Like many of you, I’ve bought lots of books from Amazon over the years. Knowing a fair bit about my book-buying habits, their recommendations for books I might be interested in are usually pretty good. Today’s email rather missed the mark:
I’m not sure how that book relates in any way to the work of Fernand Braudel:
Fernand Braudel (24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects, each representing several decades of intense study: The Mediterranean (1923–49, then 1949–66), Civilization and Capitalism (1955–79), and the unfinished Identity of France (1970–85). His reputation stems in part from his writings, but even more from his success in making the Annales School the most important engine of historical research in France and much of the world after 1950. As the dominant leader of the Annales School of historiography in the 1950s and 1960s, he exerted enormous influence on historical writing in France and other countries.
Braudel has been considered one of the greatest of the modern historians who have emphasized the role of large-scale socioeconomic factors in the making and writing of history.[1] He can also be considered as one of the precursors of World Systems Theory.
If you’ve browsed the history section, you’ll have seen them:
My guess is that Amazon is using Google-like data or tools to try to build topic associations. Google on “Braudel nursing” and you’ll find, surprisingly, 128,000 hits. There’s 128,000 potential sales right there — or so some consultant would have the Amazon executives believe.
Comment by Lickmuffin — March 11, 2011 @ 10:50
I received the same recommendation today. I’ve been wracking my brain looking for the connection. So I googled nursing+Braudel and found this page. In my opinion, this is the leading Braudel Nursing site on the Web today.
Comment by Jason — March 11, 2011 @ 18:49