Where can I find summaries of best-selling books on line?
1- emphasis on summary, not view, like NYT Book Review
2- broader range of books than Soundview Exec Summaries: must be
complete range of best-sellers
3- summaries must be short - about a page. bullets are good.
4- free is good |
Request for Question Clarification by
mvguy-ga
on
24 May 2002 14:57 PDT
Are you looking something more than you can get off the book jackets?
If that's all you need, you might check out this site:
http://www.bookbrowse.com
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Clarification of Question by
gantonick-ga
on
06 Jun 2002 18:47 PDT
I do need more than what's on book jackets: I need a summary of the
main points of the book.
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Request for Question Clarification by
arlyn-ga
on
12 Jun 2002 14:04 PDT
Good afternoon.
As I'm a bit of an avid reader myself, I took a few minutes to see what I
could find here. One thing that might be of use to you is Reading Group
resources. For instance:
Reading Group Guides at Harpercollins
http://www.harpercollins.com/hc/readers/index.asp
If this is what you are looking for I will be happy to post other sites
I've found as a formal answer to your question.
All the best to you,
arlyn-ga
Google Researcher
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Request for Question Clarification by
tan-ga
on
13 Jun 2002 20:36 PDT
If I may add to the list. www.bookmuse.com has a nice selection of
summaries on selected books. But they are not all current best
sellers if that is what you are looking for.
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Clarification of Question by
gantonick-ga
on
14 Jun 2002 10:20 PDT
Arlyn and Tan - the HarperCollins Reading Group resources are
excellent: summaries, reviews, literary criticism. I'm only newly
familiar with Reading Groups, and didn't realize that these resources
were available.
What I need is this type of summary for all best-sellers. I'm a
linguist and interested in community discourse - group conversation.
I'd like to draw on influential (in this case, popular) current books
to relate this to how people are talking. For example, the phrase
"tipping point" has become more popular since Malcolm Gladwell
enlivened the term in his recent best-seller by the same name. This is
why I need the summaries: I neeed to know the content of these books,
and if I can't find summaries I'm going to be doing a *lot* of
reading. :)
Warm and grateful regards,
Gary
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Request for Question Clarification by
voila-ga
on
14 Jun 2002 16:32 PDT
Hola Gary,
Here's another reading groups site if you're interested in those:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com
The detail you've added today is very helpful. It gives us another
avenue of investigation. Researching this, I haven't found what
you've asked for but if someone would take the cue from the Literary
Guild's drop-down menu and expand on it, I think they'd have what
you're looking for. Take a peek and click on the bestsellers at the
left and see what you think.
https://ww2.literaryguild.com/mybookclub/halfoff/bookclubs/lga/JoinFast/c55/c55_coupon.htm?src=AOL_05_em_57_001_D079
Hope you find these helpful,
V
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Clarification of Question by
gantonick-ga
on
16 Jun 2002 22:46 PDT
voila... and everyone, really,
I just wanted to express how grateful I am for your diligence - and
patience with me as I've clarified my question :) I love this! Thank
you, thank you.
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Request for Question Clarification by
arlyn-ga
on
17 Jun 2002 19:03 PDT
Seems too late to post these as a true answer. Here's some more reading group
book summary/discussion pages for you:
Reading Group Guides at Harpercollins
http://www.harpercollins.com/hc/readers/index.asp
Vintage Reading Group Center
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/rgg.html
Ballantine Reader's Circle
http://www.randomhouse.com/BB/read/
Book Group Corner (Bantam, Broadway, Dell, and Doubleday Books)
http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/
Penguin Putnam Reading Guides
http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/html/us/readingguides/
MIT Recommended Reading: Book Summaries
http://web.mit.edu/is/competency/summary.html
Google Search Terms: book summaries best seller reading group
Best regards,
Arlyn-ga
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Clarification of Question by
gantonick-ga
on
17 Jun 2002 22:13 PDT
This is just absolutely delicious. Thanks Arlyn, Viola, and TexasT for
the latest comments. I've looked at most the reading group sites and
summaries.com and freebooksummaries.com. The sites are excellent. At
the same time, there are two things missing, generally. First, the
books summarized are not current best-sellers across all categories.
They're either business books (summaries.com) or interesting books
(penguin). Second, in many cases the summaries were more teasers than
actual summaries.
Here's a simple test - if you find a site you think might be what I
want, check it out. It must have
(1) most of the books on the current New York Times best seller list.
