With my microwave, stacks of TV dinners in my freezer, and a take-out menu collection that’s almost as lengthy as the Encyclopedia Britannica, cooking has become more of a hobby than a necessity for me. I often watch cooking shows, flip through magazines, and troll the Internet for ideas on my next culinary endeavor. When it’s actually time to start preparing a meal, I’ll inevitably pull out one of my trusty cookbooks.Not too long ago, I came acr

In my elementary school days, it was called SSR (short for Sustained Silent Reading). Now, D.E.A.R. is the acronym of choice, and today is National Drop Everything and Read Day, a time when teachers, parents, and librarians get together with young readers across the country to make reading a priority.National D.E.A.R. Day also marks the birthday of beloved children’s book author Beverly Cleary. Legend has it that Cleary wasn’t always an avid read

Bonaparte also played at chess, but very seldom, because he was only a third-rate player, and he did not like to be beaten at that game… - Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon BonaparteGoogle Book Search is a great starting point for all the Napoleons out there who could use a little help with their chess strategy. You can find books that will help you learn chess notation, like 101 Questions on How to Play Chess, or pick u

In a note to John Peace, Esq. discussing the works of Sir Thomas Browne and the construction of a Bristol monument to the poet Robert Southey, William Wordsworth also thanks Mr. Peace for congratulating him on the occasion of his 75th birthday. He ends the note saying:I have entered, awful thought! upon my 75th year.And, while we here at Google Book Search cannot erect an actual monument to honor his birthday on April 7th, we can remember him wit

April is National Poetry Month in the states, also the cruelest, or, with her sweet showers piercing the drought of March to the root, rather more pleasant, depending on which canonical poet you’re reading. No doubt many will be reflecting on the likes of Marianne Moore or Robert Frost during this time, but as an Englishman I figured I would cast the net a little further back in time and see what modern poetry is borne out of.Writing poetry is no

Spring is in the air. I can tell because I’m sneezing.
Remember when April meant the Easter bunny and the promise of May flowers? Now, instead of flowers blooming, taxes are looming (no more rhyming, I promise).
I try to find things that will make money matters and taxes seem less, well, taxing. I need color, pictures, and a few laughs. Because I like my financial guidance with a little pizazz, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding

Looks like Google needs to get their scanners fixed. This is how the front cover of this book should look like…
[thanks tenz]

This Saturday, London’s Wembley Stadium will host its first event after more than six years of reconstruction. It looks like the work has paid off, as this is what the stadium now looks like: Photo courtesy of Craig Morey/pixelthing.comThe closure of Wembley for all this time has been a pretty big deal, as it’s the official (and spiritual) home of English football, or soccer as our American audience knows it. The English national team plays i

Once in a while, I read about a user’s experience with Google Book Search and am blown away by the power of having over a million books full-text searchable. Take Jo Guldi, a Berkeley grad student in the depths of her dissertation research, who has spent the last two years deep in the stacks of libraries around the US and UK reading every book related to her area of historical research. Last week, she rediscovered Book Search and quickly fou

I love data. That was no small factor in my decision to join Google. I started a month ago and have already learned a lot, but I wanted to try and put together many of the components I’ve learned to solve an interesting problem. So, last week I made one up: map the world, based on the frequency of its locations mentioned in books.We’ve all seen views of the Earth from space, where the numerous pinpoints of light on the ground combine to yield a s

I’m currently reading Sigmund Freud’s Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious…to get some new material, of course! You see, along with Freud’s analysis of humor, he also recounts some jokes that aren’t half bad. They all date from around 1905, which means that a couple of them fall flat. Connoisseurs of comedy in our audience, however, may enjoy anecdotes such as this one:The King condescended to visit a surgical clinic and came on the pr

I love books. We Germans love books. And we read them enthusiastically. Germans are not only known to be among the most intense sauerkraut (legend) and beer (fact) consumers worldwide, but even more so among the most avid book consumers — and book creators.
My fellow German national Johannes Gensfleisch, much better known as Gutenberg, created a machine that changed the way mankind gained access to information forever. We all know the incre

