Cookaholics Bulletin Board

TheFuzzy - We have an indexing chart based on the number of Bookshelves a book is on plus the number of index requests it receives. Any member can request we index a book by clicking the Request Index link under the book cover image. This gives you the option of requesting to index it yourself or requesting that we index it (and adding your vote to the chart).

So we are plowing our way through the chart. Sometimes it is hard to track down a book (particularly older Junior League cookbooks) so you may see unindexed books with higher numbers than those currently being indexed. In 2011 we indexed on average 23 books a week but this number will be higher in 2012 with member indexing really taking off.

I completely understand that you don't have the time or inclination to index your books - it was never going to be something that everyone wanted to do. But hopefully enough of the people who own your books will want to. Though of course the nature of the "long tail" that a few people own many different books, means each member indexed book will have less impact than the EYB indexed books.

Jane - do you offer a template, guidelines, and/or rules re: how this data is compiled so that it downloads to you properly?

Jane,

Thanks for the info! I was just wondering about that.

FWIW, so far I've selected 33 of my cookbooks and you've already indexed 22 of them. Seems like someone on your staff is a fan of Janet Mendel and Paula Wolfert.

wino - yes we have a lot of rules about the indexing data (some may think too many). But the quality of data is really important to us so we expect member indexers to keep to the same standards as paid indexers. We proofread their work (at least for the first few books to check they are on the right track) and give feedback. You can read about it in our Help section http://www.eatyourbooks.com/help/indexe ... mber-intro

TheFuzzy - the books aren't selected according to our personal preferences but by how many of our members' own them. So Janet Mendel and Paula Wolfert are popular with EYB members. I think generally the quality of books our members own is pretty high. You can sort the Library by popularity to see which books are most popular - there are obvious ones at the top like Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Silver Palate and several Barefoot Contessa's, Jamie's and Nigella's but as you move on through there are also several near the top by Thomas Keller, Marcella Hazan, Dorie Greenspan, Alice Waters, etc. You can filter by country of publication - it's interesting to see what the most popular books are in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Not much overlap!

Registered for the free trial (thanks again, Jane) this weekend. I think I will use this frequently - I'm trying to find a permanent home for the laptop in my tiny kitchen to make it work better. (I'm this close to duct-taping the damn thing to my fridge I need to find a slide out shelf for under the cabinets or something.)

I had picked up a copy of Larousse Gastronomique at a used bookstore and hadn't really looked through it, but I got a lot of hits using EYB - probably the best way for me to discover this tome.

Most of my cookbooks are indexed, so I think it will be a great resource. I might also use it to determine if I want to buy a particular cookbook - add the cookbook to my library, then see how often I get interesting hits.

Darcie,

You know, the $200 nook has a web browser, and would be a lot easier to attach to a cabinet. Just sayin'

Fuzzy, $200 would go a long way on a Sous-Vide Supreme. I already have the laptop. Now that my husband is back to work we need to play catch up; once that's done I can think about toys again. Being frugal is no fun

You ain't just whistlin' Dixie, sister.

My sister just gave me her old Sony e-reader. Definitely not web-enabled, but I might add some cookbooks to it.

Here is a refrigerator mount for the IPAD.

Just signed up this morning. Very cool. Question, for the shopping list, does it also have the capability of indicating quantities needed? 2nd question, if you have lets say 5 ingredients, can you do a reverse search and find recipes?

Thanks for the link.