Goodreads vs. Google Books
February 13, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Chris
Many people I know use Goodreads as a way to compile, share and review the books they've read, find out about other books, and possibly connect with other readers. I have an account, too, but just don't find myself using it much, either to connect with other readers or to find out about new books. I tend to find out about other books in three main ways: 1. from other people (in conversation, articles, and blogs), 2. from Amazon ("people who bought this book also bought..."), and 3. from browsing at my library. When it comes to the word-of-mouth referrals, I think I am just way more likely to read a book recommended by a friend or another individual I respect (like a NYT reviewer or a blogger I read) than by another Goodreads user that happened to read a book I also read. Sometimes, though, I do want to research a book online that I may have heard about from one of my three main sources. I will often search for it on Amazon first and skim through some reviews. However, I am finding myself often turning to Google Books to get even more information about the book- even being able to preview pages within it. The more I do this, the less I am using Goodreads, so I wanted to compare the two and figure out which features make one a better tool than the other. For my review, I used 'Time Travel in Einstein's Universe,' by J. Richard Gott, as an example book (I mentioned this book in a previous blog post about Mark's blog). Lastly, when you search for a book you haven't added yet to your profile, you'll tend to get many matches back if the book has multiple editions or title variances (Google consolidates the entries for you). 
Click here for full size screen capture. Google Books Google Books was initially put together as an effort to scan and index the world's books and make that information available online, rather than as an effort to build an online social community around books. This is why one of the main features of Goodreads is lacking from Google Books- the social connections made by adding 'friends' and communicating with them. However, the majority of the other features of Goodreads are also available on Google Books. Each book has a profile (see screenshot below) which displays images of its front and back cover, the title, author, publisher, publication date, library of congress categorization, page count, and isbn number. There are also links to online stores where you can purchase the book, including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Booksense.com, and Froogle. You'll also get a current price display for Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. There is also a 'Find this book in a library' link, which will query local libraries (based upon your Google account zipcode) for the book you are viewing, a feature which emphasizes the more 'academic' approach of Google Books. While Google Books lacks the 'social' features of Goodreads, like adding friends and the ability to browse their profiles, it does provide some other data which Goodreads does not. Google Books profiles will show 'popular passages,' which preview snippets of text from the book that are most often quoted elsewhere. You'll also have access to reviews of the book written by other Google users, listings of references to the book from other webpages online, listings of references to the book from other books, listings of references to the book from other scholarly works, a related books list, a 'key terms' (tags) list, and a list of other editions of the book that are available from Google. Again, these offerings cater more to an academic approach to online book research. Lastly, the search results in Google are a bit more finely tuned than in Goodreads, which makes sense given that search is the bedrock of Google. While Goodreads doesn't make the connection between various editions of a book, Google does and includes an 'other editions' link within the snippet on their search results page. 
Click here for full size screen capture. Google Books also has an additional view (see screenshot below) which allows you to preview the book you are viewing. Depending upon the book's copyright, you'll be able to view varying amounts of pages within the book. If the book is part of the public domain, you'll be able to view scans of every page of the book, and do text searches within the entire book's text. 
Click here for full size screen capture. Conclusion I'm not sure that one tool can necessarily be seen as better than the other. Examining the features of each really shows that they were created with different goals and users in mind. If the social features are what you're looking for, Goodreads is the platform for you. You'll be able to add friends, see what they're reading, discuss books, and expand your library based upon your friends' recommendations, all within an attractive 'shiny' interface. On the other hand, if you're looking for a more academically-oriented online tool (and the familiarly austere Google interface) that will give you more detailed book information and help you connect to other books based upon other user's info and other books that have been archived, but not a social network, Google Books is for you (and for me, actually). Did I miss any features of either Goodreads or Google Books? Which tool do you prefer and why? |
Tags: social-media software books google
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