Google Print

Google Update:Print


A few weeks ago, we saw the launch of A9.com by Amazon which threatened to eat into Google's share. Google seems to have decided that the best form of defense is attack, and has (or will have) launched the Google Print service which will enable you to browse into books from certain publishers. Not so curiously, Amazon is also a partner in this enterprise. This Google-Amazon marriage is perhaps one of the most intriguing partnerships in business history.

These searches will show up alongside normal searches. Though I expect to see a option on the Google main page to enable searching only into books, like it is for images and news. You will be able to see one page before and after your search term, if found in a book. Although they claim that you cannot read a complete book, if you have the patience you can make repeated searches on the last sentence of the next page and read an entire book. (Not that you cannot do this at Borders or Barnes and Noble, but you can do this in the easy comfort of your home). It won't take time to write a PERL script to do these repeated searches and download an entire book.

Apart from exploiting this loophole, it would just be great to be able to sample a book without getting out of bed at all on Saturdays. Life seems to be getting better and better! Book-loving sloths of the world rejoice!