In Amazon’s Text-Search, a Field Day for Book Browsers

Check out a NY Times article here.

This is a great tool for people who come into the library with very vague requests ('it was red and was about polar bears who go on an adventure'). It should be interesting to see how it affects life as we know it.

Of course, many are afraid that people will just read what they need online rather than buy the books. In my student poverty, I can remember going to a bookstore and doing just that. There was one book of a favourite series that came out in hardback and I couldn't afford it, so I went a read a chapter each time a friend and I would go to the store. But after about chapter 6 I had save enough and did, indeed, buy it. I think when it comes to it, people have always based their decision to buy a book on whether they will truly get either enough info to make it worthwhile or a good story--with paperbacks going for $8 a piece these days and even magazines at $3-$6, the era of just grabbing something went out the window a long time ago, don't you think?