Intrigued by Gary Price's reading experiments at Google Print, I tried to view every page of a book located with the new engine. If you are signed into a Google account, reading successive pages beyond the default limit proves to be fairly easy. (Restrictions clamp down quickly for users not signed in.) Although the search results default to a limit of three pages beyond a keyword match, it's a simple matter to search within the book for a two-word phrase (use the "exact phrase") operator that occurs on the third page. The new set of result contains that page, and resets the default for another three pages (two new pages, since the first page was the last page of your previous result). In this fashion, two pages at a time, you can proceed through the book. But in most cases the free ride grinds to a halt when the publisher's determined browsing limit is reached. In the case of my test book, "Chopin in Paris," the brick wall arrived at pasge 34. Here is Google's FAQ item about the publihser restriction: "We respect copyright law and the tremendous creative effort authors put into their work. So you'll only able to see a limited portion – in some cases only a few sentences – of books that are still under copyright. If the book has no copyright restrictions and is considered public domain, then you can browse the entire book. In general, Google Print aims to help you discover books, not read them from start to finish. It's like going to a bookstore and browsing – only with a Google twist."








1. Wrote about this in april 2005. Translate it with Babelfish or another translater - it's in Dutch.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Henk van ess