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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > March > 29
Thursday, March 29, 2007
the mysterious Harriet Klausner
Do you ever buy books through Amazon.com? I do. You can find just about anything on Amazon. New books. Used books. Book reviews posted by customers.
I check out the customer reviews on a regular basis. Amazon ranks their reviewers by the number of reviews that they post and the number of votes that other customers cast on behalf of reviewers. Was this review helpful? If it was then customers can say so. It’s all so very democratic, I think?
The top reviewers on Amazon occupy their own little pantheon within the system. You can click on the list of the top reviewers and find out what it takes to scramble to the very top. Apparently, it takes a lot.
The top reviewer on Amazon is someone named Harriet Klausner. She has a little blurb posted where she describes herself as a “speed reader.” I should say. Harriet has reviewed 13, 531 books as of today. Wow, how does she do it?
According to Harriet, she can read 2 books a day. That would be 14 books a week. The #2 reviewer on Amazon has reviewed 6,666 books. Reviewers #3 through #7 have all reviewed over 3000 books each.
There seems to be quite a disparity between Harriet Klausner and the rest of the field. She has read and reviewed more than twice the number of books as the person who is next on the list. How is that possible?
Apparently, there are a growing number of Amazonians who are sceptical about Harriet’s numbers. If you read the comments that are being left with her reviews it would seem that a rebellion is underway. Some folks don’t give much credence to the validity of her massive reading.
I scrolled through her reviews to get some sense of what she has done. So far this year she had reviewed 567 books. That’s in 90 days. So she is averaging 6 books per day, 7 days a week.
Your average book is about 300 pages. Harriet is reading 1800 pages a day AND reviewing all those books. Truly amazing. How does she do it?
I consider myself to be a fairly fast reader. I can read a book a day. I average about a page a minute. Let’s assume that Harriet can read 3 times faster than I can. It would take her 10 hours to read those 6 books if she reads that fast. That doesn’t include all the time she must spend writing reviews, right?
Harriet, do you do anything besides read? Eat? Sleep? Go out of the house? TIME Magazine shed some light on how she does it in an interview last December.
So, she reads all those books, she must be one heck of a reviewer, right? Well, if you read her reviews you will be amazed. They are not that impressive. Most incredibly, she likes almost every book she reads. They all get 4 and 5 star ratings!
Gee whiz, if I was reading 6 books a day I would hate at least half of them. It’s human nature. How could she like them ALL?
Which begs the question, is Harriet really reading all those books? Is Harriet really reviewing all those books? I cannot fathom how that could be possible.
I have the highest respect for Amazon.com and I have to think that they might wish to consider doing a little bit of checking here. Who is Harriet Klausner? How does she read and review 6 books a day? If she really doesn’t read them then how can she review them?
And, if Harriet is not actually doing what she claims she does, why is Amazon allowing her to be Numero Uno?
It must be discouraging for other reviewers to try to catch up with Harriet. It can’t be done. And, I have to think, reading 6 books a day can’t be done either.
NOTE I just checked Harriet’s reviews on Amazon. She has already posted 23 reviews today. It’s Friday, March 30 and it isn’t even 10 o’clock in the morning yet. 23 reviews! Mind boggling. I take off my hat to the mysterious Harriet Klausner.
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