I really like this site. From a functional perspective, it doesn't do anything that Amazon doesn't try and do for me. Based on a knowledge of what I've read, it dishes up future reading suggestions:
The list of book recommendations it cranked out here is very good, almost as good as what Amazon would dish up, because it does in fact use Amazon to generate the list of books to be read (though unlike Amazon, The Book Seer doesn't know that I already have three of these in my possession, especially the last one by Jeff Zwart, which is particularly gnarly and a treasured part of my stash. But I digress).
The difference for me lies in the beard. That beard. Oh my, what a beard! The kid in me just can't get enough of typing words in this gent's mouth and having him soothsay a future arc of literary interactions. It's so Monty Python, so retro yet right here, so not Web 2.0-ish. At the end of the day, The Book Seer makes me feel good by injecting a little dose levity and eccentricity in to my week, and one could do a lot worse than that. By comparison, Amazon is cold and clinical, and is always trying to sell me something. Helping me find a good book in a fun way feels a lot better than being on the receiving end of multple cross-sell offers crammed down my throat.
It's a great example of Principle 3 in practice.