How to use Google Books - a visual tutorial

You will want to click on each graphic in this article - it will summon a larger photo of the one provided. 

Since I have a whole section of this web site devoted to Google Books, I thought it might be wise to show you people how to use them.

I know most of you know how, so this post isn't for you. Feel free to skip this post - however, I may provide a tip or a trick you aren't aware of...

What are Google Books?
Google Books is awesome place on the internet where books are stored. Often there are links to several bookstores where they can be purchsed or with a new service, books can be bought via PDF. Called "Google EBooks", these can be purchased at very low rates.

[As I have specified many times, I am not associated, nor do I have any affiliation with Google Books. I make no money off of them - or anyone for that matter. I simply provide links to the books because you can search through practically all the way through every one of the books.]

It's also easy to find things because of the Google-based search engine.

Google Books provides a bounty of information. Certainly about old-time radio but you can use it for everything and anything.

BABY STEPS

You might think the header page would be a great way to begin.  I disagree.  This page (see the graphic on the right) is just in the way.  It is a starting point however, if you are searching for something specific.  But for browsing, this page is just in the way.

For now, put something in the search box.

Clicking on "preview available" (see graphic) will only make those books you can freely search through available to you.  On certain older books, you can search every page.  On some newer books, you may be only to search through about half of the book.

In general, at least 75-80% of the average book is available to search through.  Considering it's free and it's convenient, that's not a bad thing at all.

By the way, you don't have to register for Google Books or anything such as that.  Think of Google Books as Google for books, as silly as that sounds.  But that's exactly what it is!

These are the books that deal with Orson Welles and War of the Worlds

As far as searching through books, this is where you want to be (I'll explain the magazine searching a bit later.)

Choose a book.  In this case I have chosen the top book on the list....

Now once you chosen that book, you will be taken to the book and the page that is listed on the link you chose.  (I realise this is not brain surgery, but I'm going step-by-step here!)

Click on the graphic to the right.  It will explain a lot of the small details of the book page.

To go to the book cover and begin reading at the very beginning, copy the title (highlited in dark blue on the graphic on the left) and put that in the search box ABOVE it...

That will take you to this page... now click the Orson Welles:interviews link...

Click on this above to read the helpful tips.

SEARCHING OLD MAGAZINES

These are the latest magazines that deal with Wells/War of the Worlds

Searching the magazines are very, very similar to searching the books, except when searching the magazines, you are going to want to use specific dates or a range of dates.  Othyerwise, you will be searching until winter. In the Orson Welles War of the Worlds case, we want to search right around the first week or two of November, 1938, since the incident occurred on Halloween night (October 31st) of that year.  So, let's do that... Choose Custom Range:

Once you have selected Custom Range, let's just choose November 1938.  It's easiest just to type that in.  They've made it easier on you - just type in nov 1938 if you want to. After you you have typed the same date into both slots and pressed enter on your keyboard, you will find there is just one magazine dealing with that in Google Books.  And it is the November 14th issue of Life magazine.  I'm sure it will be chocked full of goodies to explore.

I can almost guarantee goodies even before I look at it...

I'm not supposed to show you what I found but if you go there yourself and back up a few pages, you will find an incredible story/pictoral on Welles and columnists weighing in on the Halloween night in question.  It's like a time machine. Please use Google Books.  They are an incredible research tool.  Imagine what can be done, the things learned and the passages read and never forgotten thanks to this service. There's more good news.  It appears as though Google is not only expanding Google Books but tinkering with it to make it better.  Everyday it seems to get better and bigger (or is it, bigger and better?)  At any rate, me likey. ©Jimbo 2010/2011

Searchable OTR Books has moved

I moved the "Searchable Online Books" (it was on the right-hand side near the bottom of the blog) to the top of blog, under the heading, "Searchable OTR Books."

"Rare OTR Photos" has been eliminated but can still be found by doing a search for "photo dump" or by choosing "photo dump" under "Stuff I have Written About.")

©Jimbo 2010/2011

My peripheral OTR blog project

I am working on a very important project; it may or may not be something any of us actually use with any frequency - but I see it as something historical that can be used in relation to OTR.

I found that Billboard magazine is online in Google Books. Billboard, at least from 1942 on, reviewed radio shows; from what I can gather, every show (not every individual episodes, but the show itself.)

Realize, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of shows out there. Many that aren't even listed in exhaustive books; but they probably show up in Billboard.

At least 90% of the shows are ones I have never even heard of - this pushes me even harder to do this project because these shows need a "voice." While most of the shows I have seen so far are of the musical or variety, they still are important as far as radio history goes.

I am cataloging these reviews -- rather linking to the Billboard/Google page.

It would not surprise me that if by next week, I will have decided to show you the extension site to this and the Lum and Abner Dictionary.

Old radio will die if not for projects such as these. While OTR becomes less important to future generations, it remains an important part of our history, I feel. We should all do something to preserve history, since it seems our history is being swept under the rug a little every day.