How are the books ranked?
The books are ranked according to their diffused averages. After the books have been on the chart for a while, the diffused averages will be very close to the actual average, but the diffused average really only has a great effect on a book that is new to the chart. The diffused average acts to slow down the rise and falls in the averages of the books. If there are a large number of voters for a particular book, then the average is likely to be fairly accurate, and so the diffused average converges to the actual average fairly quickly. If there are a small number of voters however, the diffused average converges to the actual average rather slowly. Suppose that Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams is given a score of 10 by its two voters. Then although its average is very high, the score is not likely to accurately show the quality of the book due to the small number of voters. Instead of Mostly Harmless going straight to the top of the list, the diffused average greatly slows down the ris
