Article by Daisy Montegor

If you have Internet service, you’ve probably used Google.com more than once in one way or another. However, there are additional tools and search methods other than the simple web searches perform from a toolbar or Google’s home page. One of those tools is Google Books. It’s a vast collection of books and magazines and everything you need to know about them. Here are some of the ways you can use Google Books for your research and personal interest.

First, in order to access Google Books, from the home page, click on the “more…” link at the top of the page. This will bring you to a drop down list of search categories, or tools that can help you with much more specific searches. Click on “Books” to get started.

Google Books opens up to page showing the covers of some popular magazines and books, under various categories like “Classics” and “Interesting” for your browsing pleasure. On the left is a sidebar of genres, in case you would like to find some popular books in your field of interest. Genres are split into two categories, Fiction-like Literature, Fantasy, and Romance, and Non-fiction-like Philosophy, Economics, and Physics. If you aren’t looking for anything in particular, you can also check out the third section of the left sidebar, “Random subjects”.

If you are looking for a more specific topic, subgenre, author, etc., you can start by clicking on a genre or type your related keywords into the search bar at the top of the page. You’ll see an “Advanced Book Search” link to the right of the search page to specify the author, publisher, subject, etc.,

When you perform a search, the closest matching results display in cover view or list view, depending on which preference is selected on the left. List view also shows a smaller image of the cover, as well as the author, genre, number of pages, etc., as well as links to add to My Library (requires a Google account), look up other editions, and see a description of the book.

If you click on the title of a Book from the results list, you will be redirected to an in-depth page of helpful information as well as a preview of the book’s pages. There are several related links along the left that you may find helpful if you find a book you like or want to use as a reference, etc.

* Overveiw-gives a summary of the book
* Read-the view you are in when you first click the link, shows previews of the book’s pages
* Reviews (if available)-tells what others have said about the book
* Buy-redirects you to a site where you can buy this book

Directly under these options is a search bar where you can actually type keywords to search for within the text of a book. Compare this to the reading and scanning it would take to find this information at the library!

More options, including links to find this book in a library and see related books are also included, depending on what book you search for. You’ll find more books on Google Books than you’ll know what to do with! There are even books that are written in the early 1800′s! As you can see, this would be a great resource for research, especially on unique topics or when using obscure books and subjects that would be hard to locate quickly in a local library or bookstore. This is also ideal for finding books as gifts or for personal use quickly, and also have a easy way to compare prices among online sellers quickly! For all your book and magazine needs, choose Google Books!