Privacy policy

Last updated: 2026-10-26

Book Explained has no accounts, no sign-up and no comments, so we never ask for your name or email. This page lists the outside services the site uses and what they can see.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages people read. It also counts a few clicks: links to Amazon (which book page the click came from and the Amazon page it went to) and links to our YouTube videos. The Google tag is loaded from our own domain through Cloudflare.

If you are in the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, we ask first. Before the tag starts it is told that analytics storage is denied (Google Consent Mode), and it stays denied unless you click Accept analytics in the banner. To decide whether to show the banner we ask our own server (Cloudflare) which country your connection is in; that answer is kept in your browser for the visit and is not stored by us. If it cannot be determined, we treat you as being in one of those places and ask.

• If you click Accept analytics, Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (_ga and _ga_…) so it can tell one visitor's pages apart from another's.
• If you click Reject, or have not chosen yet, it sets no analytics cookies. It may still send a cookie-free signal when a page is viewed or a link is clicked (the page, the event, and basic browser and device information), which Google uses for overall, modeled counts. If you reject after accepting earlier, we also delete the _ga cookies from this site.
• To change your choice, use Cookie settings here or in the footer of any page. We remember your choice in your browser's local storage; it is not sent to us.

Elsewhere, analytics runs by default and there is no banner, so Google Analytics may set its cookies as soon as you arrive. You can opt out at any time with Cookie settings (choose Reject), with Google's opt-out browser add-on, or by blocking cookies for this site.

We don't use this data for advertising, and Google Analytics advertising features are off. Google Analytics does not store IP addresses. Google explains how it handles this data in the Google Privacy Policy. To stop Google Analytics on every site you visit, use Google's opt-out browser add-on, or block cookies for this site in your browser.

Amazon affiliate links

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Many book links go to Amazon with our affiliate tag, so if you buy something after clicking one, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which books we cover or what we say about them. Once you click through, you are on Amazon, and Amazon may set its own cookies (for example to credit the purchase to us) under the Amazon Privacy Notice.

YouTube videos

Our videos are embedded with YouTube's standard player from youtube.com (not its privacy-enhanced mode). When the player loads, which happens as you scroll near it, YouTube receives your IP address and the page you are on, and YouTube may set cookies, more so when you play the video. This is separate from your analytics choice above: the banner covers Google Analytics only, and the YouTube player loads without asking. YouTube is run by Google, so the Google Privacy Policy applies there too.

Hosting and fonts

The site is hosted by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare receives your IP address, browser type and the page you ask for in order to deliver the site and protect it from abuse; see the Cloudflare Privacy Policy. Our fonts load from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address and browser type when a page loads.

Your choices

• Accept or reject analytics at any time with Cookie settings (also in the footer).
• Block or delete cookies for this site in your browser settings.
• Use Google's Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
• Watch our videos on YouTube directly instead of on this site, or not at all: every video has a full written version.

Contact

Questions about this page: contact@bookexplained.com.