In Search of Already-Found Books

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 2:10 PM

Posted by Frances Haugen, Associate Product Manager

A few weeks ago, while I had an early version of the Google Book Search Library Gadget on my iGoogle page, I was suddenly transfixed by the fascinating cover of Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties. What was this book doing, hovering somewhere between my weather gadget and the latest news headlines?

One of the perks of product managing Google Book Search gadgets is that I get to play with them before anyone else does (except, of course, for the engineers who code them). The library gadget shows me books I've saved to my library, displaying them on my iGoogle page. I'd actually forgotten that, some months ago, I'd added this book to my library while browsing Google Book Search. Remembering my initial interest in the book, I dove back into it. I delighted at the instructions from this former Boy Scout about how to construct the most important priority in survival situations.

When I use Google Book Search, I find that I regularly add books to my library. I usually don't have the time to read a book right away, and adding it to my library is an easy way to remind myself of a book that I should check out later. Since my tumble into D.C. Beard's work, I've made sure to keep on adding titles to my library -- you never know when a book might strike your fancy a second (or third, or fourth) time. Here's what the fateful library gadget looks like:


So go on, surprise yourself! You can add it to your iGoogle Page here: