http://code.google.com/apis/books/

Here’s what I’d like to see:

1) a “review shell” for all books in GBS — I note that one of the API commands enables developers to submit reviews for any GBS book
2) an “annotation shell” that provides page by page displays of books with page by page community annotations
3) A “slate ready” version of the book reader that prepares the book in PDF format for an E-Ink reading device (not the HTML-dumbed-down Kindle)
4) A “print me” application that works with the Espresso Book Machines deployed at my friendly neighborhood University of Michigan Library
5) an online reading application that lets publishers sell online access to 100% of a book’s content
6) a “mashup” tool that combines public domain maps and public domain text
7) a topical mashup tool that puts together everything GBS has on a topic (e.g. Napoleon’s victory at the battle of Marengo)

Inside Google Book Search: Meditating on books
The concept of transience and impermanence runs through Kenkō’s work, but the book has been given a long life by other authors who have cited him. Here you can read all the instances of the above quote on Book Search. I would guess that Kenkō never imagined this blog-rebirth I have granted him, but he would know that as blogs become passé, antiquated and finally forgotten, he’ll still be there to be found by unknown friends.

Now

Inside Google Book Search: Do you Knol the ledge?

A few months ago we announced on the Official Google Blog that we were testing a new product called Knol. Today, we’re making it available to everyone. In addition to our official announcement, we wanted to tell you about it here because we think that Knol could be a powerful tool for publishers and authors. Knols are articles about specific topics written by authoritative sources, so if you’re an author, writing a knol is a great way to raise the profile of a topic you care about.

CVAN-70 Aircraft Carrier: Joint … - Google Book Search

CVAN-70 Aircraft Carrier: Joint Hearings, Ninety-first Congress, Second …
By United States Congress. Joint Senate-House Armed Services Subcommittee on CVAN-70 Aircraft Carrier, United

Update: apparently this issue has been around for a couple of years. There is (justified) concern that there may be a (small) percentage of copyrighted material inside GPO publications. Bottom line: Lame-o!