Dating by the book

Did you know that online dating in America is a $1.049 billion per year industry? Yup, it’s actually bigger than the online porn industry, which is a crazy factoid. Although ironic, as the line between the two – online dating and online porn, is often a very very narrow and tenuous one.

With that in mind, the ever interesting @Deems allerted me to a very cool dating website.

I’ve covered lots of different kinds of dating websites here before, like ones for trekkies, ones for cat lovers, ones for gay billionaires, but here’s something new.

This website lets you find suitable matches based on what kinds of books you and your potential partner like to read. They aim to unite people by a common passion for literature. Why not? I actually think it’s a grand idea.

It’s called Alikewise. And here’s their blurb:

The process is super-simple, to get started you just fill in some deets, and you’re on your way.

Here, check out this guy’s profile:

At least he has a sense of humour. Either that or an odd scarf phobia. Here are some of his favourite books:

And what she likes to read:

Okay, so if I had to play mind reader, mind reader here, I’d hazard a guess that she’d very much like to date Neil Gaiman, or anyone else who thinks, looks, talks or writes like him.

See, you can tell an awful lot about people by what they read.

They have a number of different sections on their site to improve your chances of meeting the Mr Bookhead of your dreams:

There’s a bookshelf. So you add your favorite books with a note and other users can comment on your selections — makes for a great conversation starter. Possibly even better than those old classics; ‘Hey don’t I know you from somewhere?’, ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?’ and ‘Nice blouse, wanna fuck?’

There’s also a feed that notifies you when someone else adds one of the books in your profile onto their own bookshelf so you can find like-minded readers.

Did you ever do that thing where you go on a date and then you go back to his place and you nose around his medicine cabinet and his bookshelf to kind of get an idea of who you’re dealing with? This is kind of like that, only in the virtual world.

PS: if you come across books like ‘How to make a bomb from scratch’ and How old is too old to still be breastfeeding with your mother’, on his bookshelf (or in his medicine cabinet) then run, run for your life.