In an Internet world of seemingly infinite options, everyone is a critic. We are bombarded with opportunities to pick our likes, our favorites, our stars, our thumbs-up, our tomatoes or our smiley emojis. But what does it mean to "like" something? Where do our tastes come from? Can we trust anyone's judgment at all? Tom Vanderbilt (Traffic) attempts to address these questions and, in the process, raises and answers dozens more. With curiosity, folklore and equally rich research, You May Also Like tackles the science and serendipity behind the many choices we make every day.
Vanderbilt kicks off by analyzing food preferences, because "we decide what to eat more than we decide what to wear or what to read or where to go on vacation--and what is a holiday but a whole new set of eating choices?" From our myriad restaurant menu and grocery aisle options, he moves on to consider how we choose our music playlists, what art we like and how long we look at it, and even how judges decide the winner at the Paris Cat Show.
With a solid collection of end notes, much data and many interviews, You May Also Like risks getting bogged down in algorithms and acronyms, but Vanderbilt always brings matters back to the real world--frequently his personal real world. In the end, likes and dislikes develop out of a pile of variables like memory, familiarity, conformity or repetition, and they are constantly changing. Once finished with this intriguing study of taste, readers will never again consider clicking a "like" icon quite the same way. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.