In the spring of 1907 Kenneth Grahame sent his seven-year old son, Alastair (nicknamed ‘Mouse’), the first of a series of letters telling the story of a group of animals and their various adventures along the river, in the woods and on the road. These letters, centering on the swaggering Mr. Toad, formed the first whisperings of what would become one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time: The Wind in the Willows. (http://www.ouls.ox.ac

OK, it’s true. Google Book Search works the way we say it does. During our many discussions with publishers, we often cite a statistic from a Google/Jupiter Research Consumer Survey: 66% of people conduct research online before making a purchase offline. We also say Google Book Search helps people find and sample the right book at the right time and, through this discovery, helps the physical book circulate. I’m happy to provide a precise example

It’s safe to say that we write about ourselves a fair amount on this blog. We don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but for this post, we’re going to catch some other writers in the act of writing about themselves. Strange but true: before blogs, people used writing implements such as pen and paper to record their thoughts. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some of the evidence.
One of the founding works of this genre is certai

Posted by Dan Abbe, Book Search Support TeamMy friend Neal is a production assistant, and recently he asked me if I knew of any good books about film production or screenwriting he could check out on Google Book Search. I told him that I would answer via a blog post, so others might discover a new book or two as well.Hey Neal,Like I said, I’m going to answer your question about screenwriting and film production books on Google Book Search through this blog post

Posted by Posted by Leslie Yeh, Product ManagerWhy not add a cool book widget to your website? The AJAX Search API now supports Google Book Search and comes with an easy way to add a dynamic “book bar” to your web page or blog.I created the one below by plugging in “wedding plans” and “flower arrangements” — two subjects I’ve been interested in lately.Try it out.Just tell us what your website is about, and we’ll generate the code you need to add a bookshelf of titles related to it

Posted by Roland Lange, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Book SearchFebruary 7th marks the 195th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, among one of my favorite authors. We love him for his altogether unforgettable characters — both good and truly evil, his teeming representations of life in the mid-1800s and his generous sense of humor.Rather than read every Dickens work, I savor one per year — working hard not to read them all too quickly

Posted by Jodi Healy, Library Partnerships Team

Today, I’m excited to announce that we have a new partner in the Google Book Search Library Project: Princeton University. Over the next several years we will work with Princeton to identify approximately one million public domain works to digitize from their library system, which consists of the Harvey S

Posted by Arielle Reinstein, Associate Product Marketing ManagerNot too long ago, we organized Unbound: Advancing Book Publishing in a Digital World, a conference examining how the book business has changed and how it will continue to evolve. Publishers from every part of the industry — some who are already part of the Google Books Partner Program and some who are not — heard from thought leaders and industry veterans who are taking advantage of our increasingly digital world.One presenter summed it up quite nicely:The future of the book is secure

Posted by David Petrou, Software Engineer

One of the first things I did upon moving to New York City was to buy some books about this great metropolis: guide books, historical accounts, collections of stories from famous reporters. My excitement grew with each word I read. However, being unfamiliar with the streets and neighborhoods, all the colorful references to locations were just floating concepts

Posted by Jodi Healy, Library Partnerships Team

When many people think of the University of Texas at Austin, they think of football, time honored tradition and all things big. In typical Texas style, the University of Texas Libraries are no different. Known as the fifth largest library in the United States, the University of Texas Libraries house some of the nation’s leading special collections, including the world-renowned Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.
Initially endowed with a unique set of rare books and manuscripts relating to Mexico, the Benson Collection now maintains a wealth of information from throughout Latin America, with special concentrations on Brazil, Chile, Peru, and the countries of the Rio de la Plata and Central America

Posted by Jose Campón, Google Book Search Support Team

The mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalonian bibliographic production and that related to the Catalonian linguistic area, to look after its conservation, and to spread its bibliographic heritage while maintaining the status of a universal center for research and consultation.
This translation of the National Library of Catalonia’s mission statement makes it clear why the National Library of Barcelona, Catalonia’s largest library, and four affiliate Catalonian libraries have decided to join the Google Book Search Library Project

