I'm having problems again, I just looked on Amazon for history books on Cleopatra and got pages and pages of childrens novel, why? It's so frustrating! It's actually making me less likely to look for things as I so rarely get what I've asked for, I supose it makes a change from air fryers, but even so.
I found the Tyldesley one and have got it on my kindle, what bugs me is that whenever I look for history books I get loads of books aimed at children, I don't think I've ever bought a childrens book on amazon! The Tyldesley one only came up when I did a general google search specifically for that book.
Yes I do have huge problems with internet searches I often get "no documents found", or a load of stuff that I never asked for, I clear cookies regularly and never accept any that I don't have too and frequently refuse to use sites that don't have a "refuse all cookies" option. Even after I downloaded the Tyldesley book I got a load of if you like this then you might like these suggestions were all childrens books, if I'm being tracked around by cookies and algorythums all I can say is their pretty crap as they seem to have very little idea of what I like to read, even after 6 years! As for anything else I've pretty much given up.
I won't be using a chat bot or AI, I don't trust it and find chat bots more likely to have me screaming in furstration than finding any help.
What did you type?
I just went to Amazon.co.uk andd typed "books history Cleopatra" in the search bar at the top centre of the page and got what you'd expect.
First option for me is Dominic Sandbrook's Adventures in Time: Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile. £8.09, paperback.
If you type the same three words and get something hugely different then it must be referencing cookies or your personal search history in some way. If you are not signed in, it should show the status to the right of the search bar, then I guess it is likely using the cookies
Thanks for those Bunny . I've put them on my ribbon for ease of use.
I do a search elsewhere trying to find a trustworthy source
Me too. It's best to search outside Amazon, because you can find the things you want more easily than searching inside and being offered things that only have vague connections with your search term. I find the same on Temu, which used to be more reliable on searches.
TheCatWoman is right about over-inclusive searches putting people off.
Sorry if this is being too helpful
That’s why I didn’t post the results of my search on Cleopatra. There is also some academic research available.
Amazon originally was an online book shop, but now it's like a market where sellers pay amazon to hawk their wares to you, even if it's not want you want.
Exactly! It’s useful for kindle books, even though searching for them is frustrating. I like that you can read a sample of the book before buying. Like you, I’m sourcing other books from bookshops online and in person.
It’s frightening that Amazon has such a monopoly on electronic books, but the alternatives available don’t meet my needs.
You're welcome!
I'd considered also posting some results, but instead hoped to encourage her to give this a try, as a very easy first step into AI and how helpful it can be. Just seeing how it works and how it presents the findings could also still be helpful 
Yep that works :-) Bunny thanks for pointing me in that direction too.
Conscious that TheCatWoman has previously expressed some issues with information technology I have taken a liberty and done this to I hope be helpful
results as links follows:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleopatra-Life-Stacy-Schiff/dp/0316001929
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleopatra-Biography-Antiquity-Duane-Roller/dp/0195365534
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleopatra-Queen-Egypt-Joyce-Tyldesley/dp/0465018920
https://www.waterstones.com/book/cleopatra-and-egypt/sally-ann-ashton/9781405113908
Sorry if this is being too helpful.
This is an example of the kind of thing that AI can be great at helping with.
In this case, you could simply ask it “Please find non-fiction, history books for adults on the subject of Cleopatra and add a link to them in Amazon or other UK online shops”.
After thinking for a while, it will provide you with information including a shortlist of books, some information about them, and links to buy them.
Here are some places you can try that:
https://claude.com (requires registration)
This is how I use things like amazon now too, I do a search elsewhere trying to find a trustworthy source for recommendation, then if I want to buy it, I might search amazon for that item, though I try to shop around, sometimes paying a little more to spead the economy around so it isn't just one shop getting my business.
Amazon originally was an online book shop, but now it's like a market where sellers pay amazon to hawk their wares to you, even if it's not want you want. I don't even think customers are their main business model anymore, it's a storefront that other people sell from, rather then a traditional shop.
Amazon is exasperating. The thing that frustrates me most is the way they categorise genres, eg., ‘Literary Fiction’. That can include ‘cookery’ or ‘interior design’ for instance.
If I search for a hardback or paperback book, the search switches to all kindle books at some point, along with sponsored content relating to nothing I am looking for. This can make the search needlessly time consuming as not every book is published in kindle. Amazon deliberately makes a search more time consuming than it needs to be.
If I want to find a book about ‘Minoan culture’ for instance, I have found it more useful to do an online search using terms such as ‘Minoan Culture’, ‘Minoan Civilisation’, ‘Minoan Religion’ etc. This usually gets good results and when I input the identified title and author on the Amazon website, low and behold they may stock it, even though they mightn’t have shown the book when initially searching their website.
Searches work by key words. Cleopatra is commonly done in schools so it is probably more common for people to be searching for books for children than adults. It tries to please you by finding what it thinks is more likely wanted. Obviously it failed in your case.
Try simply adding the word adults to your search. With this key word added in you will hopefully see more of what you are after. You don't need to type sentences into search boxes. Just Cleopatra history adults should do.
I've just searched amazon for
history books on Cleopatra
and yes quite a few are for children.
I don't know a way to exclude children's books from the research otherwise I would have liked to suggest it to help.
I think that it might be a good thing that history is so easily accessible to children these days. Since "horrible histories" things have changed a bit in that area perhaps.
I came a cross a couple of podcasts on the BBC which are Cleopatra themed recently - one by one of the people behind "horrible histories" You're Dead to Me - Cleopatra - BBC Sounds qhich mixes facts with humor and a more serious Short History Of... - Cleopatra - BBC Sounds.
I enjoyed listening to them both.
Also I just noticed a more salacious spin on Cleopatra's history in Betwixt The Sheets - Royal Sex: Cleopatra - BBC Sounds
Best Wishes
