Slashdot Mirror
Google: The Missing Manual
Looking at the table of contents (for some reason PDF only), I figured out the book might be useful for someone relatively new to the Internet with intrinsic fear of doing something wrong (which pretty much describes my parents as well as their friends within the same age group). Chapters 8 and 9 on Web-mastering with Google might be useful, as it talks about buying AdWords for ad campaigns and serving AdSense for making money off the Web site. Still, I was interested to see what the book had to offer and started reading from Chapter 1, only to find this useful tip on page 24:
A lot of people probably knew this, but Google allows you to do a phrase search even if you don't have an idea of what the complete phrase looks like. Wildcard search allows one to use an asterisk for any word that's missing. Google will fill it in automatically. Pretty useful for finding the lyrics for that song you heard on the radio, but couldn't figure out the last word.
But this is not a Google tutorial: it turned out to be surprisingly useful even for me, someone who uses Google probably about a hundred times a day. Google features have that feeling of serendipity, where you can use the engine just fine without knowing anything advanced, but once you discover a few shortcuts, there's truly no replacement. For example, the book tells you what kind of numbers can be usefully entered into the Google search window: you can search for area codes, ISBN numbers, UPC numbers, flight numbers, Fedex/UPS/USPS tracking numbers as well as vehicle ID numbers (btw, the car is for sale).
Chapter 4 is very informative for Google's less frequently used services - Groups and Answers. While Google Groups and the Usenet search are probably bookmarked by any geek out there, not many people know that Google runs a paid service that can help you if you're just stuck with no results. Moreover, once the answer is posted and someone has paid for it, Google allows all the visitors to browse it for free, and some advice, for example, in small business section, can save a trip to the lawyer or paid consultant. The book takes the reader through the process of setting up an Answers account (which is actually the same account as the one for Groups) and asking informative questions requiring additional research.
Google: The Missing Manual is a pleasant book to read. Lots of screenshots (although all black-and-white), detailed information on the services and quite useful tips for newbies as well as professionals, clearly marked chapters, notes and tips spread throughout the book all make for a good reading experience. It's interesting URLs like this one that show that the authors really put time and effort into creating a book that's fun as well as informative.
Will the book be useful for an average Slashdot reader? Unlikely, since most of the information is already out there and most of the people here don't need a hand-holding walk-through into Google services. Will it be useful for Webmasters? Most of the tips I've read in the last two chapters were pretty much something I knew before. It's not something you need when you've had your own Web site for a few years, but the book is pretty good if you've just started up building Web pages. Also, since so many features have been only recently introduced, the book doesn't cover things like graphic ads in AdSense or Gmail accounts.
For someone quite unexperienced with the Internet or those seeking to gain expertise in Google services and broaden their research skills, though, it is a useful, fun-to-read title. It's not expensive either, so while I think for most of the geeks it's redundant, it would be a good gift for those in the family who keep calling and asking questions that begin with "Where do I find...?"
You can purchase Google: The Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Cheers,
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
Ok, maybe it saves trees or even recycled trees for better use. I personally find using online documentation a massive bother. I shelled for an expensive software package in the past, a few times, only to find no books or even decent installation instructions were included. I like a good copy of reference completely separate from the workstation or laptop. Often I'd like to go find a comfortable place to sit and read, or even read up on something while in line, flying or anywhere else I can make productive used of a few minutes, such as the doctor or dentist. A CD with a manual on it isn't quite going to work. Futher, I waste battery time if I'm trying to learn while on a laptop. Perhaps the best reason of all, though, is because I can put those yellow Post-It notes in the pages I frequently need to return to. A manual for Google? Well, that's not a bad idea, but I think Google has a very simple and intuitive interface. The only thing I think anyone needs to know is how to construct searches properly. Maybe I'm not the audience and the manual is targetted toward someone who hasn't spend their life around computers or written their own search engine (it existed for 5 years where I once worked, the replacement is horrible and I'm sure they paid well for that improvement.) The worst thing about search engines is the 'special knowledge' you need to be savvy. How to avoid being tricked into a site which isn't anything like you are looking for, but has a pile of key words in a header somewhere to get a high Google score. I suppose a book could teach you some of that, but the rest comes with experience.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
actually if you go through adsense, adsense for search, page rank, froogle, and all of that combined and how you can best get it to work for you 224 pages sounds like it might be a pocket reference...
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
When more computer novices entered the market for computers and software in the 90's and I suppose up until now, manuals were being used less and less percentage wise. I'm sure it's expensive for software developers to publish them and so if no one reads them, then why bother? The "for Dummies" series and other publishers took over because they could provide manuals for people's specific needs. If you had no clue what you were doing, there was a manual for that. If you were skilled, but wanted a good technical reference, you had your books. The old way of the "one level fits all" manual style became too obtuse for the customers.
The last manual I've read in a long long time was the Gentoo handbook. That was an example of the old style one level fits all, but they just happened to do a very good job and it worked. They combined good explainations along with technical information. For something like windows, you're dealing with system admins and complete idiots. There is no way Microsoft could make a manual to satisfy the needs of 90% of their customers, so they don't bother. Many other companies obviously do the same.
If you don't believe me that novices have difficulty with one level fits all technical manuals, print out some man pages and see how many people can understand them.
What surprises me is they got 224 pages out of it after publishing Google Hacks. They seem kind of redundant to each other....
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
I hate the lack or printed manuals. Only really expensive software seems to include any printed manuals (Protools TDM had quite a few thankfully).
I have a version of "The Microsoft Office" in a large grey box, that has alot of massive manuals still sitting around here somewhere. I don't know why they won't print them anymore.
Linux is just as bad about this as anything. Sure there's typing 'man' or using the howto's, but it's not like using an AS/400 or other server that actually has a whole bookshelf of manuals.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Folks, you're missing the point here.
It's not about a manual for "type word here then press return." That's the part everybody knows about.
It's the different things that Google can do from the very same line that the general populous doesn't know about. Sure, Google is great for searches. But it can also convert currency, forward & reverse phone number lookups, unit conversion, mapping, spell checking, and (now that I've read some of the prior comments) defining words.
There's probably even more functionality that I don't even know about yet deep within that Mostly Harmless Google frontpage.
Google definitely falls in to the category of products that are simple & easy to use, yet below the surface are much deeper for people intelligent enough to take advantage. Most everyone on this site is (benefit of the doubt) of above-average intelligence, and it is great to see mass-audience products incorporate neat tricks for people like us. So, yes, publishing books about Google's deeper features is completely justified, and appreciated for those of us with responsibilities that keep us from having 5 hours a day to tinker with un-published features like we perhaps used to. :0]
Actually, a user manual for telephones would be useful. A full list of all the # and * functions is hard to find.