Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hammock 82 days ago
Starting with only 200 titles in the survey, for a final list of 100, seems off to me for starters. Every book surveyed has a 50% chance of making “book of the century”
2 comments
wodenokoto 82 days ago
It’s a shortlist that is ranked by a committee, just like how the Oscar’s have nominees and winners.

Or put another way “Every book surveyed” does a lot of heavy lifting here.

link
tstenner 82 days ago
That makes it sound like 50 shades of grey would have had a 50/50 chance of getting into the top 100 if it only was included in the wider selection
link
hammock 82 days ago
Obviously 50/50 if random. But even if not random, I estimate 50 Shades would be 500-100,000 times more likely to be a book of the century using a list of 200 with it in it, vs an unaided open ended survey.
link
onli 82 days ago
If the question is "which book stuck in your mind" maybe it would've had a good chance to be listed as #1?
link