Note:

• To go to the Google site, click on the image above.

The Title

What's Google? Google is a search engine for identifying web pages of interest. But you can find more than just web pages. You can also find images, news, etc.

Google is the leading search engine in terms of pages indexed and in terms of queries per day. In my opinion, Google is also the best in terms of ease of use and aesthetics.

What's a Pocket Guide? O'Reilly Pocket Guides:

• are concise little books
• are similar to, but more abbreviated than, O'Reilly Nutshell books, if you happen to be familiar with them
• assume a fairly competent user
• include things that such a user might find useful (in a new area)

How well does the title fit the book? Very well. The book is certainly about Google. And it's abbreviated; short and to the point, the body of the book is just 110 pages long. The book has a healthy dose of perspective, explanations and examples for such a small book; but nevertheless, some people might find it too compact for their taste. It certainly includes a great deal of information that is valuable to this user.

not Google Hacks: Be aware that there is another O'Reilly book on Google. It's called Google Hacks.

The Google Pocket Guide (the book being reviewed here) is not just a more concise Google Hacks reorganized as a Pocket Guide. More on this later.

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About the Reviewer

Some of the things I bring to this review are:

• I've been using Google heavily for a number of years.
• I've previously read (and reviewed) Google Hacks.
• I'm a moderately sophisticated user of Google.
• I've been a programmer for many years.
• I'm webmaster of a number of personal and club websites.

limitations: Some of my limitations as a reviewer are

• Google has long been my search engine of choice.
• I'm a supporter of O'Reilly. I have many O'Reilly books.

The things I bring to the review (mentioned above) may also be viewed as limitations.

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What You'll find here

There are five parts to this small book. I'll touch on each of them briefly.

I. What Can You Do with Google? This part concisely introduces what Google is to you, the user. It briefly explains the Google front page. It ends with a discussion of three example Google searches.

II. Asking for What You Want: This part focuses on the language used in the search input box. It covers such things as:

• how to exclude words
• how to indicate alternatives
• how to use wild card
• how to use various special syntaxes
  and how to intermix them
• how to search for a phrase

This is the part of the book that has been most immediately helpful to me.

III. Understanding What You Get: This section could also have been called Controlling what you get.

For example, this part breaks down the anatomy of the URL that Google creates when you do a search. And it explains how to modify that URL to your advantage. I don't do that currently, but likely I will now.

IV. Other Google Services and Features: Google is much more than a search engine that allows you to enter searches of the world wide web. This section contains information which will allow you to access the many other capabilities that Google provides.

The main sections of this part are:

• Google Directory
• Google Groups
• Google Images
• Google News
• Google Catalogs
• Froogle
• Language Tools
• Consulting the Dictionary
• Consulting the Phonebook
• Tracking Stocks
• Searching Article Archives
• Finding Directories of Information
• Finding Technical Definitions
• Finding Weblog Commentary
• The Google Toolbar
• Googling with Bookmarklets

Not surprisingly, this is the longest part of this small book. I've got a lot of exploring to do in this area.

V. Appendix: The appendix contains something I've been using: an excellent syntax summary of the search language.

There's also a very brief section on Julian dates. I may never use it. But it looks like it will come in handy if, at some point, I need to do a lot of date range searches.

Index: There's also an index that I've found helpful.

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How to use this Guide

I'm aware of two good ways to use this book.

as a book to read: You can read this book from cover to cover, if you are sufficiently motivated. It's:

• very short
• not difficult reading

• It's transportable.
• It's conveniently organized.
• It has a good index

This is how I used this book at first. Then I read it all the way through. And now I'm using it as a reference again.

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What about "Google Hacks"

Google Hacks is a full length book, also published by O'Reilly, containing 100 hacks. But what's a hack? More or less, it's just an interesting technique for getting a task done. Many of the hacks are for normal users, but some of them are primarily directed at programmers or webmasters.

similarities and differences: Some similarities between the two books are:

• They are both about Google.
• The books have two authors in common.
• Both books contain much useful information about Google for the normal user.

Some differences between them are:

• This book focuses on normal users, while Google Hacks contains some hacks which are primarily for programmers or primarily for webmasters
• This book is a Pocket Guide, while Google Hacks is (duh) in the Hacks Series.
• This book is quite a bit smaller than Google Hacks both in shape and number of pages.

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Note:

• To see the catalog entry for Goole Hacks, click on the image above.
• Or see my review of it.

Some Final Thoughts

If you use Google much, I'd get this book. You can check it out at a book store, if you want.

If you are a programmer or a webmaster, I'd consider getting Google Hacks too. If you like the Hacks format that would also be a reason for getting the Google Hacks book.

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Note:

• To see the catalog entry for Google Pocket Guide, click on the image above.