--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You cannot invent an algorithm that is as…" description: "\"You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.\" — John Green" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg" --- # You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at… ![“You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.” quote by John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg) > “You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.” [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human booksellers bring intuition and personal connection that algorithms lack, making recommendations more nuanced. **In simple terms:** Human intuition beats algorithms in books. Key Takeaway Value personal advice over pure data. Themes intuition human connection technology Mood conversational reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - shopping for books - online dating - career advice Key Concepts psychology marketing AI ethics Questions to Reflect On - When have you trusted a person over a system? - How can technology complement human insight? A Different Perspective Algorithms improve but cannot fully replace human nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Algorithms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/algorithms/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Booksellers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/booksellers/) [Good book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-book/) ## Related quotes > [You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller, and that's the secret weapon of the bookstore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-as-good-at-recommending-books-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Overall, I'd say I was an awesome bookseller, but probably not the best book shelver. I loved recommending books and helping people find books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-kagawa/overall-i-d-say-i-was-an-awesome-bookseller-but-probably-not-the-best/) [Julie Kagawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-kagawa/) > ["Out of Print" is bookseller speak for "We can't be hedgehogged".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/out-of-print-is-bookseller-speak-for-we-can-t-be-hedgehogged/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [A man's bookseller should keep his confidence, like his physician. What can become of a world where every man knows what another man reads?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-bookseller-should-keep-his-confidence-like-his-physician-what/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business , after tracts of popular devotion, were so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/i-have-been-told-by-an-eminent-bookseller-that-in-no-branch-of-his/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [The probability of finding a particular book increases in relation to the clarity of the store's focus, the diligence and shrewdness of the bookseller,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-zaid/the-probability-of-finding-a-particular-book-increases-in-relation-to/) [Gabriel Zaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-zaid/) > [ A sign of the times: there are no longer any chairs in the bookshops along the embankments. \[Noël\] France was the last bookseller who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/a-sign-of-the-times-there-are-no-longer-any-chairs-in-the-bookshops/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [That's your truck parked up by the factory isn't it?" Magnus pointed. "It's awfully butch for a bookseller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/that-s-your-truck-parked-up-by-the-factory-isn-t-it-magnus-pointed-it/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [“My parents weren't interested in recommending books to me. Reading was an act of revolution, therefore I was expected to find my own way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ianthe-brautigan/my-parents-weren-t-interested-in-recommending-books-to-me-reading-was/) Ianthe Brautigan > [It's hard recommending books for kids, and a huge responsibility. If you get it wrong, they don't tell you they hate that particular book,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-rosoff/it-s-hard-recommending-books-for-kids-and-a-huge-responsibility-if/) [Meg Rosoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-rosoff/) > [“Our taste for books came from Antonin, an old second-hand bookseller, an anarchist, whose shop was on Cours Julien. We'd cut classes to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-claude-izzo/our-taste-for-books-came-from-antonin-an-old-second-hand-bookseller/) [Jean-Claude Izzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-claude-izzo/) > [“The bookseller handed me the book and winked. "Have a good look at it, little dumpling. I don't want you coming back to me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/the-bookseller-handed-me-the-book-and-winked-have-a-good-look-at-it/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafón](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [“It is impossible for a Parisian to resist the desire to flick through the old volumes laid out by a bookseller. \[ Il est…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-rard-de-nerval/it-is-impossible-for-a-parisian-to-resist-the-desire-to-flick-through/) [Gérard de Nerval](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-rard-de-nerval/) > [“He acquired more and more books, books being an acknowledged extravagance he could seldom curb. (With one London bookseller he had placed a standing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccullough/he-acquired-more-and-more-books-books-being-an-acknowledged/) [David McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccullough/) > [“CUSTOMER: Hi. BOOKSELLER: Hi there, how can I help? CUSTOMER: Could you please explain Kindle to me. BOOKSELLER: Sure. It’s an e-reader, which means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-campbell/customer-hi-bookseller-hi-there-how-can-i-help-customer-could-you/) [Jen Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-campbell/) ## More by John Green > [Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/issac-i-dislike-living-in-a-world-without-augustus-waters-computer-i/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“I just want to stay away from people and read books and think”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-just-want-to-stay-away-from-people-and-read-books-and-think/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning and said, "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die." -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/she-smiled-with-all-the-delight-of-a-kid-on-christmas-morning-and/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [A Margo for each of us--and each more mirror than window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/a-margo-for-each-of-us-and-each-more-mirror-than-window/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“No one ever says good-bye unless they want to see you again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/no-one-ever-says-good-bye-unless-they-want-to-see-you-again/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Traffic's not too bad on Sheridan, and I'm cornering the car like it's the Indy 500, and we're listening to my favorite NMH song,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/traffic-s-not-too-bad-on-sheridan-and-i-m-cornering-the-car-like-it-s/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Praise God for good nurses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/praise-god-for-good-nurses/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [So I was ugly. I was never fat, really, and I never wore headgear or had zits or anything. But I was ugly. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/so-i-was-ugly-i-was-never-fat-really-and-i-never-wore-headgear-or-had/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Nothing has ever looked like that ever in all of human history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/nothing-has-ever-looked-like-that-ever-in-all-of-human-history/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“said to him quietly, as if I couldn’t hear or something. Dad was about to respond but I interrupted.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/said-to-him-quietly-as-if-i-couldn-t-hear-or-something-dad-was-about/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I believe humans have souls, and I believe in the conservation of souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-believe-humans-have-souls-and-i-believe-in-the-conservation-of-souls/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“He was hot. A nonhotboy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/he-was-hot-a-nonhotboy-stares-at-you-relentlessly-and-it-is-at-best/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I think if you keep the box closed long enough you do kill the cat, actually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-think-if-you-keep-the-box-closed-long-enough-you-do-kill-the-cat/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/imagining-the-future-is-a-kind-of-nostalgia-you-spend-your-whole-life/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) [Explore all 3,614 John Green quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) ## More Algorithms quotes > [ With recidivism algorithms, for example, I worry about racist outcomes. With personality tests \[for hiring\], I worry about filtering out people with mental health… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-o-neil/with-recidivism-algorithms-for-example-i-worry-about-racist-outcomes/) [Cathy O'Neil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-o-neil/) > [“He considers it for a moment and spits out the seeds, which sprout, quickly, into tiny junkblossoms sizzling with recursive algorithms. The algorithms wriggle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/he-considers-it-for-a-moment-and-spits-out-the-seeds-which-sprout/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [“no matter how much tech companies talk about algorithms like they’re nothing but advanced math, they always reflect the values of their creators:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-wachter-boettcher/no-matter-how-much-tech-companies-talk-about-algorithms-like-they-re/) [Sara Wachter-Boettcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-wachter-boettcher/) > [Google has - at least at this point - maintained the line where it keeps organic results separate from the advertisements. But over time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wu/google-has-at-least-at-this-point-maintained-the-line-where-it-keeps/) [Tim Wu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wu/) > [ The classes of problems which are respectively known and not known to have good algorithms are of great theoretical interest. \[...\] I conjecture that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-edmonds/the-classes-of-problems-which-are-respectively-known-and-not-known-to/) [Jack Edmonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-edmonds/) > [No one knows what the right algorithm is, but it gives us hope that if we can discover some crude approximation of whatever this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/no-one-knows-what-the-right-algorithm-is-but-it-gives-us-hope-that-if/) [Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/) > [“Data Scientists should recall innovation often times is not providing fancy algorithms, but rather value to the customer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damian-mingle/data-scientists-should-recall-innovation-often-times-is-not-providing/) [Damian Mingle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damian-mingle/) > [I don't think anybody's ever notified that they were sentenced to an extra two years because their recidivism score had been high, or notified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-o-neil/i-don-t-think-anybody-s-ever-notified-that-they-were-sentenced-to-an/) [Cathy O'Neil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-o-neil/) > [ Object-oriented programming aficionados think that everything is an object… this \[isn't\] so. There are things that are objects. Things that have state and change… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-stepanov/object-oriented-programming-aficionados-think-that-everything-is-an/) [Alexander Stepanov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-stepanov/) > [ \[The Euclidean algorithm is\] the granddaddy of all algorithms, because it is the oldest nontrivial algorithm that has survived to the present day. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-knuth/the-euclidean-algorithm-is-the-granddaddy-of-all-algorithms-because/) [Donald Knuth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-knuth/) > [I like to think our brains are a bit like algorithms. Whatever you give it and feed it, you get out the product.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declan-mckenna/i-like-to-think-our-brains-are-a-bit-like-algorithms-whatever-you/) [Declan McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/declan-mckenna/) > [Bitcoin is not “unregulated”. It is regulated by algorithm instead of being regulated by government bureaucracies. Un-corrupted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andreas-antonopoulos/bitcoin-is-not-unregulated-it-is-regulated-by-algorithm-instead-of/) [Andreas Antonopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andreas-antonopoulos/) > [It took me 1057 pages to describe the hundreds of mathematical equations, algorithms and programming techniques that I invented and used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-emeagwali/it-took-me-1057-pages-to-describe-the-hundreds-of-mathematical/) [Philip Emeagwali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-emeagwali/) > [“We will start by sketching the recursive algorithm and then add details to get to a full description of the algorithm. Footnote : Translation:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sariel-har-peled/we-will-start-by-sketching-the-recursive-algorithm-and-then-add/) Sariel Har-Peled > [The emphasis on mathematical methods seems to be shifted more towards combinatorics and set theory - and away from the algorithm of differential equations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/the-emphasis-on-mathematical-methods-seems-to-be-shifted-more-towards/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) [Browse all 154 Algorithms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/algorithms/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Green" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-as-good-at-recommending-books/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Algorithms" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-as-good-at-recommending-books/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca7/john-green-12_algorithms_you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-a_1243302.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.” — John Green", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Green", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You cannot invent an algorithm that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-as-good-at-recommending-books/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-cannot-invent-an-algorithm-that-is-as-good-at-recommending-books/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```