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Comment by elicash | Hacker News Reader

This isn't a criticism, just an observation:

I like media of all sorts that matches my mood. If I'm sad, I don't listen to music that cheers me up, I'll listen to the saddest stuff I can find. But this app's approach is really geared towards managing your mood, so it'll try to make you happy. Or if you're confused, it suggests books to improve decision-making. And if you're energized, it suggests you use that energy reading about running and getting healthy.

Again, that's not a bad thing! Just a viewpoint that's embedded in the suggestions. Those choices are explained nicely, so people can decide if that's what they want.

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I appreciate your comment!

And you put the finger on something right here. As you describe, I didn't see it as: "If I'm sad, I want to listen to sad music".

When I built the app, I was really into that mindset of "How can this book help me when I'm in that mood?" (e.g., I'm feeling tired -> Suggesting "Why We Sleep" to fix your sleep and understand why sleeping is essential).

Somehow, I'm happy because what I wanted to do becomes clear when you use the website (based on what you described, which is 100% correct). But that also means I could have worked my "marketing/copies" differently to reflect that more.

As an idea: why not make a filter for each mood, whether you want a book for that mood, or to "fix" that mood

to riff on that: two selectors: (current mood, desired mood) -> recommendations. desired mood could be sorted by most commonly selected desired mood for the selected current mood.

(sleepy, rested) -> nsdr playlist.

(sleepy, focused) -> Tony robins talk.

It seems like it'd be easier to just simply search by mood of the book, then allow the user to figure out how they want to leverage this to manage their own mood.

Trying to guess what the user actually needs or wants seems nearly impossibly difficult.

If "tired" recommends books about gaining energy, why does "lonely" not recommend books about meeting people?

Because reading book wont reduce your loneliness.

Is this statement always true?

It's possible for some people to feel more alone in groups, especially large groups, than it is for them to feel lonely while reading a book. Maybe one of the main reasons fiction is so appealing to some people is because it does, on a certain level, combat loneliness - some things seem easier to talk about in fiction than in real life.

You could forget about loneliness while reading a book, however it does not change fact that you reding it alone.

sure, but loneliness and being physically alone are arguably two totally separate things.

Book "Why we sleep" definitely wont improve my sleeping. It make it worse because it make you anxious from thinking about what terrible happening when you are not sleeping! In this condition it's really hard to fall asleep.

> I'll listen to the saddest stuff I can find

This is one of the reasons I think this space is hard. You kind of want music that (step 1) first resonates with your current mood, and (step 2) then maybe takes you on a journey toward a better mood. And what journey you want depends on a bunch of factors. Am I just feeling blue, then maybe I eventually want to be cheered up. Am I mourning the recent loss of a loved one, then I'm going to be sad for the next N weeks or months, and I just want to be able to handle that in a healthy way.

step 1 and 2 together are maybe easier for books, because a story can start off sad and you can take an uplifting journey with the characters. But it's a little harder for music, because a song typically has one mood. Maybe you can find an album with an emotional arc, but I think practically you'd need to generate a playlist with songs that match at the boundary and overall create a trajectory.

But that's something you can only do when you know what the trajectory is in the first place, which is hard (as I mentioned above).

I agree wholeheartedly.

When I'm feeling down or depressed, I often want to engage in media that lets me wallow in those feelings as a cathartic sort of release. Would love some type of toggle that allows us to "match" a feeling or "improve" a mood. Sometimes we need a pick-me-up! But sometimes, I want to really sit with the discomfort of grief or loss and reading bleak books can help that resonate with me.

Hard agree. Not just mood, but environment. If it’s a gloomy day I don’t want peppy music, I want introspective jazz or sadcore or melancholy downbeat alt-country or some shit.

+1 on the managing part not working for me either. If I'm tired, I don't want to read a book on how we sleep. I want a book to fade out to and fall asleep :)

This is helpful information. My humble input to OP is: the domain is fine, but go with “find books to help manage your mood”

Alternatively, consider mixing up a few of the suggestions for folks like me who like to wallow in their misery on occasion.

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