It is neither plausible nor practical to actually buy every book on any given subject. If you have a good local library, then you may be able to browse and skim several books before you find one you like and borrow it. If you're not so lucky, you may have to make up your mind in a few minutes in you local book store.
I personally find such commitment too much too soon. Why not flirt with several before investing? Google Books is just perfect for that. All you need to type is the subject you are after, and you get a long list of books. Alternatively, you can browse using the subject index. All you have to do is to click on the book of your choice from the list.
One great advantage is that you see the year of publication almost instantly. When it comes to language learning materials , it is usually the newer the better. If it is not so, you'll be able to compare different editions and see which one actually suits your needs better. For example, our study book Japanese for Busy People is available on limited preview in almost all editions.
Another major advantage is that you can save the images to your computer, make a print out of a page or two...or fifty. Sometimes there is such gem of a page in an otherwise useless book. Some books are listed in their entirety, and some are partially available. I've come across limited preview books, which miss five pages, only. "Limited preview" or "Full view" are options you can pick from the drop down menu just under the search bar.
I have recently been using Google Books to choose a Kanji book that I finally may want to own. I have already used many pages from various books to practise Katagana and Hiragana. I was also able to read about some difficult grammar points from various sources, which has immensely helped.
It is not so different from Amazon's "look inside" feature, but I've found it to be more convenient and accessible.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment