Google improves Book Search

Google has announced several new features and improvements in Google Book Search.

Google Book Search allows you to search for literary works, some of which you can then view in full. However, the issue of copyright has been a problem for Google in this particular project, meaning that many search results consist purely of bibliographic information about the text.

Changes include the ability to zoom in and out on text and images, and a general tidying up of the interface.

"We've tried to tidy up the clutter to leave as much room as possible for what's important — the book," said Nathan Naze, a software engineer at Google.

Like other Google projects such as Google Maps, Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Mail, Book Search is an application that you can use without having to download anything.

Other changes include a one-page mode, so you can view the pages one below the other, like a scroll. For books that can be viewed in full, there is a two-page mode so pages can be seen side-by-side, like a real book.

http://books.google.com/

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