Not just business, please :)
(2) actual summaries of the books. Not just book jacket hype :)
Best,
Gary
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If you're looking for book reviews LIKE the New York Times, why not
actually USE the NY Times book review?
"Articles from the last 7 days are free, as are book and movie reviews
back to 1996. Other articles can be purchased for as little as $.80
per article."
You can do a search here:
<a href="<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/advanced">http://query.nytimes.com/search/advanced</a>"><a href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/advanced">http://query.nytimes.com/search/advanced</a></a>
Or see the main books page here:
<a href="<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/">http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/</a>"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/">http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/</a></a>
If the New York Times isn't exactly what you fancy, you can try The
Boston Globe. Main books page:
<a href="<a href="http://www.boston.com/globe/living/bookreviews/">http://www.boston.com/globe/living/bookreviews/</a>"><a href="http://www.boston.com/globe/living/bookreviews/">http://www.boston.com/globe/living/bookreviews/</a></a>
Archives (limited, have to pay for some full-text):
<a href="<a href="http://www.boston.com/globe/search/">http://www.boston.com/globe/search/</a>"><a href="http://www.boston.com/globe/search/">http://www.boston.com/globe/search/</a></a>
If both of those fail you, you can try The Washington Post:
<a href="<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/books/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/books/</a>"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/books/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/books/</a></a>
They also have a few special features such as an online chapter of the
week, a book club, and reading guides for fiction, non-fiction, and
summer reading.
The American Library Association has booklists online, complete with
reviews for each book:
<a href="<a href="http://www.ala.org/booklist/">http://www.ala.org/booklist/</a>"><a href="http://www.ala.org/booklist/">http://www.ala.org/booklist/</a></a>
You can also use their search tool to find a specific book:
<a href="<a href="http://www.ala.org/Architext/AT-booklistquery.html">http://www.ala.org/Architext/AT-booklistquery.html</a>"><a href="http://www.ala.org/Architext/AT-booklistquery.html">http://www.ala.org/Architext/AT-booklistquery.html</a></a>
Or browse by year:
<a href="<a href="http://www.ala.org/booklist/archive.html">http://www.ala.org/booklist/archive.html</a>"><a href="http://www.ala.org/booklist/archive.html">http://www.ala.org/booklist/archive.html</a></a>
Some pages dedicated to book summaries include the following:
The above mentioned <a href="<a href="http://www.bookpage.com">http://www.bookpage.com</a>"><a href="http://www.bookpage.com">http://www.bookpage.com</a></a>
<a href="<a href="http://www.internetbookinfo.com">http://www.internetbookinfo.com</a>"><a href="http://www.internetbookinfo.com">http://www.internetbookinfo.com</a></a> , which is a database of user comments
on several books in various categories; you would most likely be
looking into &quot;Commonplace Book&quot;. It should be noted that this isn't
really what you're looking for but more of an additional resource for
completeness.
Finally, I would recommend checking out the major online bookstores,
as they usually provide several extensive reviews including a literary
review and customer opinions:
<a href="<a href="http://www.bn.com">http://www.bn.com</a>"><a href="http://www.bn.com">http://www.bn.com</a></a>
<a href="<a href="http://www.amazon.com">http://www.amazon.com</a>"><a href="http://www.amazon.com">http://www.amazon.com</a></a>
(borders has teamed with them, so borders.com is superfluous)
the lesser known <a href="<a href="http://www.powells.com/">http://www.powells.com/</a>"><a href="http://www.powells.com/">http://www.powells.com/</a></a> has a selection of
out-of-print and rare books, but most of the descriptions are probably
shorter than what you're looking for
Hope this helps. Thanks for choosing Google! Answers. |
Request for Answer Clarification by
gantonick-ga
on
27 May 2002 18:15 PDT
to clarify - I don't want reviews, just a *summaries*: short versions
of the complete contents of books.
for example, take Stephen Covey's &quot;7 Habits.&quot; The summary would list
each of the habits and maybe a paragraph or two about whatever else he
talked about in the book.
I actually mistyped &quot;review&quot; as &quot;view&quot; in my first point above.
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Clarification of Answer by
bookface-ga
on
29 May 2002 11:30 PDT
I'm sorry, I misunderstood the question and thought you were looking
for something that WAS like the NYT Book Review.
I'm afraid that after extensive searching, I can't help you with your
request; there is nothing like what you describe available.
If you'd like to request a refund, you can do so at:
<a href="<a href="https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=refundrequest">https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=refundrequest</a>"><a href="https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=refundrequest">https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=refundrequest</a></a>
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