Google Print does Joss Whedon - Printed matter

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November 04 2005

Google Print does Joss Whedon. Read on to find out how to read hundreds of books referencing Joss Whedon online, including the delights "The Complete Guide to Television and Movie Drinking", "The Image and Role of the Librarian" and "Life or movie: Which Comes First?". (req may be required).

It's a huge internet archive, that allows you to read literally hundreds of thousands of books and search them all, from the comfort of your browser. Unsurprisingly, Google are being sued by book publishers. Follow the link to take a journey through the 229 books now online talking on about Joss Whedon (you may need a Gmail account to read the books).

gossi | Printed matter | 18:57 CET | 4 comments total | tags: joss whedon, google, many waffles

lol, on page 2 a book named 'Perl Template Toolkit'

Page xiii - Thank you to Joss Whedon for cancelling “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” while I was
working on this book and giving me one less reason to avoid writing

Heehee.

I've used this service before, when it was still in it's bèta version to reference scientific textbooks during research at the university. I think it's a pretty cool feature, it's just too bad you can't actually see all the books, like you can in a real library. I understand why, but it does limit the appeal somewhat.

GVH | November 04, 19:21 CET

Excellent find, gossi, I'll be doing plenty of reading on this site.

I was looking over Google's rules in how books or sections of books are posted. What a tangled web this could weave. Google allows publishers to post sections of their books which benefits them in advertising their books. However, members of the site can post their books as long as they own said book which is getting the publishers bent. In other words, right of ownership vs. copyright.

I think I know where this will lead. May I remind the outcome of the case of 321 Studios DVD copy vs. the studios a few years ago? I've a feeling this will go the same. Read fast!

Madhatter | November 04, 20:40 CET

Google's stance is interesting - they say they are creating a global library (they are apparently planning to vastly extend the amount of books available) which gives equal rights for everybody around the world to access information, for the better human good.

And, in fact, I think that's a fantastic idea. The fact somebody in the 3rd world can search a huge library of information they'd never ever be able to find at a local library is great.

But I can see the publishers trying to hammer Google over this. The one major different to 321 Studios - 321 were a tiny company who couldn't afford to defend themselves, Google is one of the worlds largest companies. I'd imagine this will drag on for a long, long time.

On a Whedon related note - one of the books talks about Whedon's original Alien Resurrection screenplay - lots I didn't know about it. Lots of good.

gossi | November 04, 20:47 CET

I don't think it's in danger of disappearing just yet, even if they are being sued by the Author's Guild of America. Microsoft and others have already announced plans for similar features, and Amazon.com has long made it possible to look inside the book. (Something I've found extremely useful working in publishing, let me add.)

Still, only time (and lawyers) will tell.

unreality | November 04, 20:48 CET

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