Google's Library Up and Running

An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Google Print results are beginning to appear on searches. For those who don't know, Google has been scanning from libraries from some of the world's greatest universities in order to compile a freely accessible online library. An easy way to turn up these results is to simply type "book", and then whatever you want to search for. For instance, book origin of species will turn up the full text of Charles Darwin's controversial treatise. 20,000 leagues, Oliver Twist and Pride and Prejudice and m o r e are all there in full. It'll be interestin to see how publishers deal with this if demand for these books declines. In the meantime, would anyone like to point out any good books?" Hopefully, Google can also start to index some books that are being released in the Creative Commons/alternative open licenses.

Comments

Out of print

[BWJones]

It'll be interestin to see how publishers deal with this if demand for these books declines. In the meantime, would anyone like to point out any good books?"

Here is a hint that will help and not hurt the publishers. Put online out of print books. I would like to make the same argument for out of print music and movies and scientific journals as well which ironically, could hold huge profits for studios and publishing houses. After all, this is the ideal for long tail businesses, right? if these businesses could release for nominal fees all of the movies, music and books that have already paid for themselves, Google (or iTunes or iMovie or iPub or whatever) could serve as the front end which would allow for the finding of said information and then the publishing houses could make money on products that long ago had paid for themselves and created profits. This is almost like free (as in beer) money for them and low cost media for us.

Re:Out of print

[pbranes]

Out of print books online is a great idea, but what I can't understand is why google doesn't have a page that just lists the books they have in full-text. They compare it to a bookstore, but in a bookstore you can see books you have never heard of. You can't do that with google's library because you can only search for books that you know.

Re:Out of print

[Total_Wimp]

Out of print, copyrighted, whatever. This is how google has chosen to deal with the subject:

Thank you for using Google Print.

You have either reached a page that is unavailable for viewing or reached your viewing limit for this book.

Google protects works that are under copyright by restricting access to certain pages and restricting the number of pages you can view. You may continue to take advantage of Google Print by clicking on About this Book. Thank you for using Google Print.

I had thought that they were putting "books" online. Turns out they're just putting the ability to search through books online.

BTW, this came up when I hit next page too many times on "Origin of Species" who's original text, I presume, is not copyrighted.

TW

textbooks

[TedCheshireAcad]

It would be great if textbooks were on there. $120 is too much for a calculus book.

Re:textbooks

[Qzukk]

Here's a less popular viewpoint, at least amongst professors.

Quit using your class to sell your textbook.

Look, I don't care how many PhD's you have in Math, your personal Calculus textbook is no different than any other. In fact, you didn't even make any stunning breakthroughs in the field of undergraduate integration and derivation, so quit writing a new version every year!

Students wouldn't have to pay $120 a textbook if the professors didn't want it to be that way.

one cliche, one other

[yagu]

I know this is cliche, but Grapes of Wrath is a classic, and one of my alltime favorites. I've read it four or five times, and it gets better each read. Yeah, it's always in the "list", but it deserves to be.

Another favorite of mine is more related to what /.-ers are about. Read Player Piano by Vonnegut. It's not his most well know work, but it is, I think, maybe one of his best, certainly one of his most perceptive. Just my $.02.

Re:one cliche, one other

[Neop2Lemus]

You got modded down because you recommended books that the mods hadn't read, and it hurt their feelings.

Let me join you.

I recommend Homer. The Iliad or The Odyessy are two of the greatest books ever written, start with the Odyssey.

Following in the grand-parent posts' steps, I can recommend Timequake by Vonnegut as an underrated book. But back to the public domain.

Aristiophanes is the only comedian as funny as Monty Python, check him out though you'll have to read up on your mythology and other Greek lit. But there is nothing like Aristophanes, he is outrageous. Lysystrata [The Breaker of Armies] is placed in the [historical] war between Athens and Sparta, and the women of Greece declare a sex strike till peace is made.

I've also enjoyed the Tragedians (Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschylus), you'd think they are boring but it's pithy and exciting exciting, nothing near as depressing as Million Dollar Baby.

In fact, check out any of the Greco-Roman stuff, you'll be blown away.

Holy copyright imbroglio!

[bigtallmofo]

From the Harvard FAQ at: http://hul.harvard.edu/publications/041213faq.html ...

Will this include books still in copyright? Google will be scanning books that are in as well as out of copyright from the Harvard collections. Harvard-owned books in the public domain will be available in the search results. Google may choose to display descriptive catalog information for books that are still under copyright. We believe that Google's treatment of in-copyright works is consistent with copyright law.

If I'm reading this correctly, that Google is placing the text of copyrighted works into a freely searchable and viewable database, it's an amazingly brazen step. It's also incredibly useful, but I can't imagine book publishers lying down for this. Add to this Disney's propensity for lobbying for extending copyrights everytime Mickey Mouse comes up for entering the public domain and I think we're headed for an interesting copyright showdown.

what full text???

[wes33]

when I clicked the link for "origin of species" the google-book results are links to books you can **buy** with a small number of sample pages to look at.

After the google-books results, you get the ordinary google results, some of which *do* link to online texts.

To find Darwin's book on line to read, rather than buy, just use regular google. Book search seems to be just a commercial venture.

Or am I missing something?

not Full-Text!

[LMCBoy]

Not one of the linked titles contains the full text of the book! Each shows only a few pages.
From the "About Google Print" page:

(you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the titles bibliographic data and brief snippets)

However, it seems to consider every title to be "under copyright". I mean, Romeo and Juliet is centuries old, and surely in the public domain. If it's considered copyrighted, then just about everything will be.

Anyway, if you want free e-texts, Project Gutenberg is a great resource.

Re:Highlighting is annoyuing- google the ISBN #

[Morph233]

http://print.google.com/print?id=LDrPI52uFQsC&prev =http://print.google.com/print%3Fq%3D019283438X&pg =3&sig=stLCn4Uuh5uCKQVXgVetpjRD5T8 google the ISBM number of the book

No copyright infringement...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you go to Google and read about this project, you'll quickly notice that unless the books are in the public domain, you won't be able to read the entire book online. This purpose of the project is the enable people to quickly _find_ books, not read them entirely online. Once you've found a desired book by using Google, you'll most likely have to go to a library and check the book out or buy it...

Re:Holy Bible?

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably because it isn't just called the Holy Bible in the collection.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=book+King +James&btnG=Search

However, I'm pretty sure you were just trolling.... Otherwise you would look for a specific VERSION of the bible!

Re:Now the question is...

[Bohnanza]

With all of these great works online, will the masses bother to read them?

Do they read those from Project Gutenberg? I'm not sure how many do.

While I get excited about the prospect of "free" literature, I find that I don't take advantage of it. The main reason is that I don't feel like reading a novel while sitting in front of the computer. This is especially difficult to do while sitting on the toilet, or on a plane or train, or on a toilet on a plane or a train. Sure, I could bring a laptop, but it's a lot more cumbersome than a paperback.

I've considered printing them out, but this would be much more expensive than just purchasing a paperback (or, in a lot of cases, hardback) edition, even using my antique laserjet. This might make some sense for rare OOP books, that's about it.

What we need is a really cheap, really good e-book reader that accepts multiple and non-proprietary formats.