Posted by Dan Abbe, Google Book Search Support TeamWe’re always excited to hear about interesting uses of Google Book Search, and in this edition of “from the mail bag,” we check in with Jamie from China, who writes:I typically receive GRE/SAT/TOEFL test preparation manuscripts from local authors

Posted by Arielle Reinstein, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Ah, 2006. Conventional wisdom has it that most New Year’s resolutions are broken by January 2nd. So, if you’re feeling bad about not making it to the gym this week or procrastinating yet again, take some time to reflect on last year’s good times

Posted by Agnes Eymery, Google Book Search Support TeamAs a child growing up in France, my grandma used to read me stories on Christmas Eve — my favorite was always “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. My grandfather told me that merchandising masks the true value of the holidays and that “the real importance is to be together.” I always asked myself what it was like for others celebrating around the world: did children in Austria or Australia celebrate the way we did?A few weeks ago, I came across a book about family gatherings, highlighting the importance of being with the people we love during the holidays

Posted by Jim Gerber, Content Partnerships DirectorAs a private pilot of both airplanes and helicopters, it doesn’t take much to get me thinking about all things aviation. The passing of a major milestone, such as the December 17th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ famous first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, is certain to fuel those flames

Posted by Laura DeBonis, Director, Library PartnershipsIt was two years ago today that we first announced the Library Project and our first five library partners (Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library, Oxford University, and Stanford University). Together, book by book, we’re digitizing these libraries’ rich collections and making them discoverable and searchable online

Posted by Ryan Sands, Google Book Search Support Team and Google Patent Search Support SpecialistUsing much of the familiar technology that you’ve come to love for browsing books on Google Book Search, you can now search the full text of the U.S. patent corpus — from early 18th century patents to recent ones from 2006 — with Google Patent Search

Several new enhancements of note from the Search team: Tomorrow we’re releasing the beta version of Live Search Books (http://books.live.com). Check out the user experience: very clean! With this initial release we’ve focused on making the reading experience as natural as possible.

The U.S

Posted by Dan Abbe, Google Book Search Support TeamUn libro, cualquier libro, es para nosotros un objeto sagrado.A book, any book, is for us a sacred object.- Jorge Luis Borges, “Del culto de los libros”/“On the Cult of Books”Last week, the Google Book Search team took a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, to participate in the 20th annual Feria Internacional del Libro, or International Book Fair

Posted by Jaclyn Madden, Google Book Search Support TeamAt some point, we’ve all wondered about our ancestors. And with the advent of online genealogy sites, finding them in passenger lists, city directories, and the census has never been easier. Anyone with an internet connection can begin to fill in the names, dates, and places that made up their ancestors’ lives.These facts, essential to any family tree, certainly provide a solid foundation

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. - Edward Winslow, 1621 Before heading home for a nice long weekend of celebrating and diving into the turkey with family and friends, I took a few minutes to dig up some Thanksgiving history with Google Book Search

Even authors not living in this online age are in trouble. My fellow literary sleuth Alex MacBride recently revealed to me that he’d uncovered an old crime in a new way. MacBride, a linguist employed by Google, idly ran a phrase from England Howlett’s 1899 essay Sacrificial Foundations through Google Book Search, his employer’s massive digitization of millions of volumes from university libraries. To his surprise, he got more back than just Howlett: The search also revealed a suspiciously similar passage in Sabine Baring-Gould’s 1892 book Strange Survivals. A lot of suspiciously similar passages.

We’ve been working hard to make books more accessible to more people, and we’re pleased to announce that we are now one step closer to that goal. If you’ve visited Google Book Search recently you may have noticed things look a bit different — that’s because we’ve just launched a bunch of new features and a whole new interface to make your online book experience better.First, we made it easier to find books you may be interested in by improving the “About this book” page