Using Google Book Search

We earlier called Google Book Search the book lover’s best friend, and boy does it deliver! It’s like one big public-access library catalog, but this time with the power and efficacy of the Google search engine.

The first time you enter the Google Book Search homepage, you’re greeted with the spartan but utilitarian Google default search layout–just the logo, some links, and the search box. You will notice that you have two options, the “all books” search and the “full text books” search. The first one would allow you to search across the entire collection, including the copyrighted publications where you can only be shown snippets of text. For the second one, you can actually read an entire book online, as long as copyright allows Google to display it in its entirety online.

Once you’ve entered your search keywords, you will be given a list of books where the keywords appear (including the page or pages where they appear. You can simply click on the book title or the book thumbnail to access an online copy. If it’s limited view, then you’re only shown the page where your searched words or phrase appears, and as well the book’s table of contents. If it’s full view, then you can read the whole book via your Web browser and even search within the book for text or keywords.

You can also use the advanced search form if you want to refine your search by using different word combination options (such as with all of the words, with the exact phrase, excluding certain words), or if you need to limit your query by date, by author or by publisher. If you know the book’s exact ISBN (or serial number), you can even use that.

Our initial views:

• It’s a good to use as an e-book, if you’re reading full-text books, but it’s limited in that you cannot download the entire book for offline reading. Hence, you’re also limited to reading the e-book on your computer.
• It’s good that Google offers quick links to purchase copies of the book from reputable online sources
• The entire book is digitized, so you can see everything from front to back covers, including the inner-jacket text, for hardbound material.
• The collection is still limited. We couldn’t even find Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code!

Still, Google Book Search is promising. If only it weren’t for the copyright issues, we could have all the world’s interesting books accessible at a click of the mouse!