# Goodreads-trained book recommendation model

25 Hacker News commenters recommended Goodreads-trained book recommendation model and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Quickly suggests books from just a few titles you enter, with no signup needed. Common caveat: it often repeats same-author or same-series books and handles niche picks poorly.

## Why people recommend it

- Accurate from few input books (7 comments): "The recommendations are pretty good; even though I only input six books, it was enough for it to recommend books I have on my wish list." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840083)) "Wow, quite impressive actually, some of those additional entries are quite good as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844039)) "It didn't take many books for it to start suggesting other books that I liked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45827902))
- Fast, no signup needed (3 comments): "refreshing to have something that's instantly useful, with no need to signup/login" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844150)) "I think this is cool and super fast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45842847)) "awesome site, love how fast it was" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840783))
- Finds hidden gems and titles (2 comments): "The intersect function especially will help me find hidden gems that other likeminded people have found." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844202)) "I have found interesting accounts of medievalists, people who work at think tanks, etc with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45845379))
- Praised as cool and useful (5 comments): "Works pretty well with cookbooks. Very cool work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840265)) "Loved this. Hope you get to tune it a little." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840877)) "well done with this it’s really cool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844222))

## What people warn about

- Mostly repeats same authors or series (4 comments): "almost all the books are others by him, which is fine but doesn't really mix up the stuff I'm reading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840660)) "Bummer getting recommendations for another book in the same series as one I already liked and read." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45848336)) "I seem to mostly get a list of other books from the same authors." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45842652))
- Suggests books you already read (2 comments): "it gave me recommendations for a lot of books that I've already also read and enjoyed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840385)) "It seems to mostly show me books I've already read and know of" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844713))
- Weak on niche and subgenres (2 comments): "it definitely recommends good books, but not sure how accurate it is at surfacing the sub genres / themes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840362)) "works decently even with just one or two titles for popular titles, but less so for the niche" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841785))
- 64-book input limit, import problems (2 comments): "Sadly my experience with the book recommender isn't too great because of the 64 book limit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840446)) "since I can't import my GoodReads successfully, it's hard for me to try" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841399))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Google Books](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-books.md): 22 recommend
- [HackerBooks by DOSAYGO-STUDIO](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hackerbooks.md): 22 recommend
- [Shepherd book recommendations](https://hackerapproved.com/p/shepherd.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Goodreads-trained book recommendation model", https://hackerapproved.com/p/goodreads-trained-book-recommendation-model/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).