Google Hacks, 100 industrial–strength tips & tools

Today Google is the search engine of choice for untold millions and Google Hacks by Tara Calishain (of ResearchBuzz fame) and Rael Dornfest is the book that explains it all. And I do mean all. The book covers everything from the principles of search syntax, which refines your search by the way you put your words together or your choice of what type of document to look for, on through to the minutaie of using the Google API with this gaggle of acronyms and languages- C#, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, .NET, SOAP, VB.NET & XML.

While remaining understandable to the layman, the first part of the book is amazingly useful in breaking down exactly how to do an effective search. O’Reilly would do well to consider issuing these pages as a mass market paperback. Chapters 3 though 6 are for people with programming experience and if I could understand it, I’m sure I’d find the information equally as useful. The last chapter of the book deals with websites for webmasters and designers and has me intrigued. I’ll report on it more in future. Plus, one of their hacks tells you how to use Google to come up with an appealing recipe for what’s leftover in your refrigerator. Don’t you just love the Web?