If you’re sick of going on dates with Philistines, maybe Alikewise is your saving grace.  It allows users to search specific book titles or authors and scroll through the profiles of those who list them as favorites. As someone who has (unsuccessfully) dabbled in the wilds of online dating before, I think this sounds pretty great. Think about it: Even if your date ends up being awful, at least you can fall back on some solid book talk and be, more or less, on the same page. And it practically eliminates the risk of being sneaky stuck with an Ayn Rand fan (unless that’s what you’re into…), or boring your uninterested date with incessant geekery about how cool the 25-hour Moby Dick read-a-thon was (of this, I’m guilty. Sorry Derek, Ted and Rob. It was my fault our dates were boring).

By Juliet Linderman