Vellum
Learning and science
book reviews directory
SHOW HN2021
140points
35comments
#364of 2,533 in 2021
Top 15%of 2021 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
10 positive, 4 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 4 critical, out of 20 comments about the project. Thread score +0.26.
Idea: 4 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 2 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful resource for finding reading material
From 4 comments
It's really useful and doesn't need to be ideal. Well done, especially if you're not a dev, thank you for sharing your work :)
pps on HNI had been letting reading slip this year, and went to see what Bill Gates was doing (his reading list has been reasonable). So this comes at a perfect time for me. Thank you for…
Nailgun on HNThank you, this is just what I was looking for. I like reading non fiction, but have found it incredibly hard to determine whether the contents are actually correct, since most…
hobom on HNThis is amazing .. great work .. I am going to bookmark this
jsshah on HN
Clean, simple, well-organized site
From 2 comments
In regards to css, take a look at tailwind css. I've found it to be pretty nice to use and very straightforward. Great site, very simple and useful!
spicyusername on HNBookmarked! This is a great idea. I also really love the name—I had considered using it as a name for one of my projects once and was disappointed to feel like it didn't fit. It…
andrewxhonson on HN
Objections
Book cover images are blurry and low-resolution
From 3 comments
This is great! Bookmarked. One complaint I have is the low-res cover images. I'm on a 4K screen and the cover images look really blurry. I can't make out the subtitles of books.…
kkaranth on HNIt's also blurry on a 0.7k screen, for what it's worth.
Aachen on HNReally beautiful, too bad the covers are so blurry.
witherk on HN
Double-click to close is unintuitive; back button should work
From 2 comments
This is great! Bookmarked. One complaint I have is the low-res cover images. I'm on a 4K screen and the cover images look really blurry. I can't make out the subtitles of books.…
kkaranth on HNCool site. Some UX feedback: 1. 'Double click to close' is very non-standard web UX, I'd recommend not trying to innovate on UX and simply supporting the back button as sites…
npunt on HN
Reviews are mostly meta or author-focused, not scientific evaluation
From 1 comment
I see lots of positive comments, but has anyone actually checked out the reviews or did I hit 2/2 bad apples? The reviews amount to some meta info, often largely citing the…
Aachen on HN
Requests
Use the back button properly
From 2 comments
Cool site. Some UX feedback: 1. 'Double click to close' is very non-standard web UX, I'd recommend not trying to innovate on UX and simply supporting the back button as sites…
npunt on HNThis is great! Bookmarked. One complaint I have is the low-res cover images. I'm on a 4K screen and the cover images look really blurry. I can't make out the subtitles of books.…
kkaranth on HN
Fix mixed content image URLs over HTTP
From 1 comment
Nice resource! FYI, you have mixed content; the images from Google Books are coming in over HTTP, not HTTPS. I had to allow it before I could see the images.
Cyphase on HN
Add The Economist as a source
From 1 comment
This looks good and I'll bookmark and return to it as well. Well done. The Economist might also be worth adding as a source on your next iteration (assuming that's possible).
sherr on HN
Include the actual reviews
From 1 comment
I'm really glad you find it useful! I originally intended to include the actual reviews like they do at https://bookmarks.reviews but the journals' terms of service are pretty…
pizzicato on HN
Questions
How were books selected and what data source was used
From 1 comment
Nice site. How did you decide which books to include, or what data source did you use?
DC1350 on HN
Alternatives named
bookmarks.reviews
From 1 comment
I'm really glad you find it useful! I originally intended to include the actual reviews like they do at https://bookmarks.reviews but the journals' terms of service are pretty…
pizzicato on HN
LearnAwesome
From 1 comment
This is a fantastic effort! Kudos :-) I have been collecting learning resources and their reviews by experts at https://learnawesome.org/ (open-source, built with Ruby on Rails…
mathnmusic on HN