Amazon's Amazing "Recomendations"

When I was at primary school, I read a book called “Nancy and Plum”; forty years on, I wondered if it might still be available somewhere, and Amazon was as good a place to start looking as any other …

And then I noticed what the list of “recommended titles” offered me because I’d expressed an interest in this book, and then I started noticing more and more weirdies, and so started this list – alphabetical order of title I was interested in, and their recommendations in alphabetical order, not in the order they were suggested.


Nancy and Plum …
… Anybody can do anything

101 ideas for downstairs (home décor) …
… Creative beading
… North and South [novel]
… Perfect English
… A Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith

At last the 1948 show [comedy sketch show] …
… Dustin Hoffman film collection
… Peter Sellers film collection

Attract wildlife to your garden …
… Bread-making

Biggles …
… "Lady S … is a clever, multilingual young woman. In the eyes of her attentive father she appears perfectly happy. But this too-perfect happiness hides many faults, sorrows and mysteries …"

Britain from the Air …
… Trumpton ( a very old TV show for very young children)

Bushisms: George W …
… Princes William and Harry
(so Dubya’s royalty now?)

Cannonball Run …
… Meditation

Carry on - [several] …
… Casanova [BBC series]
… Evil under the sun (Agatha Christie
… Ocean's Eleven - RatPack original

Chronicles of Narnia …
… The Mummy
oh, yes, very Narnia!

the complete "Life" collection [David Attenborough] …
… Agatha Christie's Poirot, complete collection
is "complete" enough of a connection??

Container gardening through the year …
… Broken Skin [novel]
… A scattering [poetry]
… U is for Undertow [novel
… The Westies (Inside New York's Irish Mob)

Darwin Awards …
… Divine Comedy [Dante]
… Eternal Sonata [game strategy]
… Horrid Henry’s underpants
… Little book of wanking
… Inferno – Dante
… Complete Sherlock Holmes
… The King’s buccaneer [novel]

Day the earth caught fire …
… John Mills collection
John Mills isn't in the filrm!

Descent of the child …
… The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience (Transition Guides)

Descent of Women …
… 20 love poems and a cry of despair
… Bury my heart at Wounded Knee (I already have this, but I ain’t telling them that!)
… Crime and punishment [Dostoyevsky]
… Deaf sentence [novel]
… Enchantress of Florence [Salman Rushdie]
… Forest Gump (!!)
… Hadrian’s Wall national path
… History of washing
… The mini-lathe [workshop practices]
… Miss Marple omnibus
… Short history of modern delusions
… Silent spring [ecology]
… Survival of the fittest: Anatomy of peak physical performance
… Sustainable energy
… Toast: story of a boy’s hunger [cookery]

Directory of scented plants …
… How to start your own small business

Drought-resistant gardening …
… I can make you sleep [Paul McKenna] (especially if you try reading the book!!)

Evergreen trees and shrubs …
… Wolf hall [Booker prize novel]

Gilbert & Sullivan karaoke [yeah, I know I'm sad!] …
… Canterbury tales

Harry Potter – Half-Blood Prince …
… Avatar
… Cloudy with a chance of meatballs [?]
… Dorian Gray
… Four Christmases
… The hurt locker ["a supreme, tense and gripping piece of drama…"]
… Michael McIntyre Live (whoever he is!)
… My sister's keeper [Cameron Diaz]
… Sherlock Holmes - Robert Downey Jr
… Take That! live
… The time traveller's wife

Highway code [original version, about 1910!]…
… Apollo 11 manual
… Brooke Bond Tea Card Collections
… Eagle comic annual
… Saints: a year in faith and art
I rather like the leap from the Highway Code to the Apollo 11 manual!

History's Mysteries …
… History of the London Underground
… Steam Trains
Hstorical maybe, but mysterious????

how to be a Gardener …
… Knitting

I was a fireman [ww2 film] …
… Don't look back [Bob Dylan]
… A touch of Zen [1971 kung fu]

Kipling’s collected poems …
… Life of Edward III
… Ordinary person’s guide to empire
Kipling might figure in the 2nd, but 1st???

Noises off! (Michael Caine comedy) …
… The caretaker [Harold Pinter]
… Henry Fonda film collection
… Richard Burton collection

Patios and courtyards …
… Brooklyn [travel]
… Good food guide

Puck of Pook’s Hill [Rudyard Kipling] …
… Schindler’s list
Never read it or seen the film, but believe it’s about WW2 Concentration Camps
Connection between it and fantasy set on the Romney Marshes at the beginning of the 20th Century?????

Ronnie Barker …
… Rocky
(naturally, the very first thing you think of when you watch “Open All Hours” or “Porridge” is that you just have to get a film about boxing!)

Secret life of Walter Mitty …
… Devil girl from Mars
… A tale of two cities

Small gardens …
… 100 delicious juices and smoothies
… Real family food

Strange laws of England …
… Ancient Britain historical maps
… Latin crosswords
… Most amazing places to visit in Britain
… Secret churches
… Sex lives of the Popes (!!!!!)
… Women who changed the world
I like the idea that “strange laws” leads naturally to the sex lives of the popes!

That's entertainment …
… Alexander the Great [Richard Burton]
Connection: Elizabeth Taylor gets a mention??

The tiny garden …
… Great gardens of the world
… Beach cottages: at home by the sea
… Japanese craft: embroidery

Tommy Steele …
… Tommy Trinder
One’s a 50s rock singer and the other’s a 50s comedian, who both just happen to be called Tommy - surprised they didn't recommend the rock opera "Tommy" as well, while they were at it!

Up Pompeii …
… To the devil a daughter

Wildlife gardening …
… The case for god – what religion really means
… Curing arthritis
… How to be idle
… Quilled greetings cards
… Reel life adventures of a film obsessive
… Secret coves and beaches of Britain
… Waiting for Godot [play]
I’m glad they think that wildlife gardening is so easy that “how to be idle” is a natural follow-on!

World’s stupidest criminals …
… 101 things to do before you’re 16
… Boy mechanic [model-making]
… Do you think you’re clever? [Oxford-Cambridge University questions]
… Garfield
… Jamaica – Lonely Planet guide
… Ultimate optical illusions
… Why do men have nipples?
Hmm, do “stupid criminals” and “Jamaica” go naturally together??

World’s stupidest signs …
… When I were a lad … [yesterday’s childhood]
… Wicked wit of Winston Churchill

Yes, Prime Minister …
… Academic volcabulary
… A year in English cricket
… Attlee’s great contemporaries
… Complete John F Kennedy
… Cool cars
… Dr Who
… The forgotten Byzantine Empire
… Godfrey’s ghost [biography]
… Grammar and vocabulary for Cambridge
… Guide to the 2010 General Election
… History of a country house servant
… History of the Ashes [cricket]
… Hornby annual yearbook no 2 [model railways]
… How Parliament works
… How the baby-boomers took their children’s future and why they should give it back
… How the London underground was built
… Talking about detective fiction
… Thatcher’s Britain – social upheaval in the Thatcher era
… Tony Blair bio
… Winning chess tactics
Connection between a comedy satire on government and Doctor Who????



It’s reached the stage that I just click the “not interested” box when they recommend something I already own, cos of what their weird and wonderful cross-links might throw up!


If you notice any equally weird and wonderful "recommendations" on your Amazon account, please do share!


While I’m on Amazon, did you know …

... That old TV series such as “the Persuaders”, “Sapphire and Steel” and “Return of the Saint” are listed under “documentary”?
... And that “The Secret Policeman’s Ball” is listed under “Sport”????…