descriptions in the catalogue list view.

This is a feature request - he wants access to the Amazon description while he is viewing his library - he suggests as a "click on cover" or "Mouseover" but I don't know that LT supports that (it might). I think it would be more likely to be implemented as one of the things that you can set as one of your columns in your "Edit Styles" bar. I don't think this is an unreasonable request - we have requested other things (like CK fields) that have been granted. I don't know if the Amazon description data is handled the same way the CK data is so there might be some technical issues (and you would probably have 2 columns - one for Amazon and one for user entered descriptions).

>10 jimroberts: My guess is that most users don't want Amazon descriptions added automatically to their catalogs. Besides, think of the waste of space: if 1000 people own a book, that's the same information stored 1000 times.
Wouldn't it be better to make the descriptions a possible column in a library view, like some of the CK fields now are?

This confuses me - you add "books" to your catalogue, the book is associated with an "LT" work. In your catalogue you can select various "book" level (comments, your review, your tags, etc) and "work" level (CK fields, Subjects) information to be displayed (columns).

Since the Amazon descriptions are "work" level data I don't see how Amazon descriptions could be "added automatically to your catalogue" in any way OTHER than as a selectable column (or possibly clickon/mouseover)- so they wouldn't be stored 1000 times - just at the work level.

Re: summaries -
If you write a summary in the "summary" or "comments" section it is only available to you (these are book level fields). If you put it in the work "description" field anyone who looks at the work page can see it (and change it or add another one).

So if the feature requested in this thread is implemented - being able to select Amazon and user entered book descriptions as a column to be displayed - I think it would be most helpful if people put summaries in the "book description" field on the work page so others could benefit from their efforts. (since this is editable by others you might want to copy it to comments or summary if it is important to you that you have access to YOUR summary).

#13: PortiaLong
If you looks at the OP's catalog, you see that he has been copying Amazon descriptions into his comment field. I think that that is what he wants to have happen automatically. We know that there is no way Tim is going to agree to do that. Letting us show the work-level descriptions in a catalog view seems to me a reasonable idea that ought, if implemented, to satisfy him.

Eeeek, he wants automatic importation into the comment field? No way in hell. I thought he was just complaining that the existing CK: Description field didn't pick it up 100% of the time.

>15 lorax: Yeah, we all know this isn't going to happen. You don't have to worry about it.

But adding an optional column for displaying the amazon description that already exists on the work page seems reasonable.

16>

Yeah, absolutely. The length can't be a problem -- "review" is available as a column, after all, and that can be just as lengthy.

Remember, this is only my interpretation, based on his comment fields.

Thanks everyone for the replies - this is an active and helpful forum!

I think jimroberts, PortiaLong, and Zoe expressed my problem best:

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Quote: ...adding an optional column for displaying the amazon description that already exists on the work page seems reasonable.
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The Amazon official Product Descriptions are useful to me because they are often drawn word-for-word from the book's dust jacket or rear cover. It's a good refresher for me when I am, or my wife or a guest is, selecting a book to read.

In other words, I'd like to configure my List View as follows:

Thumbnail -- Author --- Title --- Amazon Product Description --- Rating

I experimented with copying-and-pasting Amazon's Product Descriptions into my comment field, but quickly abandoned this approach.

Now that these three posters have clarified the issue, would users find an optional Amazon Product Description column, drawn from existing data on the Work page, useful in the List View, and do the LT programmers think that this idea is feasible?

Thanks,

~Amos

would users find an optional Amazon Product Description column, drawn from existing data on the Work page, useful in the List View...?

Yes, I think it would be useful, especially when browsing other people's libraries.

Well, I wouldn't ever use it, but that's no reason not to have it be available. Slow load times are the only potential problem I can think of, and if people choose to use it obviously they can choose to deal with that issue.

I think it would be a nice option.

The problem I see with pulling from Amazon is that it often seems to pull a 'review' rather than the 'Book Description'. This is a gripe I have with Amazon....they almost always seem to list a few reviews first, and then make you click "See all Reviews" or something like that to go find the actual book description (like what you'd find on a hardcover dustjacket, or the back of a paperback).

Sometimes, Amazon, I just want to know what a book is about.

But, yes, if LT was able to import the Book Description in the Work summary field (rather than the other Amazon stuff) I would very much enjoy that.

As is mentioned above, often LT does have the Amazon description available on the main work page. I wouldn't use a feature to have that available as a catalog field, but see no objection if it is feasible.

Having another field like subjects that imports a lot of garbage into my personal record without my being able to edit it would upset me. Of course, since I stopped using Amazon for entering a long time ago, I might be safe.