A Mighty River of Books

Log on and search for a book title by author, title, or subject. Or you can "browse" for books by selecting the following categories: "Editor's Favorites," "Amazon.com Bestsellers," "U.S Bestsellers," "Award Winners," "Archives of Reviews from the New York Times Book Review and National Public Radio," "Customer Reviews," and "Spotlight."

Each entry gives the full information for ordering the book including price (discounted from list price), shipping time, and the standard details you would find in Books in Print. In many instances Amazon.com goes a step further by offering: a "hot link" to the author's name to see what else he or she has available in print, a brief plot synopsis, an excerpt from a review, and the opportunity to bring other similar titles up on your computer screen.

Amazon.com customers are invited to review titles (there are monthly prizes for the most well-crafted reviews) and authors and publishers of books are encouraged to comment on their books. Amazon.com is eager to interview authors. Michael Moore of Downsize This! fame and lawyer/novelist Scott Turow are featured as of this writing.

Become an Amazon.com "regular customer" with their personal notification service which will notify you every two weeks via a single e-mail message when books are added to the database based on a personal profile specified by you. (There is no obligation to make a purchase.) Or shop for the holidays using the following book categories to guide you: "Avid Gardeners," "Hopeless Romantics," "Woodworkers," "Jazz Enthusiasts," "Civil War Buffs," "Bosses with a Sense of Humor," "Jane Austen Freaks," "Wine Snobs," etc. And as the Amazon.com folks say: "We don't mind if you shop in your pajamas."

To reach Amazon.com Books point your Web browser to http://www.amazon.com/. For information on using your university computer account to access the Web, contact the Computing Center Help Desk at 645-3542.

­Gemma DeVinney and Don Hartman, University Libraries