Google Hacks

100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tricks

By Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest
ISBN: 0-596-00447-8
352 pages

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks/ (with sample hacks!)

Review by Jim McKeeth

Google is the Kleenex or Xerox of Internet search engines.  No one says to use a search engine anymore, they just tell you to Google it.  I am almost afraid to count how many times I use Google in a given day.  How wonderful it is to have a collection of powerful tips and tricks for the mainstay of internet searching. 

This book goes beyond hacking Google though.  The goal of the book is enable the reader to find what they are looking for on the internet.  Google just happens to be the best way to do that most of the time, but when there are situations where you are better using other means the book will tell you when and how.

Since Google is so ubiquitous with everything to do with the internet this book could also be called Internet Hacks.  In all honesty, if you want to get the most out of the internet everyone already knows you need Google.  But if you want to get the most out of Google you also need this book.  Commit it to memory (or get the Google Pocket Guide).  There will be a test.

The book starts out with some basics, but you will be surprised how much of the basics you don't know.  The basic tips can be some of the best ones since they are the ones you will use all the time.  Take for example Hack #5 - Getting Around the 10 Word Limit.  Did you know Google was limited to 10 words in your search?  Did you know there were ways around it? Or Hack #6 - Word Order Matters.  Just the simple act of placing your words in the right order can improve your search results. 

While there are only 100 "Hacks" you will find that each hack is filled with many tips and tricks.  It is surprising how much detail the hacks go into.  When a code sample is applicable they provide one (or more).  And there are hacks for everything.  Starting with searching, covering the Google Web API, and ending with everything you wanted to know about Page Rank for the web master in all of us.

There are 8 chapters:

1. Searching Google (28 hacks))
2. Google Special Services and Collections  (7 hacks)
3. Third-Party Google Services  (5 hacks)
4. Non-API Google Applications (9 hacks)
5. Introducing the Google Web API (10 hacks)
6. Google Web API Applications (25 hacks)
7. Google Pranks and Games (7 hacks)
8. The Webmaster Side of Google (8 hacks)

If you live, work or play online then this book is truly indispensable.  I can't wait to read Google: The Missing Manual since I cannot think of anything this book didn't cover.