Four tricks you need to know to read on Google Books

Google Books…

… you might have used it to do research. Even though it’s a resource I use all the time, this week I learned a few tricks that completely change the way I use Google Books. Here are the 4 key things that you need to know:

1. Move forward/backward in a book with J and K.

I’m amazed that I didn’t know this! Instead of trying to click the left arrow / right arrow with your mouse, just press the J key to move forward and the K key to move backwards. Simple, but it completely changes the way you read.

2. Select Full-view or Google eBooks to find books in Full-view

Of course, the “Free Google eBooks” that are in full-view are mostly older books, but that still might be useful. Here’s a side-by-side comparison that shows Any vs. Free eBook vs. Any (with full-view only selected in the advanced search menu).

Click to see in full-res.

3. When you want to search carefully, use the Advanced search menu for Books.

It’s kind of hidden, but here’s how to get to it.

Once you’re there, you’ll see a lot of options–check out the figure below. For today, just notice the view options below the blue area: All books, Limited preview, Full view only, Google eBooks–these are the different viewing conditions for the books.

Yeah, it looks old-fashioned, but it works.

4. Use the 2-page viewer AND the multi-page viewer.

Somehow, I totally missed this in the Books user interface. Pay attention to these three buttons:

Default view is 1-page. High res: great for reading.

As you see here, the default view is 1-page. That’s great for reading, but not so great for skimming.

And skimming is a great way to quickly get an overview of an entire book. If you’re searching for a particular piece of information (say, in a graphic or illustration), the multi-page overview is your friend. Here’s that previous book Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands in multi-page:

A multi-page view of Adorning the World.

And lastly, I actually prefer the 2-page view because it often shows you how the two-page spread sits on the open book. In this example, the map makes a LOT more sense when seen in a 2-page layout: