All you really need to know about yourself is in your Amazon.com recommendation list

I'm pretty sure the Amazon people spent millions of dollars on market research and nerd salaries to develop the technology for their "Recommendations" page. They keep track of what you buy and which pages you visit so that they can read your mind and create a list of books/movies/music that you are most likely to purchase from them next. I've always had a love-hate relationship with that page. While it's cool to have a new book brought to my attention, sometimes I curse them for the impulse purchases that turned my $12.99 order into $80.

But today I found yet another reason to tsk tsk at the friendly folks at Amazon.com. Visiting their recommendations page is like holding up a mirror for where you are in your life. And, believe me; back in the day it was pretty cool to see that my interests supported a long and fruitful career in marketing and web design. I remember checking my recommendations circa 1999 and viewing books like "How to use Adobe Photoshop," "Write HTML by Hand," and "Marketing Strategies for Technology Firms."

I also remember a visit sometime in 2003, which included recommendations for travel guides, blockbuster Hollywood movies and books on the New York Times Bestseller List. Those were good times, good times.

Today was my first visit in about a year, and I am aghast at Amazon for so brazenly suggesting that I am a head case. Schya! Okay, you buy a couple self help books to make a few small repairs in the ol' love department, and they go and assume you've completely fallen off the deep end and would benefit from reading books called Even God is Single, Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them, and something like Women Who Love Men Who Have Hairy Knuckles, Attached Earlobes, Alcoholic Fathers and an Aversion to Cilantro.

I can't wait till this time 5 years from now, when all my married friends are reading up on the latest parenting material, to find that my list includes Women Who Love Cats Too Much, 25 Recipes for Catnip and How to Raise 57 Kittens in a Studio Apartment.