There are more books now than ever, and we've been producing books in vast numbers for hundreds of years. Even if the vast majority were garbage there would still be more great books available than could be read in several lifetimes.

Have you considered trying to optimize the way you discover your next read? It almost sounds like you're getting your recommendations from social media, and that it isn't really working out well for you.

"More books than ever" will be eternally true unless we actively destroy books (god no).

The book industry isn't in a good shape otherwise[0], revenue has recovered while unit sales is declining.

I actually don't get recommendations per se, I mostly read books from authors I already like (fiction), or books on subject I think want to read and will scrape the reviews to see what to settle on, or straight go through each book if it's at my local library (non fiction).

A surprising number of them are available in the Kindle Unlimited bundle or at the library, so I read a lot without per unit money involved, and without the sunk cost calculation.

> your next read

I think that might be the core of it. I don't see books as something that needs to be read continually. I already use my eyes way too much, so it's not a hobby and I expect value that can't be gained from other means.

[0] https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/2025/internation...