Show HN: Visually explore recommended/trending sci-fi books (and other genres)

Hi all, creator here :)

I launched Shepherd.com (https://shepherd.com/) on HN in 2021 and have added a ton since then! Here is the original Show HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26871660).

What did we add?

We just shipped a monster update for bookshelves! Try the science fiction bookshelf as an example:

https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction

You can visually explore science-fiction books in a ton of different ways.

The most recommended of all time (or by decade): https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction

Trending science fiction books: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction/trending

The most recommended new sci-fi (pub in last 3 years): https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction/new

Filter sci-fi by subgenre, topics, and more (for example this filter shows books with AI): https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction/book-dna?topi...

Our sci-fi book recommendation lists by authors: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/science-fiction/book-lists

And, we've got these for 3,000+ bookshelves...

Space opera: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/space-opera

Hard science fiction: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/hard-science-fiction

Military science fiction: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/military-science-fiction

History: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/history

Nonfiction: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/nonfiction

Biology: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/biology

World War 1: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/world-war-1

Math: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/math

Astrophysics: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/astrophysics

Philosophy: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/philosophy

Travel: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/travel

Fantasy: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/fantasy

Books for 8-year-olds: https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/8-year-olds

You can browse for any genre, topic, or age group in the search bar, too.

Where does the data that drives this come from?

We've done mini-interviews with 12,000+ authors to get their favorite books. We also conduct an annual survey of readers/authors to find their 3 favorite reads of the year (https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024). I'm working to bring in more reader data and expand our book database using Open Library.

What do we use to build this?

Python, Django, Heroku, Postgres, Cloudflare, NLP/ML for Wikipedia topic IDs via Wikifier (https://wikifier.org), Nielsen’s book API database (publisher data + Library of Congress data), and Cloudinary.

What's next?

I'm working to launch a full app for readers that will be like Goodreads but smarter, more personalized, and focused on private notes. I've got some early mockups here and more info:

https://building.shepherd.com/roadmap/launch-our-tbr-app-to-...

My email is ben@shepherd.com if you want to share ideas or suggestions :)

Thanks, Ben