[cwt]

Most books I read come from personal recommendations, a friend tells me they liked a book and think I will like it. If I read it and like it I might read others from the author.

Free books (and on sale <$1.00) are also an incentive and have more often than not resulted in me buying other books from the author.

Serendipity in book stores - not very frequent because bookstores are not close to me. I recently bought 3 books from various bookstores while looking at what was available. One I had been meaning to read for years the other two were by authors I knew of but had never read.

Random Internet reference, I read Stanger in a Strange Land because of the SO answer "You don't grok vi" - I wanted to grok grok.

Travel inspired, I read some Hemingway because I was going to Spain.

edit: Online reviews are like social media comments, bring some popcorn. If I want to read criticism about a book, it will be from a more reputable source. But, that is not to say I won't read a book with bad reviews from a more reputable source. Their negative spin might make me more curious.

[zer00eyz]

I do this same thing, but have an interesting story as to how I picked up this habit.

In a diffrent age I lived in baltimore, and every day on my way to work would walk past the same homeless (or at least I thought) man sitting behind the church, who would be reading and have a pile of books next to him. One day I passed him and he was exchanging a book with a woman. My curiosity got the better of me and I watched the exchange and listened to the conversation. Apparently, he lived in the church, in trade for cleaning, with his basic needs provided for he had taken up to forming his own little book exchange for tips. After talking with him for a bit, about what I read and what I liked he promised me a book for the next day... Over the course of the next year, I read some rather interesting things that I NEVER would have picked out on my own, and was introduced to them in such a way as to make them much more palatable. As an example I had never been a fan of military history, after throwing a pair of military scifi books my way i got something more factual and loved it.

Because of him, I basically read anything any one gives me... fiction, non fiction, domain specific stuff.

[wmoser]

The last few books I've read I heard interviews with the author or discussed on NPR. Everything else is technical manuals or books on computer things I am trying to learn. Those are normally what I pick up from OReilly or No Starch or Humble Bundle when they're on sale and the topic interests me. Also tech manuals for work on various prices of equipment.