On the road with Google Book Search

Monday, October 02, 2006 at 8:54 AM

Posted by Arielle Reinstein, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Every once in a while, we hear about an especially intriguing use of Google Book Search. The most recent example: this Top 10 list by Forbes Autos, which gives the company's picks for the top 10 greatest books featuring cars. They use Google Book Search to allow visitors to their site to further explore these books -- including everything from On the Road to Native Son.

According to Annette from ForbesAutos.com,

Our admittedly highly subjective list came about after we asked academics, librarians, authors, poets, journalists, automobile industry executives and others for their suggestions. In culling the final 10, we considered the importance of the piece of writing, the reputation of the author and the role that the vehicle, or vehicles, play in the work -- both as characters in their own right and, where applicable, as symbols. We kept the choices to American literature -- in order to mollify translation concerns, limit our already numerous choices and, if readers are interested, to save room for a future Top 10 Cars of World Literature sequel.

Take a minute to check out the site. You might recall the Rolls-Royce from The Great Gatsby or the Caprice convertible from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but you can also see which vehicles Forbes deems the modern-day equivalents.