12, 896 amazon book reviews

[Dominique]

Ok I just read this short article in time magazine and I found it really interesting, I'll retype it for you guys:

"Harriet Klausner: The Constant Critic
Without the web, Harriet Klausner would be just an ordinary human being with an extraordinary talent. Instead she is one of the world's most profilic and influential book reviewers. At 54, Klausner, a former librarian from Georgia, has posted more book reviews on Amazon.com than any other user – 12, 896, as of this writing, almost twice as many as her nearest competitor. That's a book a day for 35 years.

Klausner isn't paid to do this. She's just, as she puts it, a "freaky kind of speed reader." In elementary school her teacher was shocked when Klausner handed in a 3 1/2 hour reading-comprehension test in less than an hour. Now she goes through four to six books a day. "It's incomprehensible to me that most people read only one book a week," she says. "I don't understand how anyone can read that slow."

Klausner is part of a quiet revolution in the way American taste gets made. The influence of newspaper and magazine critics is on the wane. People don't care to be lectured by professionals on what they should read or listen to or see. They're increasingly likely to pay attention to ameteur online reviewers, bloggers and amazon critics like Klausner. Online critics have a kind of just plain folks authenticity that the professionals just can't match. They're not fancy. They don't have an agenda. They just read for fun, the way you do. Publishers treat Klausner as a pro, sending her free books – 50 a week – in hopes of getting her attention. Like any other good critic, Klausner has her share of enemies "Harriet please get a life," someone begged her on a message board, "and please leave us poor amazon customers alone."

Klausner is a book worm, but she's no snob. She likes genre fiction: romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror. One of Klausner's lifetime goals – as yet unfulfilled – is to read every vampire book ever published. I love vampires and werewolves and demons," she says. "Maybe I like being spooked."
Maybe she's a little supernatural herself."

How crazy is that!
4-6 books a day?
Imagine receiving 50 books a week from publishers!

[bastet]

Hm.. I can read about 1000 pages a day if it's in English (not my mother tongue). But this means that a) I have absolutely *no* time for doing anything else like cooking, doing sports etc. and b) that it's not reading for joy. At that speed you can't stop and think about things, about deeper meanings and connections, hidden implications. It's just about getting finished with it. I really have to look into her reviews, but somehow I doubt that they give you more than a mere synopsis. I don't believe you can properly read and then review 6 books a day. We practised speed reading at university (I'm studying translation) and the point is that you quickly pick up the meaning of each sentence, not the details.

*sigh* I'd die to get free books though!

[sagedautumn]

I'll die with you right on the ground... I want free books
Jealous sooo jEALOUS

[Isa]

That's insane! I agree with you bastet, I don't think anyone can read that fast and really get something out of the books besides the basic plot and entertainment. But I guess if you only read romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy and horror, you're not a very intellectual reader to begin with.

[belle]

That's right Jefie. She can't be able to enjoy her reading, but if she reads such a high number of vampire stories, maybe it will be not necessary for her to finish the books, because she knows the end already. Oh, and others still have to go to work or clean up or take a shower and therefore only read one or two books a week. Doesn't she do all that stuff (Might not smell very well after 12,896 book reviews) ?

[Bina]

Maybe she's a little supernatural herself." Such a cool line!!
I´m a pretty fast reader but really HP 5 with 1010 pages was my maximum, I had a huge headache after it. Why don´t her eyes hurt? And why does she have so much time to read? Does she have any friends? Maybe she has a time-turner Yeah, well, I don´t want to be a snob but it takes much more time and concentration to read a classic than genre fiction. But imagine getting all these books for free!
Thanks for taking the time to retype this article, Dom!

[Kristie]

I try to read a book a week. I sometimes can get thru a book in one day depending on how long and interesting it is. But I could never do 4-6 books a day. I definitely don't think you'd get anything out of reading that fast. But, like all of you, I would love those books. Last year I read 49 books...with 52 weeks in a year. I wasn't far behind my book per week norm. That's just insane though...so many books, so little time to have a life

[bastet]

Kristie, I think reading a book per week is pretty good for a person who has an actual life! I'm sure I didn't finish as many as 50 books last year.

[Kristie]

haha, but I really don't have a life. I just don't read in all my spare time I suppose. I do homework and stuff, but during the week I don't really do anything but school and work. O well...But thanks for commending me on my number of books. (I just have to read 893 more before Nick'll take me to Italy: the deal was 1,000 and in the past 2 years I've read 107, obviously)

[Dominique]

I know I did speed reading in High School I don't understand how she knows what's going on when she reads that fast. I think she's retired, it said ex-librarian and she's 50 something so I think she's probably retired early or something like that.

[Dominique]

Ok I managed to pull her up on Amazon, here's what her profile says about herself:

I was an acquisitions librarian in Pennsylvania and wrote a monthy review column of recommended reads. I found I liked reviewing and went on to freelance after my son was born. I have 2 dogs, a cairn and a pom, and four cats. Oh, I have a 21 year old son and a husband who wants to but is nowhere near retiring. I am a speed reader( a gift I was born with) and read two books a day.

Since the article her number of reviews has upped to 13050

for anyone wanting to look at her reviews you can find them at:
www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AFVQZQ8PW0L/ref=cm_tr_trl_mr_1/002-9289743-5048045?ie=UTF8&sort%5Fby=MostRecentReview

from looking at them she writes two paragraphs on the plot and then one going in a bit deeper and also with recommendations etc.

[tahlia]

how do you speed read? im interested in learning, espically with school. any tips on speed reading?

[Dominique]

You kind of try to look at a whole line with your eye at the same time rather than word by word, I'm not very good at it lol

[Isa]

Wow, she reads A LOT of junk! I wouldn't want to get those books for free, or at least someone would have to pay me to read them. You know that feeling when you're stuck reading a bad book and you start thinking about when you might die and how you're wasting precious time on that book?!

Anyways, I'm not really good at speed reading either but I know one thing you can do is read the first line of a paragraph and then read the last line and get a rough idea of what it's about and move on.

[Dominique]

yeah a lot of it seems to be trashy, but surely she must have read some good ones? I can't be bothered going through and checking lol. But you would think so if she used to be a freelance book reviewer, papers don't really publish heaps of like trashy romance and horror and stuff.