# You'd think Amazon would understand the concept of what a book is **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818 "2015-02-04T18:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/41 "2015-02-06T23:23:53Z")
This is also a problem in searching Amazon for clothes. Men s & Women s, as well as Children s, often appear in the same search. And sizing? Get used to the phrases “Chinese sizing” or “Asian sizing”, because they are becoming a pain in the but. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/42 "2015-02-06T23:26:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It shows that Amazon is capable of separated books from non-books - on a second-level search. > > Why they don’t do it on a first-level search is my question. Because they consider “Books” to be a super-category. As has been explained to you multiple times. If you ask the question again, the answer is going to be the same. What is so hard to understand about hierarchical categorization? Usually, you don’t want to offer every item you sell as an option in the first level search. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/43 "2015-02-07T20:04:42Z")
The theory is probably that it’s easier to look through a list of 10 items and then through a second list of 10 items to find what you want, rather than to look through a list of 500 items (in a drop down that may or may not scroll well in your particular browser). There’s probably a book that explains this in more detail, but look luck finding it. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It shows that Amazon is capable of separated books from non-books - on a second-level search. > > Why they don’t do it on a first-level search is my question. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/44 "2015-02-07T20:14:49Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > At the LIBRARY. It should be all about the books. But it also rents out paintings and toys, that I know of… Libraries haven’t been “all about the books” for decades. Audiobooks, music CDs (and records before that), movies, video games, toys, tools, paintings… all of these things are in the library’s purview. Some stop at books, audiobooks, music CDs, and movies, but most go well beyond that. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It shows that Amazon is capable of separated books from non-books - on a second-level search. Except, as theR pointed out, all of those things are books. The separation options are just to limit to a certain type of book. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/45 "2015-02-07T20:33:20Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Libraries haven’t been “all about the books” for decades. Audiobooks, music CDs (and records before that), movies, video games, toys, tools, paintings… all of these things are in the library’s purview. Some stop at books, audiobooks, music CDs, and movies, but most go well beyond that. [Cookies??](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ZHPJT2Kp4) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/46 "2015-02-07T20:37:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Cookies??](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ZHPJT2Kp4) [Damn right](https://www.google.com/search?q=library+cookie+program) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/47 "2015-02-07T22:48:24Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yes it is… oral sex is sex and e-books are books. The rest, I agree. They’re pulling that shit a lot: you ask for digital music and they show you CDs and DVDs, you ask for movies and they try to sell you the soundtrack. CD’s are digital music, just not digital downloads. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/48 "2015-02-09T05:59:37Z")
The DVDs too? Those may have music, but on occasion I’ve even gotten documentaries - ok, so it’s a documentary about music, but that is a tad of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/49 "2015-02-09T21:45:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There is no way you can go to the initial search engine and filter out all non-book results. You have to do the initial search and get all the results - even if you specified books only - and then do follow-up searches to filter out the non-books. > > My point is that Amazon should make it possible for a customer to filter out non-books at the initial search. And if for some reason, they don’t want to do that, they shouldn’t pretend they have a filter for doing it. A e-book _is a_ book. A audible-book _is a_ book. A paperback is a book. A Hardcover is a book. Amazon’s “book” classification covers five formats of “book”. Just pick the format you’d like on the Book Format selector. Select Paperback and that’s exactly what you get. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/50 "2015-02-09T21:48:56Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Book Format:Kindle Edition|Paperback|Audio CD|Board Book > > If you want to go back in time you should visit a f… a physical book store. Where they sell Audio CD’s and B&N sells E-books. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/51 "2015-02-09T22:19:04Z")
> [@LibrarySpy](#): > > Pimsleur Language Programs is the way to go. Even if she wants to learn reading and writing French. It’s the fastest and most immersive program, and what we always recommend to patrons wanting to learn a language. > > Amazon was clearly trying to help. My wife has gone through the first four Pimsleur Italian sets. On cassette tapes. She hasn’t bought the fifth set because she can only find it on CD. Tapes are better for repetition. So she’s been stymied for almost two months now. \*\* The following search term worked for me: learning French, -Kindle, -Audio Kept most of the junk out of the returns. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818/52 "2015-02-10T01:14:52Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The DVDs too? Those may have music, but on occasion I’ve even gotten documentaries - ok, so it’s a documentary about music, but that is a tad of a stretch. There is such a thing as an audio DVD, but the format never really caught on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-amazon-would-understand-the-concept-of-what-a-book-is/711818.md?page=2)