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Some years ago I downloaded from the high seas some torrents accounting for more than 34,000 ebooks. I loaded them in Calibre. Now, when I want to read something new, I just mindlessly scroll through the collection with my eyes closed and pick a book at random. So far, I've discovered good titles with this method ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Now, if you're talking about physical books, I tend to just wander around the bookstores or book fairs until I have my bags full and I'm too tired to walk anymore 😅.
picking things to read completely at random sounds like a huge waste of time
Only if you're what I call a "methodic reader", that is, someone who knows exactly what you want to read and don't want to derange from your preferred list of genres, themes and/or authors.
In my case, I like to experiment reading from authors or genres that I don't know, in different languages, many times using only the cover and title as a guide. I've discovered that things like recommendations, book clubs and social networks are not my thing. I apply the same criteria for things like manga, mahwas, webtoons and so on. So far, I can say that I've liked ~80% of what I've read.
there's just a lot of books in the world, and a limited amount of time for you to read them. i like having at least a rough idea of how I'll invest my time
Yes, everyone has different views about that. Personally, it's precisely because we have limited time that I want to experience a variety of things without limiting myself to a subset of all of the literature. Many people like to read, say, mainly Sci-fi and that's good: they know exactly what they like. Me? I tend to get bored of a particular genre or theme pretty easily, and that's why I like to be chaotic. One more thing: I really, really dislike other people or machines telling me what to read, so whenever someone gives me a book recommendation, that book goes to the bottom of my priority list 😅.