Google: The Missing Manual [Paperback]

There's also a chapter about Google answers, which is a service you do have to pay for, but may be worth it if a question you have still remains unanswered after an exhaustive search. Want to go shopping? Then Froogle may be for you, it lets you do searches on various products and their prices.

There's a lot of answers in this book to various questions about using Google and the many features the average Google user may not know about. This is a good book to have even if you only use Google rarely, but an absolute must to have if you're an avid Google user.

When I start a search, Google is often the first place I go. Over time, I've learned of its new features and applyied tricks here and there. I have found the words to a song when I could only remember a handful of words. The song is no rock 'n roll hit or anything played on the radio.

Heck, save money with Google. A search engine that saves money? Indeed. Froogle is the word. Enter the item and it provides results with prices. I use it for comparison shopping to ensure I get the best deal. Thanks to Froogle, I located a hard to find item for my niece's birthday gift.

The book covers every trick I've learned and read about and taught me a few more. A call comes through, but the person doesn't leave a message. The CallerID shows the phone number and a company name, but it doesn't ring a bell. When I enter the phone number in Google, it provides three results (boy, talk about bad luck as a couple of companies who had the phone number went out of business) and I learn who called as the name that appeared the telecommunications company who provided the service.

The Google API (application program interface) is not covered although it is mentioned as a resource. The purpose of the book is to show how to use Google from a non-programming and non-techie perspective. The authors have accomplished the goal. They briefly cover using Google on Web sites as a search tool and for Ad Sense.

Those looking for hard-core Google tips using the API obviously won't find it in this book. This is a book for all the non-programmers and non-Web designers. Scanning the book takes little time and it's an excellent reference since it's well organized in five parts: techniques, unknown Google, search tools, Google for Webmaster, and an appendix with resources. Also extra nice is the authors' use of other browsers besides Internet Explorer when discussing tools.

One of the reasons the company is popular is for its simplicity. Its home page has hardly anything other than its logo and a search box. The book continues the theme by keeping it simple.