Assignment 10

For this assignment, I wanted to take a little different approach. Unfortunately, I find very little time to do any personal reading while I still in school. Over time, I have compiled quite a long list of books to read once I finally decide to hang up the whole education thing, or at least cut it back a bit. The approach I took for this assignment was to assess a few of the sites mentioned in the syllabus (Google Books, Library Thing, Good Books) and search for the titles on my list. I want to see if the site lists the book I am looking for, whether it offers quality reviews of the resource, information on where to purchase the resource, or if alternatives resources are mentioned.

My current top ten list is as follows:

1. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (Third Edition) edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

3. The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks

4. The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man by Brett McKay and Kate McKay

5. Candide by Voltaire

6. The Perfectly Useless Book of Useless Information: You’ll Never Need to Know Anything That’s in This Book…But Read It Anyway by Don Voorhees

7. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

8. Confessions by Augustine

9. Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

10. Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher


I would like to first start by saying that I very seldom use any of the sites examined for this assignment. In fact, I had never used Library Thing or Good Reads prior to this exercise. However, after just a few minutes of use, I quickly found that I loved Library Thing over Google Books and Good Reads.

All three sites examined were very easy to use, but the features quickly separated the winners from the losers. Google Books allows the user to quickly search by subject and to search for full text. The site provides the user alternative book covers, reviews, sites to purchase the books, and even a few suggestions of alternatives resources. The overall feeling was just like performing a basic Google search.

Good Reads offers the user everything Google does, but the reviews seem to be more informative. The user is presented with videos, reading groups, quotes from the resource, and other books written by the author. The search feature was not very good, in fact, a search for “Freakonomics” brought up nothing when spelled “Freakanomics.” Google Books is not that sensitive. Since I’m not a member of Good Read, I cannot completely review the site, since some features might be reserved for members.

Library Thing provides the user a wealth of information on books. However, I would like to quickly point out that Library Thing, like Good Reads, is quite sensitive, in terms of searching. When replicating the example above, the same results were experienced. What Library Thing lacks in searching is made up in features. Library Things offers the user all the features mentioned previously with Good Reads and Google Book, with the exception of full text. The user can utilize tagging and tag clouds, ratings, book descriptions, external references, links to other resource sites such as Google, WorldCat, Amazon, and Abe Books, and, the most interesting feature, links to book trading sites.

Library Thing’s recommendations and reviews changed my opinion on a few of the books on my list and lead me to alternatives on the same or similar topic. The tagging feature was great in aiding in my search for alternative resources, especially when it cam to genealogy. It also generated a list of nearby bookstores and libraries that carried the text along with the addresses and telephone numbers. It also offers the user a price comparison of several sites where they can buy the resource online.

Hands down, Library Thing sold me on becoming a member. I was also impressed with SwapTree, the book trading site. Library Thing’s site is not really eye candy, but it most definitely gets the job done. The one factor that I was unable to determine was the extent of resources in Library Thing’s database. I attempted to find some obscure resources, in which out of two attempts I found nothing. I think it really depends on the user to determine which site is better. I prefer Library Thing; however, someone who is familiar with Google would probably find Google Books more appealing and user friendly. However, the features utilized by Library Thing are fantastic.